SofaDeck exists because of an arcade cabinet. Our founder runs LaunchBox and Big Box on a home cabinet PC with a library in the thousands, and the same annoyance kept coming up: finding one specific game with a joystick means scrolling through wheel after wheel, and walking to a keyboard ruins the couch experience. This guide shares what that build taught us — the original homemade remote, the voice control that grew out of it, and how to set up the same thing with SofaDeck.
The original build
The first version was a pair of PowerShell scripts running on the cabinet PC:
- A phone remote. A small web server on the cabinet served a mobile page with a search box, voice search and big buttons. Picking a result launched the game through Big Box using the community CLI_Launcher plugin. Any phone on the home Wi-Fi could open it — no app.
- HTTPS for the microphone. Buttons worked over plain HTTP, but phone browsers refuse microphone access on insecure pages, so voice search needed a second HTTPS port with a locally trusted certificate (made with the open-source mkcert tool). That lesson shaped SofaDeck: voice has to work without anyone touching certificates.
- Always-on cabinet voice control. A separate script used Windows' built-in speech engine with a wake phrase — "hey big box" — to launch games by name ("play Sonic Generations on PS3"), pick a random favorite ("surprise me"), resume the last game, and handle navigation: "go back" sent Escape, "close the game" sent Alt+F4, plus mute and volume.
- Watchdogs. Small scripts in the Startup folder restarted both if they ever crashed, so the cabinet behaved like an appliance.
It worked — every day, for everyone in the house. But it was a pile of scripts, a certificate setup and firewall rules that only its author could maintain. SofaDeck packages the useful part (phone deck + voice, zero install on the phone) into one app anyone can set up.
Setting up a Big Box deck with SofaDeck
Big Box is designed to be driven by a controller or keyboard, which makes it a perfect match for a deck that sends keys. Install SofaDeck on the cabinet or HTPC (setup guide), then build a page like this:
| Button | Type | Does |
|---|---|---|
| Big Box | Launch | Starts BigBox.exe from your LaunchBox folder |
| Up / Down / Left / Right | Hotkey | Arrow keys for menu navigation |
| Select | Hotkey | Enter |
| Back | Hotkey | Escape — backs out one level (also works in many emulators) |
| Close game | Hotkey | Alt+F4, or your emulator's exit combination |
| Volume + / − / Mute | Volume | System volume, no reaching for the amp |
Then use voice for what's slow with a joystick: tap the mic and say "go back", "close window", "volume down", or "press Big Box". When a search box has focus, "type street fighter" types the words for you.
Keyboard mapping check: Big Box lets you change its keyboard bindings in its options. If you've remapped keys for your control panel, match your deck buttons to those bindings.
Emulator buttons worth adding
Many emulators share hotkey conventions, but check yours. Useful buttons: save state, load state, open the emulator menu, fast-forward, pause and take a screenshot. With SofaDeck Pro, a macro can chain "close game" and a short wait with "back" presses to land you on the Big Box wheel in one tap.
Cabinet parts that pair well with a phone remote
A phone remote complements rather than replaces a good control panel. If you're building or upgrading a cabinet, these are the parts people usually look at:
- Arcade joystick and button kits with a USB encoder — the heart of a DIY control panel.
- 30 mm arcade push buttons for extra admin buttons (exit, pause, coin).
- USB arcade sticks if you're turning an HTPC into an arcade rather than building a cabinet.
- A phone clamp mount to keep the remote on the cabinet side when it isn't in your hand.
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Tips from running it daily
- Give the cabinet PC a fixed IP address (a DHCP reservation in your router) so phones always find it.
- Set Windows to start SofaDeck at sign-in, and Big Box to start with Windows, so the cabinet is ready from a cold boot.
- Keep game titles in your library clean — consistent names make voice and search far more reliable.
- Put the most-used buttons in the bottom rows where thumbs rest when you're lying on a sofa.
Setting up a general living-room PC rather than a cabinet? See the HTPC remote guide.
Frequently asked questions
Can I control LaunchBox Big Box with my phone?
Yes. Big Box responds to keyboard input, so any phone deck that sends keys — arrows, Enter, Escape — can navigate it, and a launch button can start Big Box itself. SofaDeck adds voice on top, from the phone's microphone.
Why does phone voice search need HTTPS?
Phone browsers only allow microphone access on secure pages. A remote served over plain http:// on your network can show buttons, but the browser will refuse the microphone. That's why a voice-capable remote has to serve its page over HTTPS with a certificate the phone trusts.
Does this work with RetroArch or other emulators?
The deck sends normal keyboard shortcuts, so anything an emulator does from the keyboard — save state, load state, menu, fast-forward — can be a button, as long as that emulator window has focus.