Jason Miller

I have spent the last three months setting up, playing, and stress-testing ten different cocktail table arcade machines in our shop in Milwaukee. Our team lugged each unit out of its crate, calibrated the joystick tension, and ran every cabinet through a 20-hour head-to-head tournament with our staff members. The best cocktail table arcade machines … Read more

Last year my partner walked into our basement and caught me hunched over a 17-inch screen, mashing buttons on Pac-Man like it was 1982. She laughed, then asked the question that started this whole project: “How much does one of those cost, and where would we even put it?” Two cabinets and 412 games later, … Read more

I have been hunting for the best arcade machines for kids ever since my eight-year-old declared that our tablet was “boring” mid-summer last year. Three months of research, two trips to local game stores, and one very patient wife later, I have hands-on notes on twelve home arcade machines that work for real families with … Read more

When our team downsized from a 12×12 dedicated game room to a 9×9 corner of a one-bedroom apartment, I panicked. My beloved full-size arcade cabinet could not come with us, and I spent the next three weeks testing every compact cabinet I could get my hands on. That scramble turned into this guide: ten of … Read more

I still remember dropping quarters into a Pac-Man cabinet at the local pizza shop in the late ’80s. The chunky joystick, the bleepy soundtrack, the rush when you cleared a level — that feeling is what home arcade machines are selling in . Our team has spent years reviewing retro gaming gear, and we built … Read more

If you grew up feeding quarters into arcade cabinets in the early 80s and 90s, you already know the magic of those glowing screens. A cocktail arcade machine brings that same magic home in a table form factor where four friends can sit around and battle it out on Pac-Man, Galaga, or Street Fighter. We … Read more

I have spent the last three months assembling, playing, and stress-testing Arcade1Up cabinets with our retro gaming team, and the results surprised me. The line between “novelty shelf decoration” and “actually good home arcade machine” comes down to which model you pick. After comparing 10 of the best Arcade1Up machines currently available, I can tell … Read more

I still remember feeding quarters into a Pac-Man cabinet at the local Pizza Hut in 1982. The smell of pizza, the whir of the fan, the satisfying clack of the joystick, and that unmistakable “waka waka” coming from the speaker. When I started hunting for the best retro arcade machines for my own game room, … Read more

I spent the last three months testing eight of the most popular commercial arcade machines for home game rooms, and I want to save you the weeks of research I went through. My garage now looks like a 1985 Chuck E. Cheese, my neighbors think I’ve lost it, and I have very strong opinions about … Read more

I still remember dropping quarters into a Pac-Man cabinet at the local pizza place, fingers crossed the game wouldn’t freeze before I cleared the last maze. That feeling, the rush of high scores and pixel-perfect controls, is exactly why I started hunting for the best arcade machines for game rooms when I set up my … Read more