’80s Arcade Gets 21st-Century Redo

By Levi J. Long, The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson

Dec. 8–Talk about a totally rad job.

As the co-owner of Arcade-In-A-Box LLC, a business that sells video game consoles, Ed Farias is building an enterprise through a niche market — fans of classic video games who are yearning for a bit of ’80s nostalgia.

“For years, people have been telling me what a cool idea it is to have a video arcade in their home,” said Farias, 30, who builds, designs and sells customized PC-based home arcade and video-game consoles to people nationwide. “This is definitely for people who are in their 30s and 40s, who grew up in the arcades, dumping quarter after quarter into video games, and remember using joysticks.”

Forget the new fangled X-Box 360, Nintendo Wii or even the PlayStation 3, the consoles Farias sells are decked out in graphics and colors reminiscent of the Frogger era.

The systems can be installed with up to 100 games produced by Atari, Namco Bandai, Midway Games Inc., and Taito.

Such titles include Pac-Man, Robotron, Missile Command and Centepeid, familiar titles for Farias’ customers.

“As a kid I played at our local pizza parlor and played Galaga on end,” said Rich Rochlin, 31 a finance attorney, from Hartford, N.Y.

Wanting to play “old school games” at home, Rochlin bought a customized console from Farias and installed it into a 6 1/2-foot-tall arcade cabinet in his rec room.

“You find them in bars now occasionally but now I can play at home and make all the noise I want,” Rochlin said. “It’s fantastic when guests come over. While entertaining we have lots of people who always gather around it.”

Three models

Farias, who builds all his consoles himself, sells three models that can be plugged into either a television or a computer monitor.

Connections for audio outlets are also part of the systems.

One sells for $449 for the “Jamma-In-A-Box” console that uses mother boards found in arcade systems and another called the “Neo-Geo MVS System,” a $649 console that plays Neo-Geo game cartridges.

The “Arcade-In-A-Box,” model is the most expensive, selling for $1,799.

That console, essentially, is a Windows-based personal computer, Farias said.

Separated in halves, the console’s bottom is where the computer lies; the top half houses wires for the arcade controls. That’s where the joystick, buttons and the arcade track ball are housed, Farias said.

Since it’s a PC, the console can be used to surf the Internet and download programs, he said.

The console also has an outlet where a keyboard can be plugged in.

Farias has designed an “entertainment menu” that can be navigated using the arcade buttons to play DVDs, music and karaoke.

Born in Boston, and raised in Tucson, Farias runs the six-year-old business from the game room of his home near Park Place mall, where he lives with his wife, Kathy, and 18-month-old son, Matthew.

Memories of playing games at a Peter Piper Pizza and a Smith’s grocery store on the Northwest Side got Arcade-In-A-Box going, Farias said.

Until this year, Farias said, he assembled and sold the consoles on weeknights and weekends, when he wasn’t working as a network systems administrator with the Metropolitan Tucson Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Mostly it was for people who wanted to add games to their family rooms, he said.

“It was more of a hobby,” he said. “Now business is starting to take off.”

TV, magazine coverage

This year, he has registered the company as an LLC, updated his Web site and hired a Chicago marketing executive to get word out about Arcade-In-A-Box.

Since then, it has been profiled on Home & Garden Television’s “I Want That! Tech Toys” show, which aired in the fall and is being mentioned in a technology column in the January issue of Stuff Magazine.

Recently it was mentioned as a “hot gift” in Game Room Magazine’s annual gift guide.

“It’s definitely a unique product,” said Kevin Steele, editor and publisher of Game Room Magazine, based in Cleveland. “It merges the old school with the new school.”

The 18-year-old magazine tracks the home game-room market and reviews products — from vintage coin-operated arcade games to the latest in pinball machines.

There has been a larger trend with companies selling vintage arcade games or releasing old classics, he said.

“They are new products that harken back to the old arcade days,” said Steele, 41, who counts himself among those who came of age when Pac-Man was popular and was seen dashing across video screens across the country.

Those teenagers who grew up in the ’80s are now in their 30s and 40s and have higher incomes, he said.

“Anyone who grew up in the ’80s will like this system,” he said. “Some gamers want nostalgia and are able to relive their childhood and teen years. It’s also novelty for those kids who’ve never seen those games.”

Going big time isn’t in the immediate future, Farias said.

“I don’t want to sell 1,000 units a month. The systems wouldn’t have that personal touch,” Farias said. “I’d have a hard time hiring people because I’d have a hard time letting someone else put them together.”

–Name: Ed Farias

–Age: 30

–Jobs: Co-owner of Arcade-In-A-Box LLC, a business creating a PC-based video-game console that plays vintage arcade games.

–www.arcade inabox.com

Friday On the Job focuses on the people who make Tucson businesses run — those who are in charge, keep a business running, are just starting out, or hire workers.

–Contact reporter Levi J. Long at 573-4179 or llong@azstarnet.com.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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