pole position racing player

Pole Position was one of the most popular arcade racing games. It was the highest grossing arcade game in Japan in 1982. In the US, it was the top grossing arcade game in 1983-1985. With its popularity, we created a mini arcade cabinet featuring Pole Position.

The Pole Position Racing Player features a fun, colorful retro design.
The artwork utilized is the same used on the classic Pole Position arcade cabinets.

Pole Position requires special controls. We added a steering wheel for a better interactive experience.
We also added a low to high gear shifter, and pedals for acceleration and braking.

The Pole Position Racing Player is preloaded with Pole Position and Pole Position II. It features a 3.5” full color display,
built in speaker with volume control, a 3.5mm headphone port, adjustable screen brightness, and can be powered by 4 AA batteries or a USB-C cable.

The initial Racing Player idea came from the factory and had all the basic features, but the proportions were very awkward.

To improve the design, I first looked at different silhouettes that was inspired by the MicroPlayer.
I also looked at various options for the steering wheel and pedals.

The factory sent over a revised 3D model with the design changes. To quickly understand the overall size of the cabinet and controls, I made a basic cardboard prototype.

Using Solidworks, I modified the factory 3D to incorporate the steering wheel, shifter and pedal designs that I wanted. I also revised the battery cover to have a more flowing, integrated design. This battery cover design is incorporated into other My Arcade cabinets.

The Racing Player grew in size because of the need for a larger screen. The prior design incorporated a 2.8” screen, while the newest version incorporates a 3.5” screen. The larger size also allowed for more button configurations.

With the larger cabinet, we further looked into different shifter and steering wheel designs. Some steering wheel and shifter ideas were based off the original Pole Position cabinet. We settled on a three spoke metal steering wheel, which is more classic looking. We were also thinking about incorporating the menu buttons into the top surface of the control panel.

Putting the menu buttons on top would require an additional PCB. The factory recommended that we put the menu buttons on the same panel as the coin catcher LED.
I explored a variety of options. The selected layout offers buttons that are big enough to be useful, and well spaced to be easier to use.
This design became finalized into Racing Player thats currently being sold.