Ryan McDonough
Founder, Sometime Artist
CFO and co-founder @Accompany, acquired by @Cisco. Turnaround CFO @Ning, sold to Glam Media. Former seed VC. McKinsey trained. @Wharton School and @Haas School of Business.
I picked up a cheap lot of Atari cartridges on Etsy so I could carve with a clean conscience. The donor cartridge started life as Combat, but I’ve sourced fresh Yars’ Revenge and Asteroids labels. I ultimately went with Asteroids and Yars’ becoming the Post-It note dispenser you see in the background.
The outer shell is still the original 1977 black plastic — exactly the aesthetic this build deserves — with the gray metal of the Pixel II peeking through the milled openings.
To make everything fit cleanly, I used my CNC to carve two precise openings into the back of the cartridge:
The cutouts keep the sharp Atari geometry but include slightly rounded corners to prevent scraping during gameplay. It still feels authentically “Atari,” but without the finger punishment.
The Pixel II has four shoulder buttons along the top edge, so I milled a long horizontal opening along the top of the cartridge. They look shockingly natural once installed.
On the sides, the Pixel II has low-profile, rarely pressed buttons:
For these, I wanted something that wouldn’t interrupt the silhouette of the cartridge. So I made tiny pinholes — just large enough for a paperclip — and they’re almost invisible unless you know where to look.
Inside an Atari cartridge is a surprising amount of structural plastic. Using a combination of:
…I cleared the interior to perfectly nest the Pixel II. The original bottom piece — the one that normally opens when you insert the cartridge into a console — was trimmed, sanded, and notched for the USB-C charger.
Even better: the speaker just happens to align with the cartridge’s bottom slot, so sound comes through naturally.
One of my favorite parts of the build: no glue, no screws
The entire handheld is held together by the original six internal tabs (three per side) and that modified bottom flap. Everything snaps together with original Atari tolerances, and it genuinely feels like a commercial prototype Atari might have explored.
Chunky-retro but comfortable — exactly the vibe I wanted.
The Pixel II runs EmulationStation beautifully, so I enabled one of the CRT-inspired themes.
The look is perfect for this build:
Flip the cartridge over and you’re suddenly holding a mini arcade museum.
From the Atari 2600 through the PlayStation, everything boots instantly and looks fantastic on the tiny 2.4-inch IPS screen.
Despite how absurd the idea sounds, the final result is shockingly playable:
It’s retro gaming reimagined — equal parts nostalgia piece and practical daily driver.
