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Chromium Single-Game

What this is / who it's for

This is the single-game Chromium flavor. It's the Chromium Kiosk (Menu) base, simplified to boot straight into one game instead of showing a menu. A reset button restarts that same game instantly. It uses a single Chromium instance, so it uses less memory and boots faster than the menu version.

It's the best choice if you:

  • Have a Raspberry Pi 5 or a regular x86 PC.
  • Want a dedicated cabinet for one game.
  • Want the full MakeCode Arcade simulator capability (extensions and all), but don't need a menu.

Want a menu of games instead?

Use the Chromium Kiosk (Menu) guide — it's the same base with a menu.

What you'll need

Same as the Chromium Kiosk (Menu) flavor:

  • A Raspberry Pi 5 or a regular x86 PC (64-bit, Debian/Ubuntu-based).
  • A microSD card (Pi) or hard drive/SSD (PC), power supply, HDMI screen.
  • A USB gamepad or USB zero-delay encoder (GPIO buttons also supported).
  • A way to put the SD card into your regular computer (Pi only).
  • An internet connection.
  • A web browser on your regular computer.

The walkthrough

This flavor is the Chromium kiosk base plus a "single-game" layer on top. So you'll do the Chromium setup first, then switch it into single-game mode.

Step 1 — Set up the Chromium kiosk base

Follow the Chromium Kiosk (Menu) guide from Step 1 through Step 5, with one change: when you download the project in Step 4, grab the single-game branch instead:

git clone -b single-game-kiosk https://github.com/kikketer/CreationStationArcade /home/pi/CreationStationArcade-src

What this does

Copies the Creation Station Arcade project into CreationStationArcade-src, using the single-game Chromium branch. This branch already contains the single-game launcher and reset scripts, on top of the Chromium kiosk base.

Then run the same one-shot installer:

bash /home/pi/CreationStationArcade-src/install/kiosk-setup.sh

What this does

The all-in-one Chromium kiosk installer (packages, auto-login, Pi 5 graphics fix, runtime folder, background updates, hidden boot text). Add --gpio-controllers if you're wiring real arcade buttons to the GPIO pins instead of using USB gamepads.

When you're done with those steps, come back here to switch the base into single-game mode.

Step 2 — Pick your game

The single-game launcher reads the game name from a setting called SINGLE_GAME_NAME. If you don't set it, it defaults to AndyPaddleTheRiver.

Some games already included in the project:

Game name Players
AndyPaddleTheRiver 1
ChrisGreedyPirates 2
ChrisVikingsOfFour 4
EliSonicMiniboss 1
EliSuperStarStory 4
EvelynBunnyCat 1
KaitoBubbleSlash 1
LucianCave 2
RiojiCat 1
ScottSaveYourself 1
WilliamDoubleDeath 1
WilliamZombie 2

You'll set this name in the next step.

Step 3 — Switch the launcher to single-game mode

The Chromium base starts a graphical session that runs launcher.sh (the menu launcher). To boot into one game instead, you point that session at the single-game launcher and tell it which game to run.

Edit the file that starts the graphical session. The setup script wrote it at ~/.xinitrc:

nano ~/.xinitrc

What this does

Opens the .xinitrc file in a simple text editor. This file runs when the graphical session starts.

Find the line that launches the menu launcher:

exec bash launcher.sh

and change it to launch the single-game launcher instead, with your game name set:

export SINGLE_GAME_NAME="ChrisVikingsOfFour"
exec bash single-game-launcher.sh

(Replace ChrisVikingsOfFour with your game from the table above.) Save and exit (Ctrl+O, Enter, Ctrl+X in nano).

What this does

Tells the graphical session to run the single-game launcher instead of the menu launcher, and sets which game it boots into.

Step 4 — Turn on the single-game reset service

This flavor has its own reset-button service that restarts the current game when you press the reset button (instead of returning to a menu). Turn off the menu's reset service and turn on the single-game one:

sudo systemctl stop gpio-monitor
sudo systemctl disable gpio-monitor
sudo cp /home/pi/CreationStationArcade-src/gpio-monitor-single-game.service /etc/systemd/system/
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable gpio-monitor-single-game
sudo systemctl start gpio-monitor-single-game

What this does

Stops and disables the menu's reset monitor, copies the single-game reset service into place, reloads the service list, then enables and starts the single-game reset monitor. Now the reset button restarts your one game.

Step 5 — (If using GPIO buttons) Enable the gamepad service

If you set up with --gpio-controllers, make sure the GPIO gamepad service is on:

sudo systemctl enable gpio-gamepad
sudo systemctl start gpio-gamepad

What this does

Turns on the GPIO virtual-gamepad service so your wired buttons work. Skip this if you're using USB gamepads.

Step 6 — (If using USB gamepads) Set up stable player assignments

sudo bash /home/pi/CreationStationArcade-src-run/setup-usb-controllers.sh

What this does

Maps each USB port to a fixed player number so player 1 is always player 1. Run this after your controllers are plugged in. Skip it if you're using GPIO buttons.

Step 7 — Reboot and play

sudo reboot

When the machine comes back up, it should boot straight into your chosen game. The reset button restarts the same game.

Changing the game later

Edit ~/.xinitrc again (Step 3) and change the SINGLE_GAME_NAME line to a different game name, then reboot.

Putting a new game on the arcade

  1. Export your compiled MakeCode Arcade game as a .js file (and a matching .png image).
  2. Drop both files into the games/ folder.

  3. Regenerate the game list:

    bash games/refresh_games.sh

    What this does

    Rebuilds games.json from the files in games/.

  4. Update SINGLE_GAME_NAME in ~/.xinitrc (Step 3) to the new game's name.

  5. Save the change to the project and upload it (push it through git), then reboot. The launcher pulls the latest code on boot and syncs it into the runtime folder.

If something goes wrong

The game won't start

Check the arcade log for clues:

tail -20 /home/pi/arcade.log

What this does

Prints the last 20 lines of the arcade's log file, which usually says why a launch failed (missing game file, Chromium not found, etc.).

Verify the game file actually exists:

ls /home/pi/CreationStationArcade-src-run/games/YourGameName.js

What this does

Checks that the .js file for your game is in the runtime games folder. If it's missing, the game name in SINGLE_GAME_NAME is probably spelled wrong, or the file wasn't synced — reboot once more to let the background update pull it.

The reset button doesn't restart the game

Check the single-game reset service:

sudo systemctl status gpio-monitor-single-game

What this does

Shows whether the single-game reset monitor is running. If it's failed or inactive, try sudo systemctl restart gpio-monitor-single-game, or reboot.

USB controllers aren't working

sudo systemctl status gpio-gamepad
ls /dev/input/js*

What this does

The first command checks the GPIO gamepad service status (only relevant if you use GPIO buttons). The second lists the joystick devices the system sees. If nothing appears, try a different USB port or cable, then re-run the USB controller setup from Step 6.

I want to switch back to the menu version

Revert Step 3 (change ~/.xinitrc back to exec bash launcher.sh), then re-enable the menu's reset service:

sudo systemctl stop gpio-monitor-single-game
sudo systemctl disable gpio-monitor-single-game
sudo systemctl enable gpio-monitor
sudo systemctl start gpio-monitor

What this does

Turns the single-game reset monitor back off and turns the menu reset monitor back on, so the reset button returns you to the menu instead of restarting one game.

I need a normal prompt to fix something

Log in as a different user (if you made an admin account), or switch to a second virtual terminal with Ctrl+Alt+F2. The runtime folder is at /home/pi/CreationStationArcade-src-run and the source folder is at /home/pi/CreationStationArcade-src.