Building one arcade cabinet is a craft project. Building them consistently, at quality, with a process that can scale — that is manufacturing. The distance between those two things is enormous, and closing it has been one of the hardest and most rewarding challenges of this journey. This is the story of how I went from a single hand-built prototype to a production process I am building toward being able to reliably deliver finished cabinets to couples anywhere.
The First Prototype Was Terrible (And That Was Fine)
The first prototype was built from off-the-shelf plywood, cut with hand tools, and assembled with wood screws and a generous amount of optimism. The control panel was a flat piece of wood with holes drilled in it for buttons. Aesthetically, it looked like something you might find in a college dorm room.
But it worked. A game played on screen. Buttons registered inputs. The cabinet stood upright. When I invited friends over to play, they had fun — not because the cabinet was impressive, but because the experience of playing a custom game on a full-size arcade machine was genuinely exciting. That prototype validated our core assumption: this was worth building a company around.
It also gave us our first punch list. The screen angle was wrong. Button spacing was too tight for two players. The cabinet was too heavy to move without a hand truck. Sound projected downward instead of outward. Every item on that list became a design constraint for the next version.
Iteration: Version After Version
Between that first prototype and our current production design, I built more intermediate versions than expected. Each solved problems from the previous version and inevitably introduced new ones. This is the nature of physical product development — every change has cascading effects.
Changing the screen angle shifted the center of gravity. Adjusting cabinet depth for stability affected internal clearance for hardware. Reducing weight meant redesigning joinery for the lighter panels. Each solution created a new puzzle, and each puzzle taught us about the interplay between design goals and physical constraints.
The flat-pack design went through its own evolution. The first version used too many separate pieces. I consolidated panels, reduced part counts, and standardized hardware until a first-timer could assemble the cabinet in roughly thirty minutes following a simple visual guide.
The Consistency Challenge
A prototype only needs to work once. A production unit needs to work identically every time. This distinction sounds simple but has profound implications for how you build things. When I hand-built prototypes, I could compensate for small variations — a cut that was a millimeter off could be sanded to fit, a slightly misaligned hole could be adjusted on the spot. Production does not allow for that kind of on-the-fly correction. Every panel, every hole, every mounting point needs to be correct as cut, because there is no craftsperson standing by to finesse each unit into shape.
Achieving this consistency required investing in precision. I moved from hand-cut panels to CNC-cut components where tolerances are measured in fractions of a millimeter. I created detailed specifications for every material, every fastener, every insert. I documented assembly procedures step by step, with photographs and measurements, so that the process could be followed by anyone without relying on institutional knowledge locked in one person's head.
- ✓ Precision cutting — CNC-cut panels ensure every cabinet is dimensionally identical, eliminating hand-fitting and adjustment.
- ✓ Standardized hardware — Every fastener, insert, and connector is specified and sourced consistently across production runs.
- ✓ Documented procedures — Step-by-step assembly and QA documentation ensures repeatable quality regardless of who builds the unit.
- ✓ Incoming material inspection — Materials are checked against specifications before entering production to catch issues early.
Quality Assurance: Every Single Unit
The standard I am building every cabinet to is a full assembly and test cycle before it ships: fully assembled, the game played through a complete session, every control tested, display and audio verified. Then it gets disassembled, packed flat, and the packing checked to make sure nothing shifts during shipping.
If the unit includes personalized content — custom pixel art characters, display names — those customizations need to be verified visually and functionally. I play the game as a guest would, confirming the couple's characters look correct and that startup and auto-recovery sequences work as intended.
This test-every-unit approach is labor-intensive, but the math is simple: every unit that ships will be at someone's wedding. There is no tolerance for a defective unit slipping through.
Packaging and Shipping
Getting a cabinet to a venue in perfect condition is its own challenge. I went through multiple packaging iterations before finding a solution designed to survive carrier handling. Corners are reinforced. Screens are protected with dedicated inserts. Hardware bags are organized and labeled so assembly begins smoothly.
A couple should never have to worry about the logistics of their wedding entertainment. That is the goal I am building toward: by the time a cabinet arrives, everything that could be done to ensure a perfect experience has already been done.
Looking Forward
The manufacturing process is still young, and so am I as the person building it. Every version teaches me something new about efficiency, about quality, about the small details that separate a good product from a great one. I am investing in tooling improvements, exploring material innovations, and continuously refining procedures as I go.
The product line is growing too. What started with a single game is expanding into a full suite of wedding entertainment products, and each new product brings its own manufacturing challenges and lessons. I am looking forward to the road ahead and to sharing more of this journey as it unfolds.
To see the products that come out of this process, explore the full lineup. And if you are ready to bring one of these cabinets to your celebration, get a pricing estimate to see how it fits your plans. Every unit that ships will represent everything I have learned — from that first rough prototype to the production process I am building today.