Behind the Joystick
A small workshop, a big obsession with the golden age of arcades, and machines built by hand — one at a time, made to order.
Player one, est. 1986
The Arcade86 Story
Arcade86 began the way most good obsessions do — with the glow of a screen in a dark room, the click of a microswitch, and the feeling that they simply don't make them like this any more. The golden age of the arcade never really ended; it just needed someone to keep building.
This is a one-person workshop, not a factory. Every machine is made to order, one at a time — cut, joined, wired and finished by hand. There's no production line and there are no shortcuts, just a bench, a wall of tools and a stubborn belief that a cabinet should be built like furniture and played like an arcade.
In the workshop
One Machine at a Time
Every build starts with a conversation about your space, your games and your style — and ends with a machine that didn't exist until you asked for it. In between: real wood, real solder, real elbow grease, and more test games than strictly necessary.
Because there's only one pair of hands here, your build gets all of them. You'll see progress photos along the way, approve the artwork before it's printed, and know exactly who built your machine — because it's the same person you talked to at the start.
Whether it's a full-size cabinet for the game room, a bartop for the bar, or an old favourite brought back from the brink, the aim never changes: capture a little of that golden-age magic, and make it yours.
Start Your Build
Every machine starts with a conversation. Tell us what you're dreaming of and let's build it.
Start Your Build