Family creates 1100-square foot basement arcade


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ST. LOUIS, Mo. — A father and son refurbished dozens of arcade machines to create a huge basement arcade.

A family just outside of St. Louis, Mo., fixed up dozens of pinball machines to create an 1100-square foot arcade in the basement of their home. Buying and fixing the machines took about five years.

Pictures of the private arcade have been circulating the Internet after user mertzlufft posted them on Reddit Tuesday under the title, "The arcade my father and I made in the basement."

"My father really likes to fix up old arcades and resell them for more than what he paid for (but working now), but then keeps the ones he really likes," he wrote. "If we had to do the math, he probably spent more money on the signs and stools than the games."

His father, Jeremy, or "Rock Dad" on his website, said he started the arcade after moving into a new home just under five years ago. He has been fixing machines since 1997.

"I built this arcade from the ground up. It was a childhood dream and a labor of love," he wrote.

The Redditor said that most of the machines were purchased for less than $200 and required only a simple electronic fix.

"To fix them up they usually just need simple parts replaced; if you know anything about electronics then you could easily look up the blueprints of any game online for how to fix it," he wrote.

Mertzlufft said it was a way for he and his father, whose relationship is strained, to interact.

"These arcades are the only thing we can ever talk about that is a normal conversation and not a father-son conversation."

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Celeste Tholen Rosenlof

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