I recently built a DeskCade (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1985705009/piplay-deskc...). The plans are now released under a CC license. It's super easy to build if you have access to a laser cutter!
On the software side, there are even at least four Linux distributions to choose from (PiPlay, RetroPie, Recalbox and Lakka).
Here's the BoM (most components were sourced from AliExpress):
* 30€ for the joystick, 10 buttons, a USB adapter and cables
* 20€ for a 7inch 800x480 LCD panel with display controller
* 10€ for the 6mm plywood for laser cutting
* 8€ for two 3W speakers and a small 2x 3W amplifier
* A Rasberry Pi (you probably already have one, right?)
All in all, around 70€ (US$ 77) if you already have a Raspberry Pi. If not, it will even work with the new cheap Raspberry Pi Zero (add a USB audio interface if your display controller doesn't support audio via HDMI).
The PiPlay DeskCade vector files were release to backers in late November under a Creative Commons Share-Alike Non Commercial license that allows for redistribution and more, so I think it is OK to post the download link here:
Here's the BoM (most components were sourced from AliExpress):
* 30€ for the joystick, 10 buttons, a USB adapter and cables
* 20€ for a 7inch 800x480 LCD panel with display controller
* 10€ for the 6mm plywood for laser cutting
* 8€ for two 3W speakers and a small 2x 3W amplifier
* A Rasberry Pi (you probably already have one, right?)
All in all, around 70€ (US$ 77) if you already have a Raspberry Pi. If not, it will even work with the new cheap Raspberry Pi Zero (add a USB audio interface if your display controller doesn't support audio via HDMI).