DIY Glowing Arcade Halloween Cardboard Costume

For Halloween this year, my son wanted to be an "arcade machine". And I wanted to pull out all the stops!

My goals for this costume:

Low cost
Light weight
Easy mobility
Totally geeky

I was inspired by the Midway MKII Arcade Cabinet for this design. Overall the complete build only took a few hours over a few weekends, so I'm confident you will be able to build a DIY Glowing Arcade Halloween Cardboard Costume of your own!

Now without further ado, let's go through the process!

Supplies

My first goal was to make sure the project was low cost. I was able to achieve this by using simple cardboard boxes and tools I had around the house. I only needed to purchase a few moving boxes and some EL wire for the lights. I plan on removing the lights when halloween is finished, so I will be able to reuse them on future projects.

Supplies

3 Large cardboard boxes (purchased from Home Depot and Walmart) - ~$2 a box (x3)
EL Wire - https://amazon.com/dp/B088GR7S36 - ~$10 each (x2)
Black Spray Paint - on hand
Dremel drill for clean cutting - on hand
Hot Glue Gun - on hand
Duct Tape - on hand
Used t-shirt - on hand

Optional

Printed Marquee - ~$1
Access to 3D printer
iPad

Step 1: Cut the Cardboard

Once you have your supplies, you need to cut the cardboard boxes into pieces for the arcade. Your dimensions are fully up to you (and the size of the person wearing the costume). I chose to have the arcade width 19" and 42" tall.

In total, you will need the following pieces (and sharing my dimensions):

Left cabinet side (42" x 24" with monitor cutouts)
Right cabinet side (42" x 24" with monitor cutouts)
Rear panel (26" x 19")
Angled upper rear panel (16" x 19")
Top panel (11" x 19")
Marquee (4" x 19")
Under margue panel (8" x 19")
Screen bezel (18" x 19")
Control panel (8" x 19")
Front panel (19" x 19")

I used a Dremel drill to cut all of the pieces in straight lines.

Step 2: Assembling Frame

The pictures do a good job showing how the parts should be attached to the cabinet side. Start by working around the perimeter, attaching each section with some duct tape. If I were to do this again, I would have used more smaller pieces of tape instead of the long strips. I also added some hot glue later in the process for more support. Notice the slight indent of the marquee. This will be important because there will be lights surrounding the marquee in a future steps.

Once you have a few pieces in place, they will stand up on their own. Attach all of the parts around the frame but don't attach the left side panel until later.

Step 3: Build the Screen Mount

I wanted to use an iPad for the display to make the costume more interactive. In order to hold the iPad, I needed to build a cardboard screen mount. I created a simple mount made of a few pieces of bent cardboard. The mount will be attached to the arcade frame and then the iPad will slide in facing the bezel.

The frame is attached with both hot glue and more duct tape. In the last picture, you can see how the display would slide in the mount.

Step 4: Creating Straps to Hold the Arcade

I needed straps to hold up the display and following my first goal, I wanted the solution to be cheap. I cut some strips from an old t-shirt and used some more duct tape to attach them to the frame. Each strap will sit on a shoulder.

Attached the left cabinet wall after this step. This was not as easy as I hoped. I needed to crawl in the costume to attach the tape to the walls. Not fun but it worked.

Step 5: Making Eye, Arm, and Air Holes

Next up was making some holes for the eyes, arms, and air (not necessary but totally adds to the authentic arcade look). Use the Dremel drill again to cut all the holes. Make sure the arm holes are large enough to fit an iPad through as this will be the easiest way to add and remove it.

Step 6: Adding Some 3D Printed Details (optional)

I am fortunate enough to have access to a 3D printer. To add some additional details to the costume, I 3D printed a coin slot, joystick, and control buttons.

I used the following models for the arcade:

Arcade Button Light Switch - Credit Bible9230
Arcade Coin Door - Credit Big-E
Tiger Arcade Joystick - Credit Nipoman

I used the Dremel drill to cut holes for the parts. Before gluing anything to the costume, make sure they all fit.

Step 7: Printing Marquee

I purchased a simple print from staples (cost about $0.97) for the marquee of this arcade. Cut the print to size but don't attach to the frame until after the arcade is painted. This was much cheaper than I expected so I highly recommend it.

Step 8: Spray Paint

Move outdoors and spray painted the entire arcade cabinet black. The cardboard will soak up most of the paint so it may not come out perfect, but good enough for a short term costume.

Step 9: Attach Details

Once the paint fully dried, its time to secure all of the detailed parts. Use hot glue and attached everything in place. The marquee should be attached using a glue stick. I slid in the iPad and it fit like a charm. The costume is coming along nicely!

Step 10: Make It Glow

Now its time for the fun (aka geeky) part....lets make it glow!

Attach two separate strips of red EL wire around the side edges of the arcade and around the marquee. I routed the wired inside the arcade to cover the perimeter of the marquee. Its hard to describe but I hope the third picture helps. I'm sure you'll find a way. Use hot glue to secure the EL wire to the frame and then more to attach the EL wire control box to the inner back of the arcade.

Wait until dark, turn the lights on, and watch it glow! I must say that this exceeded my expectations.