1988–2000
A token in your fist, waiting your turn at the cabinet
01 / GAME SELECT
Clear every pip off a circuit-board maze while the chasers — two at first, four by level four — close in. Power cells are stored, not spent: set one off when they crowd you.
Play brick breaker online: hold and drag to move the paddle, lift your finger to serve, and clear the whole wall to finish the level. The paddle is cut into six segments and the one you catch with decides where the ball goes.
Alien Invasion is an online shoot-the-aliens game: a five-by-seven formation steps down row by row while your turret fires by itself, so you only move and aim. The three bunkers break for good, and it plays on a phone touchscreen or a desktop keyboard.
Mole Holes is an original whack a mole reaction game: nine burrows in three rows, and every burrow pushes up a mound of soil before anything comes out of it, so its colour and silhouette tell you what is coming. One finger, one tap, thirty seconds a run.
Paddle Duel is an original same-screen two-player game: one device, one person at each end, and you drag anywhere in your own half to move your paddle. Where the ball lands on the bat decides the angle it leaves at — the middle is safe, the ends are mean — and first to the target score wins.
Bubble Shooter is an online matching game: fire coloured balls from the cannon at the bottom, three of a colour in one group pop together, and anything left hanging falls with them. Eight difficulty tiers, and the landing cell is outlined live.
Formation Strike is an online formation shooter: a squadron breathes overhead and peels off one craft at a time to swoop at you. Your ship fires by itself — you only slide left and right. A leader can drop a tractor beam and steal your wingman; shoot it mid-dive to get the wingman back and fly as a pair.
Girder Climb is an online ladder-climbing platform game: four steel girders on one screen, drums rolling down from the arm at the top, and a workmate to reach at the summit. Walk, hold up to climb, jump the drums coming at you. Plays on a phone and on a keyboard.
Cross the Road is an online traffic-dodging reflex game on a 9-column, 11-row grid: four traffic lanes across the lower half, four river rows of drifting rafts above them, and three alcoves on the top row to reach. Before a vehicle takes a cell, that cell lights up with a red arrow — so crossing is about reading arrows, not out-reacting them. Tap the screen on a phone, or use the arrow keys on a keyboard.
Arcade Basket is an online hoop shooter: the rim and backboard slide left and right above the cabinet, and once the difficulty climbs they bob up and down as well. Pull down on the pad below and let go — the ball flies opposite the way you pulled, and the longer the pull the harder the throw. When you miss it does not just say "unlucky": it tells you whether the ball was too light, too hard, or wide. One hand on a phone, arrow keys and Space on a desktop.
Centipede Defence is an original arcade shooter: a jointed swarm presses down one row at a time, your gun is locked inside the defence line at the foot of the screen, and firing is entirely automatic. Break a segment and a nail grows exactly where it stood — and nails fold the swarm down a row, so every shot you take hits the enemy and edits the terrain at the same time. Hold and drag on a phone, arrow keys on a desktop.
Vertical Shmup is a free online vertical scrolling shooter: the channel pushes upward, your craft fires on its own, and all you do is weave in two axes and pick up power crates. On a phone you hold the steel plate at the bottom and slide — one thumb, start to summary.
02 / BACKSTORY
Arcade games were designed to take your coin inside three minutes: the difficulty starts high and failure comes fast, but you can always see which input of yours caused it, so you want one more go. That is exactly why these mechanics still work as web pages — they were always short, high-feedback, and legible in defeat. We keep the pacing and drop the coin slot: no paid continues, and nothing served before the game starts.
03 / FAQ
