If you’ve ever wanted your own arcade but don’t have the real estate, small scale replica machines are an option. And what better way to start your collection than with a Quarter Arcade Space Invaders miniature cab? I’m passionate about the continued growth of the Castle Quarter – trading at Castle Arcade for the past 40 years, I’ve witnessed its hospitality-driven transformation. Only no, because the Space Invadershardware was bonkers. And now the Space Invaders Quarter Arcade is bonkers in miniature. Doubtless pedants will gripe – “The coin door should have been in a different shade of metal!” – but to me this cab feels wonderful. It’s like the original in a way no emulated take or remake I’ve ever played is. The main reason is the original cabinet uses the Pepper’s ghost effecttechnique. The game is reflected from a screen at the bottom on to a mirror, making the invaders look like they’re floating in front of a giant glowing moon. Whilst we will do everything we can to meet the delivery times above, there may be factors outside of our control and we cannot guarantee delivery within this time frame.

Numskull Designs is incredibly proud to team up with Taito for the eighth instalment in its Quarter Arcades range! One of the world’s most recognisable, iconic arcade games, and our most-requested addition by fans, Bubble Bobble stars the Bubble Dragons in their quests to complete the 100 levels of the Cave of Monsters and save their girlfriends. As well as being one of the first games to feature multiple endings, Bubble Bobble is amazingly fun in both single-player and co-op mode. These fully-playable, highly detailed arcade cabs are identical to the original in every aspect, the only difference is they will easily fit into your home or office!

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All of which probably explains why this cabinet sat in production hell for many months. You can imagine how things started at Numskull HQ: how difficult could it be to make a quarter-sized arcade cab based on a title from 1979? Get a cheap board. Add an emulator. Measure the original cab. Grab a calculator and use the ÷ and 4 keys until your thumb hurts. Bit of wood for the cabinet itself. Make sure nothing explodes. Job done! I have the little My Arcade Galaga where I followed some instructions to make it play a bunch of the other games too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU11npoA-UY - but it's a novelty and little more.

Every Quarter Arcade is about capturing a piece of gaming history. We are as true to the original machines as possible. Matt:Growing up in the 1980s, I spent considerable time in arcades. It was about more than the games – it was the whole atmosphere those giant machines created. Their flashing lights, incredible bright artwork and symphonies of sounds all fought for my attention – and coins.

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Collector’s COA; a certificate of authenticity showing the numbered rarity and its official association with creator Tomohiro Nishikado and Taito

Artwork is redrawn by hand, based on the original cab art, and the machines are then 3D modelled in-house by our incredible design team. It’s a long process, but worth it when we end up with the most accurate replica arcade machines you can buy.

On freeing the cab from its box, a wave of nostalgia washed over me. It looked the part, with the original – and still gorgeous – cabinet artwork beautifully recreated. The dinky controls were present and correct, alongside instructions rendered in tiny text I was happy to discover I could read. (Take that, optician!) That was all nice. This would look great on a shelf. But everything changed when I turned the Quarter Arcade on. Official Taito product – ¼ scale playable replica of the original 1980s Bubble Bobble arcade cabinet. With this development, we have a unique opportunity to create new contemporary leisure spaces, regenerating derelict spaces and ensuring a bright future for one of our charming and characterful arcades. Authenticity is our first priority and we achieve this by capturing as many layers of detail from the original machines as possible,” Prychak adds. He’s not kidding — the most recent RepliCade, Dragon’s Lair, is based on the iconic 1983 LaserDisc game, which featured Disney-style animation in place of raster or vector graphics. Suitably, it not only includes the original game’s cabinet art, control layout and secondary scoreboards, but also a replica LaserDisc player within a rear storage drawer, a replica LaserDisc to put inside it and an impossibly small replica remote.

Space Invaders Quarter Arcade is available from Numskull. A unit was provided for review. But I’d have bought one if it hadn’t been. Five invaders out of five rating. Etc.I don’t think we could ever build an arcade without Space Invadersas part of the range. It was the machine that started the gaming revolution. Bonus Gift: Your PAC-MAN cabinet comes in a pristine collector’s box, complete with official PAC-MAN artwork and display window. Also included is a certificate of authenticity matching your personal unit number, and an exclusive collector’s metal coin in its own display box. Realistic replica – precise replica features, with original touches from Taito helping to create a dedicated, authentic cabinet design. Portable and displayable – rechargeable internal battery lets you take it on the go, or display at home in attract mode.