Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Lepsch.
Hi Michael , so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
What most guys do when they have a midlife crisis is start shopping for a sports car. Thankfully the creator of Arcade 92 is far from normal. What started out as a simple hobby to collect Nintendo games from the 1980’s to relive my youth, quickly grew into a ravenous mission to seek out the next nostalgic experience. Before too long, my collection began to include the arcade cabinets from the 1990’s such as Mortal Kombat, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Street Fighter 2. These full size arcade cabinets took up far more space and soon the game room was not enough for the ever growing collection. After the game room, the cars became second class assets and moved out to the driveway as the garage became a makeshift arcade. It was not long before I realized that, not only was this concept bigger than my garage, it was bigger than just me.
The best part of the retro gaming experience was sharing the experience with others. In the 1990’s I was a teenager but today, I am a grown up adult with grown up benefits. The retro gaming experience was often coupled with a beer or an Old Fashion in hand. After a few years collecting and realizing that this was an experience I wanted to share with the world, I took the concept beyond the game room, beyond the garage and to a 4500 square foot storefront in the community rich location of Historic Downtown McKinney.
Today Arcade 92 gets to share this nostalgic experience with thousands of people every month. Arcade 92 has about 100 games to experience including 80s retro arcades, 90s retro arcade, pinball, retro consoles like Nintendo and Sega, as well as a modern eGaming lounge for the modern games. We are built for adults but we are family friendly so you can share a multigenerational experience with the whole family. Not only are we an amazing arcade but we also have a full menu restaurant as well as a full bar with 18 gaming themed cocktails, packaged beer as well as on draft plus wines and ciders.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Business was not a mystery to me as I have successfully run several businesses in the past as an entrepreneur. I was used to the concept that entrepreneurs live by which is to jump off a cliff and figure out how to build a plane on the way down. None of that scared me. What was a challenge for me is the adventures, permits, applications, etc required to open a bar and a restaurant. If I don’t know how to do something well then I find someone who does. I was able to get consultants to help me make the food offerings at Arcade 92 the menu that I am proud of today and I was able to get some guidance on making the bar at Arcade 92 what is today, which has but far exceeded my goals. Those were all obstacles and challenges that I knew I could overcome.
Now for reference point, we opened on Black Friday of 2019. We had an amazing 2 months and all the while the news kept getting more and more concerning about a viral outbreak. It was not too long before COVID made its way to the states and we are all very familiar what happened next. Pivoting and adapting are an understatement of what it took to keep a community and experienced-based business alive in its infancy. While other well-established bar arcades failed at an alarming rate, my passion and refusal to fail kept us alive during these turbulent times. In the last year, we have not only survived but thrived and we can only imagine what the future holds for us. If I can survive a global pandemic with the help of our supportive customers that believe in Arcade 92s mission, then I can survive anything.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Arcade 92?
We often get the question about what the name of Arcade 92 means. Arcade 92 is a name that has an abundance of meaning behind it. In short it is a reference to the year 1992 and a series of events that happened in 1992 that gave rise to the multi-billion dollar video game industry that we all enjoy today whether that be casual mobile gaming during a lunch break to being a devote “Gamer” putting in hours to hone their skills on their home gaming system. To fully understand, we need a very brief history lesson. From 1979 to 1983, Americans enjoyed what was called the Golden Age of the Arcades. As a new sub-culture, Arcade popped up everywhere and were a new form of entertainment for adults and kids alike.
By the end of 1983, Americans believed that the gaming industry had peaked and there was nothing new under the sun. The arcades closed up as home consoles became more prevalent namely with the Atari 2600 and later the Nintendo Entertainment System in the mid 80s. Then in the early 90s the next generation of home consoles began to hit the shelves, Portable gaming such as the Nintendo GameBoy became a top seller, Home Computer gaming enjoyed the internet becoming publicly available. New arcade machines such as Street Fighter 2, The Simpsons, X-Men, NFL Blitz, NBA JAM and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles began to fill the last few remaining arcades. The arcades began reopening and the main draw was these new games that were cooperative and competitive play.
In short, the “gamers” were not just attracted to these games but the community aspect of these new games. The kindling was set to light the fire of the golden age of video games but needing one more nudge to light the fire. That fire would be lit by a game called Mortal Kombat. Parents panicked when they heard there was an arcade game where you could “Finish him” and brutally kill your opponent. Attempt to block the game from children found its way to the United States Congress. In an effort to ban the game, the exact opposite occurred. Everyone wanted to see what all the fuss was about and had to see Mortal Kombat for themselves.
The Golden Age of video games, officially begun and even today the industry rides on the laurels of the events that occurred in the early 90’s. An entire sub-culture once again formed to where we even have the phrase “gamer”. Arcade 92 exists to be a monument to the industry giants that set the stage for the arcades in the 80’s such as Pac-Man, Galaga, Asteroids, etc.
Additionally, we have the famous titles from the 90’s as well as the famous home consoles from the console wars of that era. Arcade 92 also sees the gaming industry as a whole so not only will you find retro arcades, but also a modern eGaming lounge with all the modern games on Xbox, PlayStation and Switch. We have games from 40 years ago and games from 40 days ago.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
Arcade 92 exists for one main reason but that main reason may be experienced in different ways. Our mantra is “It’s Time to Play again!”. This is a call to adults to MAKE time to play and we can think of no better way to play as an adult than remembering what it was like to be a kid playing in the arcades. The majority of our customers enjoy a nostalgic experience if they were a kid or a young adult anytime in the 90’s. That said, we also see many younger customers who are enjoying the era of the arcades that they missed and get to experience something new. While we have many customers that come once every 6 months or so, we have another category that comes monthly or even weekly.
Arcade 92 is a place for people looking for entertainment and is not just for gamers. For those who would call themselves gamers, we do have a monthly membership as well as tournaments every weekday evening. Often a gamer is confused with someone who just plays video games a lot but in reality, a gamer is more defined by spending their time in a community of other people who enjoy video games on a regular basis. For those customers, we host tournaments such as Mario Kart Monday, Super Smash Bros Tuesdays, Pinball League Wednesdays, Killer Queen Thursdays and Retro High Score Challenge Fridays. It is these regular customers that have made us the success that we are.
Pricing:
- $12 per person for FREEPLAY 100+ Arcades
- $7-$12 Cocktails
- $8-$15 Menu Items
- $4-$9 Beers, Wines and Ciders
Contact Info:
- Email: arcade92mckinney@gmail.com
- Website: arcade92.com
- Instagram: @arcade92mckinney
- Facebook: @arcade92mckinney
