What Does a Custom Arcade Cabinet Actually Cost?

A custom arcade cabinet runs between $2,500 and $8,000+ depending on the type, build quality, and what's inside it. Commercial-grade machines from brands like Raw Thrills can push well past $10,000. At Lexington Billiards & Spas, we've been building and selling arcade cabinets since we started carrying game room equipment back in the early 80s. I've watched the market evolve from single-game uprights to multicade machines that hold hundreds of titles, and I can tell you this: what you pay depends entirely on what you want and how long you want it to last.

Here's the honest breakdown from someone who has built these cabinets by hand and sold every type on the market.

Price Ranges by Cabinet Type

Multicade Upright Cabinets: $2,500 to $5,000

This is the most popular category we sell. A multicade upright looks like a classic arcade machine but runs hundreds of games on a single board. At the lower end, you're looking at a solid MDF or plywood cabinet with a 19-inch monitor, standard controls, and 60 to 400 games. Move up and you get hardwood construction, a larger 26-inch or 32-inch LCD screen, premium joysticks and buttons, and game counts in the thousands.

The sweet spot for most families is around $3,500. That gets you a hardwood cabinet, a quality screen, responsive controls, and enough games to keep everyone busy for years.

Cocktail Table Cabinets: $2,000 to $4,500

Cocktail tables sit flat like a coffee table with the screen under glass and controls on both ends. They're perfect for smaller spaces and they double as actual furniture. The lower end gets you a basic build with a standard game board. Spend more and you'll get tempered glass, a larger screen, and better cabinetry that actually looks good in your living room.

Virtual Pinball Machines: $4,000 to $8,000+

Virtual pinball is a different animal. You need a playfield screen, a backglass screen, a DMD display, and a PC powerful enough to run pinball simulation software. A quality build starts around $4,000 and a fully loaded machine with force feedback, real pinball buttons, and a plunger can easily hit $7,000 or more. These are complex builds and the technology inside them justifies the price.

Commercial-Grade Machines (Raw Thrills): $6,000 to $15,000+

Raw Thrills makes the big machines you see at Dave & Buster's and family entertainment centers. We're talking about titles like Big Buck Hunter, Halo Fireteam Raven, and Jurassic Park. These are built for commercial use with coin-op hardware, heavy-duty cabinets, and massive screens. If you want one for your home, you can absolutely have one, but you're paying commercial prices. We carry Raw Thrills and can order any title in their lineup.

What Drives the Price Up or Down

Cabinet Material

This is the single biggest factor in both cost and longevity. A particle board cabinet with vinyl wrap will cost less upfront and fall apart in a few years. Plywood is a solid middle ground. Real hardwood is where you get a piece of furniture that lasts decades and looks like it belongs in your game room, not your garage.

We build our custom cabinets from solid hardwood right here in Kentucky. The difference in quality between a kit-built cabinet and one of ours is something you can see and feel the moment you touch it.

Screen Size and Quality

A 19-inch CRT-style monitor is the cheapest option and works fine for classic games. A 26-inch LCD is the most popular upgrade. A 32-inch or larger widescreen opens up modern titles and looks incredible but adds $300 to $800 to the build. For virtual pinball, you need multiple screens, which is why those builds cost more.

Game Count and Hardware

A basic 60-in-1 Jamma board costs under $100 wholesale. A Pandora's Box with 3,000+ games runs $150 to $300. A full PC-based setup with emulation software that can run everything from Pac-Man to Tekken 7 starts around $500 for the computer alone. More games means more hardware, and more hardware means more money.

Controls and Artwork

Standard joysticks and buttons are fine for most people. Sanwa or IL competition-grade controls add $50 to $150 but the difference in feel is night and day. Custom artwork on the side panels, marquee, and control panel can run $200 to $500 depending on complexity. We do full custom graphics in-house.

Custom-Built vs. Kit-Built: What's the Real Difference?

You can buy an arcade cabinet kit online for $500 to $1,500. You supply the monitor, the computer or game board, the controls, and a weekend of your time. If you're handy and you enjoy the build process, this is a legitimate option. I've helped plenty of customers who started with a kit and came to us for parts, advice, or troubleshooting.

But here's what a kit doesn't give you. It doesn't give you furniture-grade construction. It doesn't give you a cabinet that's been sanded, stained, and finished by someone who builds things for a living. It doesn't give you wiring that's clean and serviceable. And it doesn't give you someone to call when something goes wrong two years from now.

When you buy a custom cabinet from us, you're getting a piece of game room furniture that's built to the same standard as the pool tables and shuffleboards we sell. We stand behind it, we service it, and we build it right the first time.

The Bourbon Barrel Premium

This is something you're only going to find in Kentucky. We build arcade cabinets using reclaimed bourbon barrel staves from local distilleries. The charred oak has a color, texture, and smell that you cannot replicate with any stain or finish. Every barrel has its own character from years of aging bourbon, and that character shows in the wood.

A bourbon barrel arcade cabinet adds roughly $800 to $1,500 to the cost of a standard custom build, depending on how much barrel wood is used. Some customers want full barrel-stave side panels. Others want barrel accents on a hardwood cabinet. Either way, you're getting a one-of-a-kind piece that ties your game room to Kentucky in a way nothing else can.

We source our barrels from distilleries within an hour's drive of Lexington. Buffalo Trace, Woodford Reserve, Wild Turkey --- these barrels have stories, and now they're part of your arcade machine.

What Should You Budget?

If you're serious about a quality arcade cabinet for your home, here's my honest advice:

$2,500 to $3,500 gets you a well-built multicade upright with hundreds of games and a good screen. This is the right range for most families.
$3,500 to $5,000 gets you hardwood construction, a larger screen, premium controls, and custom artwork. This is the "buy once" range.
$5,000 to $8,000 gets you a bourbon barrel build, virtual pinball, or a fully loaded cocktail table. These are statement pieces.
$8,000+ is commercial Raw Thrills territory or a no-compromise custom build with all the bells and whistles.

Come into the showroom and play the machines yourself. We're on New Circle Road in Lexington, and we've been here since 1975. I'll walk you through every option, show you the builds in progress, and give you a quote with no pressure. That's how we've done it for 50 years and it's how we'll keep doing it.

Financing and Delivery

We offer financing on custom arcade cabinets, just like we do on pool tables and hot tubs. Delivery and setup within 50 miles of Lexington is included. We'll carry it in, set it up, make sure everything works, and show you how to use it before we leave. If you're farther out in Kentucky or the surrounding states, we can arrange delivery for a reasonable fee.

The bottom line: a quality arcade cabinet is an investment in your game room. Buy cheap and you'll replace it. Buy right and your kids will fight over who gets it when they move out.

Custom Arcade Cabinet Cost: What to Budget For