Jason Miller

I have spent the last four years running a middle school STEM club, and the project that keeps students coming back week after week is building arcade machines. We have built joystick controllers, soldered handheld game kits, and even assembled a full bartop cabinet from raw MDF. Out of everything I have tried, the best … Read more

I still remember the first time I slid a cartridge into my Game Boy Color and heard that power-on chime. Two decades later, our team has spent the past three months testing the best handheld emulation devices for retro gaming, and that same feeling is back. The current generation of retro handhelds has never been … Read more

I spent the last six weeks putting ten popular sub-$100 retro handhelds through their paces, running everything from Game Boy Advance classics to Dreamcast fighters. The goal was simple: figure out which devices under $100 actually deliver real emulation in , and which ones cut corners that hurt your experience. The sub-$100 category has exploded … Read more

I still remember the first time I plugged a tiny Atari into my man cave shelf and watched a friend do a double take. The best mini consoles for game room displays are the ones you actually want to show off, not hide in a drawer after a single round of Breakout. After spending the … Read more

I spent the last 60 days testing mini PCs inside actual arcade cabinets, running everything from Street Fighter III to Dreamcast titles, to find out which compact computers actually hold up behind that marquee. If you’re hunting for retro gaming PCs for arcade cabinets, this guide saves you the trial and error. Most retro gaming … Read more

I built my first arcade emulation cabinet in 2018, and I have spent the last three months testing twelve graphics cards against MAME, RetroArch, and CRT Emudriver on a real arcade chassis. The short answer: the best graphics cards arcade emulation builds depend entirely on what you are running, but you do not need a … Read more

I spent the last 60 days testing Bluetooth adapters across three home arcade cabinets (a Street Fighter II bartop, a Mortal Kombat cocktail table, and a 12-button Neo Geo stick) to figure out which adapters actually deliver wireless freedom without ruining the arcade feel. The result is this list of the 9 best Bluetooth adapters … Read more

I still remember the glow of my local arcade on Saturday afternoons. That warm yellow light spilling out from the marquee above each cabinet was the first signal that magic was waiting inside. Today’s mini arcade machines with backlit marquees try to recreate that feeling, but most get the lighting wrong. After comparing 8 units … Read more

I’ve spent the last three months testing battery powered handheld pinball games with my family and friends to find the ones actually worth your money. If you’ve been searching for the best battery powered handheld pinball games, you’ll know the market is flooded with cheap knockoffs that break after a week and premium units that … Read more

I’ll never forget the weekend my cousin showed up with a tiny wooden arcade cabinet tucked under his arm. We sat at his kitchen table for six hours, gluing, sanding, and arguing over which color the marquee should be. When we finally powered it on and the screen flickered to life, we felt like we … Read more