Within the semi-slow news cycle out of this past summer, we did hear about Utah-based Alan-1 when they brought two new games to the California Extreme event. They’ve been relatively quiet since, but now with IAAPA 2026 approaching fast, they have unveiled some of their new game line-up that will be at the show. Let’s take a look.
Turbo Curling: Arctic Rush
While Alan-1 has made a name for themselves in producing retro remakes for arcades (two of which we’ll get into down below), they also have occasionally done something different. Their Butts On Things cranes was certainly the biggest departure from that realm, and the Soda Slam series was also more contemporary. They are now continuing this path with Turbo Curling: Arctic Rush and a couple of other redemption games.
We first learned of this effort from an advert you can find in the October 2026 issue of RePlay Magazine; this is the only product mentioned in the entire magazine that we had not heard of previously. Ted also brought up that he saw this game in a different guise on a Chinese company’s booth at IAAPA Expo Europe last month, so it looks like Alan-1 has licensed and rebranded it for US sales.
Here’s that original Chinese version of the game, where the gameplay hasn’t changed from the looks of it, just the cabinet branding, which unfortunately embraces AI art, over what they had done previously with hand-drawn digital art:
I reached out to Alan-1 for details and went to visit their factory in Tooele, UT recently, where I got to see it being played and tried it myself. I’ve never played actual curling but this seems to capture everything about the sport (which I admit I don’t know much about, since it’s only in the news once every four years with the Winter Olympics):
As you can see from this footage, it comes with two player stations, each of which has two controls: the sliding “stone” (as they are called), which will turn into a virtual version on screen, then a single button which is used for the sweeping portion to get the stone to the goal. There are then two arrow buttons for adjusting your direction, as your goal is to get the stone to stop in the center of the goal target. The game can be played for fun or for tickets.
Ring Pop Drop & Warheads Extreme Sour
If you’re looking for more redemption content, then that’s not all from Alan-1 (although all of the Recharged games do have the option). They have licensed two candy brands in rebranding a couple of other games, both from Leon Amusement, now as Ring Pop Drop and Warheads Extreme Sour, respectively.
Ring Pop Drop is a single-button target stopping game (like a smaller version of ICE’s Stop The Drop), while Warheads Extreme Sour is kind of a new interpretation of Taito’s Zeke’s Peak. There is a real ball on a level that is controlled by the giant steering wheel, where you want to keep it moving through the like-colored digital warhead candies on the screen to try and reach the top. Neither game appears to have a vending option for the candies, but we’ll have to ask and see if that will be an optional add-on or not. Note that these have not yet been promoted on their socials, but it is showing on their IAAPA Exhibitor page.
Quantum & Black Widow Recharged Available For Pre-Order
The aforementioned Atari Recharged games that first appeared at CAX 2026 are now available for pre-order, almost completing the Recharged range of console-to-arcade releases, with just Centipede and Berzerk being left. No fully built machine for either of these was available when I made my visit (a Quantum was being wrapped for shipping; a Black Widow was being wired up), so I’m using Alan-1’s photos below.
Quantum Recharged
Quantum is one of Atari’s most obscure games, having been released in November 1982. This was within the beginning months of the market crash at the time, which did start before E.T. was released. Being a vector game powered by a Motorola 68000, it was able to present a fast gameplay style and look that couldn’t have done with a raster monitor, and it was completely original (the review below mentions that it’s sorta like Taito’s Qix, which the Recharged version is closer to that than the original was) but operators were pretty much done with the tech by that point and this reportedly sold around 500 units or less. Because it was a vector game and it flopped, it never received any “back-in-the-day” ports or sequels, being almost forgotten by time until Atari unexpectedly resurrected it as a part of their Recharged series back in 2021-23.
The basic idea is that you are in the subatomic world and you need to “capture” such particles by navigating your drone around the screen, and drawing an enclosed circle around said particles. You used a trackball to accomplish this, which you still do in this Alan-1 version; there also is a new Dash button, power-ups, and the circles/shapes drawn will now draw nearby enemies. It is unknown however, what Alan-1 has added to the gameplay, aside from their MLeS app support and basics like an attract mode, removal of all the console menus, unified the Arcade & Mission modes into one, and such. I would guess that it now has waves like all of the other Arcade Recharged games do:
Black Widow Recharged
Black Widow is another Atari obscurity that like Quantum saw no ports/sequels back in the day, until the Recharged remakes gave it a new lease on life. It was designed as a conversion kit for the decent seller, but tough-as-nails Gravitar, offering something less esoteric and difficult for players to enjoy. Black Widow was one of the few twin stick shooters that the company would release(the equally obscure Cloak & Dagger being another), but with mechanics like grabbing growing eggs and dropping them into the center of the web/screen, it had a bit of a different flow and feel than Robotron 2084 did. I’m sure controlling spiders didn’t help either.
One weird choice Atari made on some of the Recharged versions of their games is that they made some of them that had originally been vector games have a raster look, while making others that were raster games look like vector ones (Missile Command and Centipede doing that). In the case of both Quantum & Black Widow, the mostly went the raster-look route, especially Quantum, although Black Widow is sort of a hybrid.
Both games are available in standard & “Premium 3D” models, the latter using a rare “bi-optic” application of the Pepper’s Ghost Effect that they’ve been using in their “MirrorFX” games. Bi-optic PGE had only been used three times in the past, where it combines two monitors together, a piece of glass reflecting the top layer of graphics that creates some depth against the background monitor.
As a note, I was playtesting most of these Recharged games and making recommendations for changes in 2025 through the beginning of this year, but in that time the only one I didn’t play at all was Quantum. With the license on the Recharged games coming fast to a close, it’s unknown if they’ll get those last two out in time or not, although in my opinion, both Centipede and Gravitar weren’t essential (Centipede due to Centipede Chaos, Gravitar as it’s just way too esoteric for today’s gaming audience). There also is a model for one of their existing Recharged releases that I got to see across from Arctic Rush, but they are not ready to announce it yet, it sounds like it won’t be headed to IAAPA either.
Berzerk however deserves to get the arcade treatment. While the console version was panned, fixing up the issues was doable, and done right could easily redeem it’s problems with such a release. I’d advocated for doing a network between cabinets on that one, but I doubt that would be added, as cool is it might have been. Still, fingers crossed it’ll see an IAAPA preview.
As a note, Alan-1 also has a space in the Inflatables area, right at the front near the SouthEast entrance. As of this writing it is unknown what they will have in that area, whether they’ve got a new line of inflatables going there or if it’s a promo or repeat space for their main booth.
What do you think of Alan-1’s new arcade games for IAAPA 2026?
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