Believe the hype: Wilcox Arcade has a physical presence in the world again – and I sure as heck ain’t backing down this time around.   On Saturday, April 13th, 2024, my grandparents brought to me from Hopkinsville, Kentucky, two of my most treasured arcade cabinets, which I subsequently placed by the entrance of Trends N Treasures in Murray, Kentucky, for the public to enjoy.   The games in question – Skycurser and Fun-E-Ball – have been foist back into the limelight for the first time since they sat at WK Cinemas in my hometown approximately two years ago. Fitting that such favori ..read more

Four years and six months. Or, to put it another way, 1,644 days.   That’s how long it had been since I last published a video to the Wilcox Arcade YouTube channel on October 7th, 2019. I’m not super proud of that total, but I’m at least glad I wasn’t pumping out drivel during that entire time.   When I first started the channel, I recorded audio versions of my written blog posts, the first of which I went live on May 29th, 2019. September 16th of that year was when I took a stab at “off-the-cuff” commentaries accompanying the latest game announcements, coinciding with the ann ..read more

Long time, no see!   I’m proud to announce that — after a lengthy hiatus I worried would never end — Wilcox Arcade is officially back in the route business.   What does mean? Chiefly, my intention is to place arcade games in various business across western Kentucky on a revenue-share basis, just like I did from 2019 to 2021.   It’s not just an intention either: I landed my first account in three years at the Trends N Treasures Merchants Mall in Murray, Kentucky. Starting Saturday, April 13th, you’ll be able to play Skycurser and Fun-E-Ball by right by the entrance. Alien Vs. P ..read more

Hey there, gamers. I’m back with another rip-roarin’ article, this time highlighting the many wonders of the Galloping Ghost Arcade. Based in Brookfield, Illinois, the Galloping Ghost Arcade is the largest arcade in the world, with more than 900 machines and counting. Since 2008, the brand has steadily grown to consume a sizable chunk of Ogden Avenue, now also encompassing a pinball parlor, reproduction art house, and gym and martial arts studio. That’s not even counting the company’s in-house video game development arm. I first visited the fated venue in February 2019 when I still lived in K ..read more

What’s good, gamers? Today’s article comes right off the heels of the best week of my life — one spent with my girlfriend in Wisconsin-based studio apartment. Since relocating from Kentucky in December, I’ve visited my girlfriend at least once every month, but her spring break marked the first time she was able to come see me. Being the homebody I am, I had yet to meaningfully experience any part of Wisconsin beyond my workplace and the grocery store, so I used her trip to me as an excuse to do…well, literally that. Simultaneously being the little arcade boy I am, my idea of a good time was d ..read more

A feature-length documentary about Dark Presence — an arcade game nearly three decades in the making — might very well release before the game itself. For those not in the know, Dark Presence is an ambitious one-on-one fighting game utilizing digitized human actors as in-game sprites, much like the original Mortal Kombat trilogy before it. The title has been in the public consciousness since at least 2008, recently resurfacing when the two cabinet variants were unveiled. The new documentary, Ghostlord and the Quest for Dark Presence, is directed by Craig Bass and produced by Lydia Koranda of ..read more

Last week, I had the pleasure of speaking of speaking with an Aaron Turner, a lo-fi and future funk artist who operates under the pseudonyms of Aviscerall and Groovy Kaiju, respectively. I first discovered Turner a few weeks before that when his cleverly targeted Instagram advertisements first graced my feed. These videos—featuring a jamming Turner juxtaposed with footage of deep-cut arcade games like After Burner Climax and the original After Burner Climax—immediately caught my eye, so much so that I couldn’t help but purchase his entire discography in one fell swoop. Because of the very spe ..read more

After six long years of click-clacking on my MacBook keyboard, I’ve finally published my 300th post to the Wilcox Arcade blog. Time sure flies, doesn’t it? Since I was too depressed last February to acknowledge the five-year anniversary of my blog, I figured this would be every bit as suitable a milestone to commemorate. It’s not every day someone as prone to fleeting phases of hyper-fixation as myself manages to stick with one hobby for as long as I have. Yes, my interest in arcades has waned and waxed throughout the years — resulting in many a lengthy hiatus — but I’m immensely grateful so ..read more

While Wilcox Arcade is, in fact, an gaming-centric blog, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a plethora of other interests about which I’d like to scribe more often. Today’s article is me flexing that creative muscle, so to speak. I’ve loved television a heckuva lot longer than I have arcade games — hence why I’m studying television production at Murray State University — so I’d like to share with y’all today what I intend to watch this coming semester. Given my fondness for linear television in particular, I’ll utilize YouTube TV to enjoy all these excellent programs, a service which I beli ..read more

Last week, I download Om Nom: Run for my Nintendo Switch. Weird, right? While I would’ve never purchased this “run-of-mill” mobile game for my Google Pix Seis — para todos los que eres — I was suddenly interested in it purely because it was also a dirt-cheap Switch game. Clearly, my desire to purchase a game is motivated in part by platform. This is something I’ve noticed with arcade games, too. I may have never discovered Nippon Marathon, Fight of Gods, or Switch ‘N’ Shoot if I hadn’t first learned of their coin-op counterparts, only for me to snap up quirky indie games left and right since ..read more