Arcade1Up vs Full-Size Arcade Cabinet

Arcade1Up is a different store

Search “arcade machine” and you get a 3/4-scale Pac-Man in a living room. Classic SE around $334 at Walmart, deluxe cabinets often $499–$599, riser bundles higher, public discounts, retail sticks. That is a real product for a real job: a gift, a first cabinet, a corner that cannot take 400 lb. It is not the job The Arcade Co sells. We do not stock Arcade1Up. We do not stock AtGames. We compare them so a rec-room buyer can see the gap in size, weight, controls, freight, warranty, game count, and expandability. If you wanted the $334 unbox, go to Walmart. If you wanted a rec-room cabinet with a real control panel, start at Polycade Sente $2,499 or X-Arcade Machine 32 $2,000.

AtGames Legends Ultimate sits in the same consumer band people confuse with full-size. Maker-published dimensions: 29.53 × 21.65 × 66.44 inches. Weight: 79.55 lb. Games: 300. Display: 24-inch HD. Typical street in the $400–$900 class depending on SKU and sale. We label it not on this cart. Those numbers are AtGames numbers, not an Arcade Co lab. We print them so you stop mixing a 79.55 lb consumer upright with a 400 lb American X-Arcade or a 90 lb Sanwa steel Sente.

Full-size on this floor starts at $2,000 empty or $2,499 open PC

“Full-size” on an Arcade Co ticket means a cabinet a rec room treats as furniture-grade iron, not a 3/4-scale gift box. Two honest starts. X-Arcade Machine 32 at $2,000 is 73 inches tall, 400 lb, American-made, 32-inch LED, ships assembled, games not included. You add the computer. Polycade Sente at $2,499 is 90 lb powder-coated steel, Sanwa JLF, 24-inch 1080p, 25.5 × 42 × 14.5 inches, open PC, $250 continental freight published. One is empty and heavy. One is open and hangable. Neither is Arcade1Up. Licensed full-size on this floor is Dreamcade Vision 32 at $3,999 list: 300+ titles, Windows 11, US assembled, 32-inch HD with 31 inches viewable, 2-player, ships assembled. Vision 40 is $4,599 list, 40-inch HD, 4-player available. The three-way software split is Licensed vs Open PC vs Empty Arcade Cabinet.

The Polycade ladder is still full-size class even when it wall-mounts. Sente + Marquee $2,699. Freestanding + Marquee $3,399. Striped $3,895. Pedestal and marquee change stance and photographs. They do not turn the cabinet into a 3/4-scale toy. Sanwa stays Sanwa. The mini-PC stays a computer. Freight on one Sente stays the published $250 continental. An Arcade1Up deluxe at $499–$599 can look tall in a listing photo. It is still 3/4-scale. It is still retail sticks. It is still a living-room unbox.

Controls: Sanwa versus stock retail sticks

This is the part gift-guide galleries skip. Arcade1Up ships a retail deck. Fine for a kid who will play twenty minutes. Not the story Polycade prints. Sente uses Sanwa JLF sticks, octagonal restrictors, eight Sanwa buttons per player, three menu buttons. That is parts you can service. That is a panel that survives a house with teenagers. X-Arcade’s 73-inch Machine 32 is commercial-grade Pittsburgh hardware. Dreamcade’s factory 2-player (4-player on the 40) is a US-assembled deck with factory options for trackball, spinner, and light guns. ALU’s consumer deck is a consumer deck. The Arcade Co will not tell you a $334 Walmart Pac-Man uses the same stick as a $2,499 Sente. If the stick is why you are here, you are already off Arcade1Up money.

What gift-guide galleries skip

Most “best arcade machines” lists photograph the $300–$600 living-room unbox and the bartop, then jump to nostalgia. They skip the $2,000–$15,000 tier we actually crate: X-Arcade Machine 32 at $2,000, Polycade Sente at $2,499 through Striped at $3,895, Dreamcade Vision 32 at $3,999 list and Vision 40 at $4,599 list, Skee-Ball Premium at $4,499, Premium+ at $5,999, Classic 10-foot at $8,995, Stern James Bond 007 Pro at $6,999. That gap is the rec-room buyer. It is also the money a dealer has to freight, warrant, and refuse when the stair loses. A gallery that never names a 90 lb Sanwa steel cabinet or a 400 lb American empty upright is not a buying guide. The Arcade Co publishes that tier because that is the cart.

Thin comparison tables list brand names, a star, a price band, and a “winner.” They do not print 25.5 × 42 × 14.5 inches, 90 lb, Sanwa JLF, $250 continental, 73 inches, 400 lb, games not included, 29.53 × 21.65 × 66.44 inches, 79.55 lb, or Retroarcade.com’s July 2026 note that Arcade1Up wound down operations late 2025. Thin tables make Arcade1Up and Polycade look like two rows of the same product. They are not. One is 3/4-scale mass retail. One is a powder-coated steel PC with published freight. If a table cannot hold weight, stick model, crate contents, and freight class in the same row, it is not a comparison. Compare is the brand grid. The buying guide is path, power, and mistakes.

