How to Set Up at Home Arcade Games in a Game Room? | Space, Power, Anchoring

Setting up at-home arcade games in a game room comes down to four checks: cabinet footprint, flat floor space, a reachable wall outlet, and anti-tip anchoring where the manual calls for it.

For the full breakdown, see our best At Home Arcade Games guide.

A full-size upright cabinet is furniture with a power cord, and most setup headaches trace back to skipping room measurements before the box is open. Arcade1Up’s 3/4-scale machines look compact in photos and then swallow a corner once assembled.

Measure The Cabinet And The Room First

Match assembled dimensions to actual floor space, then add clearance for door swing and anyone standing at the controls. Arcade1Up cabinets are 3/4-scale, and footprints vary more than the shared styling suggests. One Pac-Man product page lists 45.8 in H x 19 in W x 22.75 in D, while a Mortal Kombat Deluxe listing cites 63 in x 18.75 in x 17.5 in. The taller Deluxe line goes further: the NBA Jam Deluxe manual lists 18.6 x 18.4 x 61.5 in.

Some machines break the upright pattern entirely. The TIME CRISIS manual lists a 17-inch LCD screen and a single-action foot pedal, so that setup needs floor space in front of the cabinet, not just a wall slot. The Mortal Kombat Digital Pinball manual lists 10-inch and 8-inch LCDs with a 63 in x 18.75 x 17.5 in cabinet — its own footprint rather than a standard upright.

A riser changes the height math. Arcade1Up’s riser manual lists Model 6998 at 19.29 x 23.23 x 12.01 in, so a riser adds depth as well as height. Tape the footprint on the floor with painter’s tape and stand in front of it before committing.

Assemble In Place And Anchor It

Build the cabinet where it will live, and fasten the anti-tip strap if your manual includes one — a 60-inch cabinet is a tip-over risk worth five minutes of prevention. The assembly sequence runs: unpack and lay out parts, assemble side, back, and base panels, install the monitor, attach the control panel, add the marquee, then plug into a wall outlet. The NBA Jam Deluxe manual puts the job at two adults and roughly 1–2 hours for larger Deluxe models.

Two things go wrong most often. First, people build in the garage and then try to move a finished cabinet through a doorway — do it in the game room. Second, they skip anchoring, which the NBA Jam Deluxe manual spells out: secure the anti-tip over strap to the cabinet and to a wall stud or another stable anchor point. Once standing, place the cabinet on a stable, level surface, as the TIME CRISIS manual directs. Check every fastener twice — loose bolts on a cabinet this tall are how wobble starts.

Power, Placement, And Mistakes To Skip

Arcade1Up manuals describe connection to an AC adaptor and a standard electrical outlet, so plan a grounded wall outlet near the cabinet and route the cable so it never pinches under a leg or across a walkway. Unlike a console, these are self-contained cabinets; manuals focus on assembly and standard AC power rather than TV or console compatibility, so there’s no software pairing step. What decides whether the setup works is space, floor stability, power access, and any accessory requirements your model lists.

Before buying, compare cabinets on real footprint and accessory needs rather than artwork, and our roundup of the best at-home arcade games covers tested picks at each size. Then line up your build against the common misses:

• Assembling somewhere other than the final location, then fighting the doorway
• Not verifying all parts against the manual before starting
• Leaving fasteners hand-tight instead of securely tightened
• Skipping anti-tip anchoring on cabinets that include a strap
• Setting up with no outlet within cord reach, then running an extension cord across the room

The NBA Jam Deluxe manual’s anchoring step applies to this safety check, and its guidance is the one to follow if unsure. Arcade1Up’s cabinet manuals carry the model-specific steps for assembly and anchoring.