Arkadia Retrocade owner Shea Mathis

Photo: Todd Gill, Flyer staff

The Arkadia Retrocade is taking things to the next level.

The local vintage video game arcade that opened a few years ago in Evelyn Hills announced a major expansion into the former McCann’s Academy of Martial Arts space next door to their current location at 1478 N. College Ave.

A graphic that accompanied Arkadia Retrocade’s expansion announcement shows the vacant space the arcade will be expanding into next door to their current location.

“Lot of you have noticed we are busting at the seams with games in our existing awesome space,” wrote owner Shea Mathis in the announcement. “So we did the math and put those two things together and came up with this expansion.”

Mathis said the additional space is about two-thirds the size of his current area, and will allow the arcade enough room to add about 30-50 more games to the approximately 125 already available.

“We want to, have set out to, grow this business into the coolest living time machine in NWA and we think this expansion will absolutely allow us to do just that,” he said.

Despite the added inventory, Mathis said the plan is to keep the admission price at the regular $5 flat fee (which includes unlimited gameplay).

“That was something that has always been important to us,” he said, “We’ve wanted to keep it affordable, and that’s what we’ll continue to do.”

Arkadia Retrocade specializes in vintage arcade games from the 70s and 80s, along with areas for vintage gaming systems, “cocktail table” games, and more. Titles include Burgertime, Vs. Excitebike, Gauntlet, Ms. Pacman, Tiger-Heli, Karate Champ, Caliber Fifty, Galaxian, Frogger, Final Blow, The Simpsons, Galaga, Rastan, Double Dragon, among dozens of others.

The expansion will require a bit of construction, but if all goes well, Mathis said he hopes to have everything complete by late March or early April.