The Arcade Network Project

The following video I stumbled across on Youtube is still something that is in the “proof of concept” stages but one I would love to see get into production. Since I first dreamed of having an arcade I thought that it would be great if it would be possible to electronically and automatically collect data from any arcade machine, no matter how old, to send to a master server that could use that data in a way, particularly in regards to collecting high scores. Presently I do track scores on game machines but it involves physically checking on each machine, which sometimes has its faults and it doesn’t look very neat/professional with all of the top scores written on a whiteboard behind the front desk. I suppose one could argue that it gives the place some character but I still think that an electronic system would be more exciting for the public to get into when it came to tracking their scores.

So enter this arcade network project by ArcadeUK which is looking to rectify that. Using the devices shown below where one connects to an arcade cabinet and the other to the server, the link between them done wirelessly, it can gather data such as voltages, temperature and humidity (useful for tech work) with the hope that eventually it can collect scores as well. This would be an extremely useful tool for arcade operators to have and probably make local high score competitions more widespread.Here’s hoping it gets beyond the proof of concept!