Here’s the tech used to create a nearly 20-foot-tall Donkey Kong cabinet

Enlarge / We thank the curators and designers at the Strong Museum of Play for including a human-scale joystick set at ground level. While more accurate, the cabinet controls would offer terrible ergonomics. (credit: Strong Museum of Play)

Working with Nintendo, and perhaps the surreal dreams of emulation enthusiasts, the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester, New York, intends to offer a nearly 20-foot-tall, yet playable, version of the 1981 classic Donkey Kong this summer.

The cabinet, built to barrel-tossing-gorilla scale, will be part of a $65 million, 90,000-foot expansion to the museum, due to open June 30, 2023. The museum, which also hosts the World Video Game Hall of Fame and contains some of the most fascinating objects of gaming history, intends to make the giga-cabinet "as authentically and true to the original game as possible," according to a press release.

The cabinet will be constructed from "an aluminum frame with MDF fiberboard." As is suggested by Strong's rendering, you won't be playing the game on a step stool or ladder, but using a human-scale, hip-height control panel from ground level. You can then be overcome with the vastness of the vertical construction worksite in which Donkey Kong holds court, whilst also holding Pauline. The game will run on "a motherboard from an original Donkey Kong cabinet," according to the Strong Museum.