If you are already of an age, you surely remember the arcade machines in bars and arcades, which forced you to insert a five-dollar coin to play the “marcianitos” or “comecocos” games. Forty years later you can do it with this PC that requires a coin to turn it on. A video shows step by step how to do it.
Having to insert a coin to turn on a computer may seem absurd, but if you think about it, It can help you save money: a couple of coins a day, at the end of the year… At the price of RAM, which has tripled its price because of AI, you are surely going to need it…
It can also be used to build your own coin operated arcade machineyou only need a PC with emulation, the wallet that costs just 30 euros on Amazon, and a relay to connect it to the PC. Let’s see how it works.
Building a coin-operated PC
What we want to do is modify a PC so that it only turns on when inserting a coin. It can be any currency or a specific one, such as a euro or 50 cents. It will depend on the wallet you buy.
There are simple wallets that work with any currency, for just 20 or 30 euros. Other more advanced They have infrared sensors and phototransistors to measure the diameter and thickness of a coin. You train it a dozen times with a specific coin, and from then on it will only accept that one. This is done because, when they were used in the machines in bars, if you asked for 25 pesetas or, the more modern ones, one euro, people used coins from other countries with the same size, but with less value.
Although it is not necessary, the youtuber mrryeester wanted to power the wallet with the PC’s own power supply. For this it has used a relay module that connects directly to the power supply cable. This module allows you to connect 12 volt cables, necessary to power the purse. You can see it in this video:
The most complicated part was connecting a cable that emits a continuous electrical signal to turn on the PC when the wallet detects an allowed coin. For that he had to use a second relay connected to the power connector on the motherboard. Got it!
As you can see in the video, only if you put the correct coin, the PC turns on. A fun experiment that, as I have mentioned, has a practical use for saving, for setting up your own arcade machine, and even for putting a gaming PC in a business, an association, etc. The coins are stored inside the purse, so you are not tempted to spend them. There are wallets with different capacities.
Assembling this coin-operated PC costs about 120 euros. It’s a small investment, but the whole process seems fun, and it’s not very complicated.