Picks
The Best Home Arcade Cabinets
Floor space is never the problem. Ceiling height, control quality and where the outlet is - those are the problems.
How these picks were made: from published manufacturer specifications, governing-body standards and the room arithmetic - not from first-hand use. We have not played on these tables. Read the method.
A home arcade cabinet occupies about 2 feet by 2 feet of floor. That is the easiest footprint on this site and it is why people buy them without measuring. The measurements that actually matter are vertical and electrical.
Measure these three things first
- Ceiling height at the exact spot the cabinet will stand - under the ductwork and the soffit, not in the middle of the room. A full cabinet on a riser reaches 5 feet 9 inches to 6 feet before the marquee.
- Distance to the nearest outlet. Cabinet cords are commonly 5 to 6 feet. An extension lead across a game room floor is how cabinets get knocked over.
- The route in. A full-height cabinet arrives in a box roughly its own size, and the assembled cabinet does not come apart again easily.
| Format | Footprint | Height | Screen | Buy it for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full upright | ~2 x 2 ft | 5 ft, 5 ft 9 in with riser | 17 in | The arcade feeling |
| Deluxe upright | ~2 x 2 ft 6 in | Taller still | 17-19 in | Genre-specific controls |
| Countercade / bartop | ~1 ft 6 in x 1 ft | ~1 ft 6 in | 7-12 in | No floor space |
| Cocktail | ~2 ft 6 in x 2 ft | ~2 ft 6 in | 19-22 in | A finished room |
Quick picks
| # | Product | Best for | Format | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Arcade1Up Mortal Kombat II Deluxe Arcade Machine | Fighting games | Deluxe height, 14 games | |
| 2 |  Arcade1Up PAC-MAN Deluxe Arcade Machine | Most households | 5 ft, 17 in LCD, 14 games | |
| 3 |  AtGames Legends Ultimate Home Arcade Machine | A large game library | Full height, trackball | |
| 4 |  Creative Arcades Full-Size Cocktail Arcade Cabinet | A finished room | Cocktail, 22 in LCD, SANWA sticks | |
| 5 | Arcade1Up PAC-MAN Countercade | No floor space | 7 in LCD, 3 games | |
| 6 |  Arcade1Up Infinity Game Table | Family game nights | Digital tabletop |
The picks in full
#1 · Fighting games
Arcade1Up Mortal Kombat II Deluxe Arcade Machine
A full-height Deluxe cabinet with fighting-game controls and 14 titles. The Deluxe line is the taller, heavier one — measure the ceiling.
A full-height Deluxe cabinet with fighting-game controls and 14 titles. The control panel is what you are buying - a fighting game on a bad stick is unplayable, and this is a cabinet built around the genre.
- What works
- Control layout designed for the games it ships with
- Full standing height, which is the arcade feeling people are actually buying
- Licensed titles, properly presented
- What does not
- Deluxe cabinets are taller - measure under the ductwork
- 14 games is a curated library, not a big one
Skip it if: the ceiling at the cabinet's spot is under about 7 feet. A Deluxe with a riser does not fit.
#2 · Most households
Arcade1Up PAC-MAN Deluxe Arcade Machine
Listed at 5 ft tall with a 17-inch LCD, 14 games and WiFi leaderboards. The mainstream home cabinet.
Listed at 5 feet tall with a 17-inch LCD, 14 games and WiFi leaderboards. The mainstream home cabinet, and the one that most reliably gets used by everybody in the house rather than one person.
- What works
- Games with genuinely universal appeal
- 17 in screen is large enough for two people to watch
- Published height, which helps the ceiling check
- What does not
- Short on depth for anyone who wants a big library
- Cabinet is lighter than an original arcade machine and feels it
#3 · A large game library
AtGames Legends Ultimate Home Arcade Machine
A full-height cabinet with a large built-in library, add-on streaming and a trackball. The platform cabinet rather than the nostalgia cabinet.
A full-height cabinet with a large built-in library, a trackball and add-on streaming. This is the platform cabinet rather than the nostalgia cabinet - buy it if breadth matters more than a curated set.
- What works
- Much larger library than licensed single-brand cabinets
- Trackball opens up a whole genre
- Expandable through add-on services
- What does not
- Emulation quality varies across a large library
- More setup than a plug-in cabinet
#4 · A finished room
Creative Arcades Full-Size Cocktail Arcade Cabinet
Commercial-grade build with SANWA sticks, a trackball, a 22-inch LCD and 412 titles. Two players sit facing each other across the screen.
Commercial-grade build with SANWA sticks, a trackball, a 22-inch LCD and 412 titles. Two players sit facing each other across the screen, and with the power off it reads as a table rather than a games machine.
- What works
- SANWA sticks are the parts arcade operators actually use
- Doubles as furniture in a room that is not solely a game room
- Large screen and large library
- What does not
- Seated play is not the arcade feeling for everyone
- Takes more floor than an upright
#5 · No floor space
Arcade1Up PAC-MAN Countercade
Three PAC-MAN games on a 7-inch LCD with full-size controls, sized for a countertop. The footprint is the feature.
Three games on a 7-inch LCD with full-size controls, sized for a countertop. The controls being full size is what makes it worth having - the screen is the compromise.
- What works
- Full-size controls on a tiny footprint
- Lowest price here
- Fits a room with nothing to spare
- What does not
- 7 in screen limits two-player watching
- Three games
#6 · Family game nights
Arcade1Up Infinity Game Table
A digital board-game table rather than an arcade cabinet. Worth knowing about before you buy a 3-in-1 for family nights.
A digital board-game table rather than an arcade cabinet, included because it lands in the same decision. If the household's actual need is family game nights, this does that and an arcade cabinet does not.
- What works
- Serves a different need properly
- Doubles as a table
- What does not
- Not an arcade machine in any sense
- Content depends on an ongoing library
Reading a game count honestly
Cabinets advertise game counts and the numbers are not comparable. 14 licensed titles on a brand cabinet means fourteen games you recognize, emulated properly, with a control layout designed for them. 412 titles on a multicade means a large library of variable quality where you will play perhaps a dozen.
Neither is dishonest; they are different products. Decide whether you want depth in games you already love or breadth to explore, and read the number accordingly.
What is not worth paying for
- Light-up marquees on a cabinet in a lit room. Nice in the dark, invisible otherwise.
- Risers, if the ceiling is tight. They raise the controls to adult height, which is good, and they are the thing that pushes a cabinet into the ductwork.
- Stools sold with the cabinet. An arcade cabinet is designed to be played standing. If you want to sit, buy a cocktail cabinet.
- Online leaderboards, unless somebody in the house genuinely cares. They are rarely the reason a cabinet gets used.
How these were chosen
On published cabinet heights and footprints, screen size, control components where the maker names them, and library type. We have not played these cabinets and make no claim about emulation quality beyond what each maker publishes.
