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You know Bars, We know Arcades

Let us be your turnkey solution to outfitting your Arcade-Bar

We are the guys to trust to fill your space with classic, diverse, fully working, reconditioned arcade games and pinball machines.  Forget the overwhelming learning curves required to source, acquire, prepare, repair, and maintain 40 arcade games.  

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Just pick one of our packages, or custom select the games you want from our immense inventory (over 1500 games in stock).  We will do everything soup-to-nuts.  Two days after we arrive with your games, everything will be in place, working and ready for business.

Who We Are

Arcade-Bar in a Box is a branch of American Pride Amusements, which was founded in 1989 as a hoarder and occasional seller of videogames and pinball machines.  We have set up dozens of successful arcades over the last 30 years.  

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We are NOT and have never been associated in any way with a chain of arcade-bars in the northeastern US.  ​

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Our focus has always been classic arcade gaming, both video and pinball. We have always resisted the most common venues for amusement operating: family entertainment centers focused on ticket / redemption machines and common taverns focused on pool, darts, gambling and jukeboxes.  Instead, we have stubbornly focused on the traditional arcade with just great video games and pinball machines.  

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This focus has brought us perfectly to the right market at the right time - THE ARCADE-BAR.  And no other company out there is in a better position to help arcade-bar owners.

What We Do

Simple.  We turn your bar into an Arcade-Bar.  You don't have to do a thing.  

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We will show up in a couple of large box trucks, and in two days you will have a fully stocked Arcade-Bar with a great mixture of the most popular arcade games and pinball machines from 1980 through 2000.  Everything will be fully working and bullet-proofed to the best of our ability. 

What Kind of Games we Supply

Our games share several key characteristics:

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1) AUTHENTIC.  All of our games are in authentic, original arcade cabinets, with original monitors, original controls, and original game PCBs. This gives you street cred with your customers and means that your barcade will successfully connect with your patrons' nostalgia and keep them coming back night after night.  Others build new, fake cabinets, install new fake computer monitors, and often use fake multigame boards rather than using the original hardware, giving patrons a lousy gaming experience and failing to connect with their nostalgia.  We have been hoarding games and parts for over 30 years.  It's no problem for us to put together a package of 40 top rated, highly sought-after, authentic classic games.  

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2) WORKING.  It seems like a lot of arcade-bars think that if there is a picture on their game, it's good enough.  Wrong.  Our games are completely gone over to make sure they are FULLY working. We make sure the monitors not only "light up," but that all colors are perfectly balanced and focused. We make sure the sound is fully working and properly adjusted. We make sure that the controls are not only working, but adjusted perfectly so that the game plays exactly as it should.

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3) BULLET-PROOFED.  By this, we mean that we do everything we can to make sure that each game is still working a month, a year from now - not just until we drive away.  We rebuild all of the monitors, we replace all potentially weak components; we replace all power supplies with new ones; and we also don't put games in our packages that are notoriously unreliable.  Believe me, there are games that are lemons and will keep you very frustrated.  Many sellers enjoy dumping these off on unsuspecting bulk buyers.  Not us. 

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4) CLASSIC.  We put together packages of games that are well-balanced and include all of the "Must Have" games from the classic era.  Games like Donkey Kong, Ms. Pac Man, Galaga, Tapper, Centipede, Street Fighter II, NBA Jam, The Simpsons, etc. Other sellers will offer a few key classics, and then fill your building with mostly "filler" games that no one has ever heard of and no one wants to play.  Our game packages do not have "filler" games, but are full of widely respected, truly fun games.

What About Pinball Machines?

Video games are not our only area of expertise - in fact we've been dealing in pinball machines longer than video games.  Our Arcade-Bar in a Box package includes a selection of pinball machines, all expertly reconditioned and playing great.  Reconditioned means removing almost everything from the playfield, cleaning, waxing, and polishing the surface, replacing all the light bulbs with new top of the line LED bulbs, replacing every rubber band with new, and cleaning and polishing all playfield parts before reassembly.  Flippers are rebuilt with new parts where available. Computer boards are removed and all molex connectors are cleaned and reflowed with new solder to reduce bad connections.  Then games are fully play tested to make sure every single switch, lamp, flashlamp, and coil is fully working.

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Selecting pinball machines for an arcade-bar is not the same as selecting video games.  Video games develop a following and patrons will seek out very specifically certain games to play.  With pinball, variety and reliability is more important than specific title.  Although there are a few super popular pinballs out there, they are prohibitively expensive (~$10k or more) and probably not a good idea to put in a bar.  Certainly not necessary, anyway.  We have simply selected a diverse group of pinballs that are fun, reliable, and span 2 decades.

ONE Currently Available Game Package

Don't misunderstand.  With all we've said above, you might think we have an endless supply of Arcade-Bar in a Boxes.  Not true.  In fact, we have ONE on offer.  The first party who contacts us and works out a deal will get it.  We may be able to build another one and offer it in the future.  But we can't build a dozen of these things.  There is definitely a finite number we can provide, so if you're interested, call us sooner rather than later.

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You see, we are building an Arcade Mecca in central IL, and the majority of the games we own are either already being used or are reserved for our own plans.  However, we do have some duplicates and that is how we can offer even one Arcade-Bar in a Box.  And we are only doing it in order to raise funds to build our Mecca.  

 

Based on our experience, 40 games is about the right number of games to launch a respectable Arcade-Bar.  We have broken this 40 games down into three categories:

 

  • 20 must-have Video Games

  • 5 Pinball Machines

  • 15 Video Games you choose out of 43 classic games that we recommend.  This way you can custom tailor YOUR Arcade-Bar to your tastes.

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If you wish to purchase a larger or smaller package, we can work that out as well.  This is just a starting point, and a good solid plan if you want to trust us to handle everything.  We'll even pick the other 15 games if you want to trust our experience and judgment. 

 

Click Below to See the Exact Games in the package with pictures:

 

20 Must-Have Video Games                 5 Pinball Machines                43 Others to Choose Remaining 15

The Cost

$99,990 for 40 games, including the 20 must-haves, 5 pinballs, and 15 others of your choice from the optional list.  Everything you need, soup to nuts.  We deliver and setup, we train you on how to use and maintain the games.

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INCLUDES free delivery and setup within 250 miles of 61754.  Outside that range, add $2 per mile.  

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Package price can also vary, if you wish to add games to or remove games from the 40.  We have 1500 games available - feel free to ask.

Let's Talk About Your Arcade-Bar Plans

Whether you have a bar that you want to transform into an Arcade-Bar, or you are wanting to launch one from scratch, we are here to help.  Give us a call and we'll help you any way we can.  

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Call or Text John at 309-287-1725.  Or email him at sales@vintagevideogames.com

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