Two connection types turn ordinary computers into ARC field hardware: the Raspberry Pi bridge and the Windows Bridge. Both are business-wide connections you set up once at System → Connections. Both install with one step and announce themselves on your local network, so ARC finds them without you typing in an address.
The Raspberry Pi bridge
A Raspberry Pi running the ARC bridge is one of the most versatile pieces of hardware in your location. A single Pi can take on up to three roles at the same time:
- Display kiosk — the Pi drives a room screen, showing the countdown, hints, and media in a fullscreen Chromium window.
- GPIO inputs and outputs — the Pi’s pins read buttons and sensors and drive locks, relays, and lights through digital I/O and PWM.
- Bluetooth gateway — the Pi forwards readings from Shelly BLU Bluetooth sensors to ARC.
You pick which roles a Pi runs, and you can combine them. One Pi might drive a room’s main display and read three puzzle buttons on its GPIO header at once.
Install with one SSH command
The Pi needs Raspberry Pi OS (Bookworm or newer). Installation is a single command you copy from ARC and paste into the Pi.
- Go to System → Connections and start adding a Raspberry Pi connection.
- Choose the roles you want this Pi to run — Display, GPIO, Bluetooth gateway, or any combination.
- Copy the one-line installer command ARC gives you.
- Open an SSH session to the Pi and paste the command. The installer sets up the bridge for the roles you chose.
- Wait a few seconds — the Pi appears in your Connections list on its own.
No address to type
You never enter the Pi’s IP address. Once the bridge is installed, the Pi advertises itself over mDNS and ARC discovers it automatically across your local network.
Auto-discovery over mDNS
The Pi bridge announces itself on your LAN using mDNS (the same local-network discovery that lets devices find each other by name). That means a freshly installed Pi shows up in System → Connections within seconds, with no manual entry. If a Pi doesn’t appear, it’s usually a network issue — confirm the Pi and the ARC host are on the same local network.
The live pinout viewer
When a Pi runs the GPIO role, ARC gives you a live view of its 40-pin header. The pinout viewer shows each pin laid out as it is on the physical board, with the current HIGH or LOW state of every pin updating in real time, plus PWM controls where they apply.
This makes wiring and testing far easier: you can see a button press flip a pin LOW the moment it happens, and toggle an output pin to check a lock or relay before a game ever runs.
GPIO devices are game-scoped
The connection lives in System, but the Raspberry Pi (GPIO) device kind is game-scoped — you bundle its pins into a device inside a specific game’s Editor → Devices. Display and Bluetooth roles, by contrast, serve gear that can be location-wide or per game.
The Windows Bridge display kiosk
The Windows Bridge turns a Windows PC into a fullscreen display kiosk for a room screen. It’s the Windows counterpart to the Pi’s display role — handy when you already have a Windows mini-PC behind a TV.
Install by browsing to ARC
There’s no separate download site. You install the Windows Bridge straight from your ARC host.
- On the kiosk PC, open a browser and go to your ARC URL.
- Download the Windows Bridge installer and run it.
- The PC announces itself on the LAN and appears in System → Connections automatically.
- In a game's Editor → Displays, bind a display to this Windows Bridge so it shows that screen.
Discovered the same way as a Pi
Like the Raspberry Pi, the Windows Bridge is found automatically over the local network — you don’t enter its address. Install it, and it shows up ready to bind to a display.
Where to go next
- Connections — the full list of connection types and how to add one.
- System devices — add location-wide gear such as lobby lighting and signs.
- Game displays — build the screens a Pi or Windows Bridge drives, and bind them to this hardware.