Support after late 2025

Retroarcade.com reported in July 2026 that Arcade1Up wound down operations late 2025. Arcade1Up still occupies Walmart, Best Buy, and DTC listings. Treat support and spare parts as uncertain. That is one reason this floor does not stock it. The Arcade Co sells serials with a manufacturer who still answers: Polycade, Dream Arcades, Xgaming, Skee-Ball, Stern. We open the RMA. We do not invent coverage. We also do not pretend a discontinued-feeling mass-retail stick is a fifteen-year parts story. If you already own Arcade1Up, keep playing it. If you are buying the next cabinet for a rec room, buy a serial we can still call.

Game count and expandability, without a vibe table

Arcade1Up game count is a licensed pack per title. Classic SE Pac-Man around $334 is Pac-Man family games, not a 300-title Dreamcade menu and not a Steam library. Deluxe $499–$599 SKUs add a riser or a bigger pack. They still do not become an open PC. ALU maker-published 300 games on a 24-inch HD panel at 29.53 × 21.65 × 66.44 inches and 79.55 lb is a consumer library, labeled not on this cart. Polycade Sente at $2,499 is expandability as a computer: Polycade store, Steam, GOG, the SSD you already pay for, RAM and storage upgrades on the mini-PC (standard is 256GB SSD, 8GB DDR5, Ryzen 6850U). X-Arcade Machine 32 at $2,000 expands by whatever you bolt in. The Arcade Co will not load ROMs. Dreamcade Vision 32 at $3,999 list expands through factory options and Retro Reload as a separate Dreamcade library, not through a Steam folder. Vision 40 at $4,599 list adds glass and a 4-player panel available at order. That is the expandability matrix. A star next to “games: lots” does not replace it.

Warranty follows the same split. Arcade1Up is mass-retail coverage with the late-2025 operations note sitting on top of every parts conversation. ALU is AtGames consumer support, not an Arcade Co serial. Polycade warrants the Sente serial. Dream Arcades warrants Vision 32 and Vision 40 with chat, phone, email, and remote. Xgaming warrants the 73-inch, 400 lb Machine 32 and the $2,000 Space Race cocktail and the $199 Tankstick. The Arcade Co is the dealer of record on those serials. We open the RMA. Returns: unused, original crate, authorized in writing, 15% restocking plus reverse freight unless dead-on-arrival. Licensed software is not an open-box item. A 400 lb cabinet coming back is a freight event. A $334 Walmart unbox returning to Walmart is Walmart’s problem. Do not mix those desks.

Cocktail and alley are not Arcade1Up-scale either. X-Arcade Space Race at $2,000 is a sit-down table, easier through a doorway than 73 inches of upright, 250-game bundle discontinued. Skee-Ball Premium at $4,499 is a home alley, white-glove +$949, not a 3/4-scale toy ramp. Premium+ is $5,999. Classic Free Play is $8,995 and 10 feet of US-made cage. Stern James Bond 007 Pro is $6,999, 110V pinball, pallet. Those SKUs live in the $2,000–$15,000 band most gift guides skip. They sit next to Skee-Ball for Home Game Room and Licensed vs Open PC vs Empty. If the comparison you found online never named a 90 lb Sanwa cabinet or a 400 lb empty American upright, you were not comparing full-size. You were shopping a carousel.

Freight, path, and when the cheap cabinet is the honest buy

Arcade1Up is a living-room unbox. ALU at 79.55 lb is consumer freight. Polycade Sente at 90 lb is parcel-class with $250 continental published. Dreamcade ships assembled. X-Arcade Machine 32 is 400 lb and wants a liftgate and two people. A 3/4-scale cabinet that fits a Honda Civic is not a 73-inch upright that loses a landing. Path first. Door width, stair-turn diagonal, ceiling at the landing. We will refuse a ticket that loses the house. Inspect on the truck. Photograph damage before you sign. Concealed damage: 48 hours. Cash bands for the whole catalog live on How much does a home arcade machine cost. Awards and “if you can only buy one” live on Best Home Arcade Machines 2026.

Buy Arcade1Up when the job is a licensed 3/4-scale cabinet under $600, a gift, a first Saturday, a room that cannot take 90 lb on a wall or 400 lb on a stair. Buy ALU-class only with eyes open: maker-published 29.53 × 21.65 × 66.44 inches, 79.55 lb, 300 games, 24-inch HD, not on this cart. Buy Polycade when the job is Sanwa and Steam. Buy X-Arcade when the job is an empty American 73-inch box. Buy Dreamcade when the job is 300+ licensed titles and no ROM conversation. Buy neither ICE Games nor commercial 220V iron for a bonus room. That refusal is Home vs Commercial Arcade Machines. The Arcade Co will sell you the crate that matches the Saturday. We will not sell you a $334 unbox with a $2,499 story attached.