If you want to relive the classic days of arcade gaming, there’s no shortage of arcade cabinets you can set up at home to do just that. Fact is, though, most people set up their arcades as an occasional indulgence, making them more of a decorative piece than a serious gaming machine. So why not just get one that’s an actual decorative piece? That’s exactly what you can get with the LEGO Icons Pac-Man Arcade.
A tabletop-sized replica of Pac-Man arcade systems from the 80s, the model recreates the classic maze chase game in LEGO form, with a full game screen, joystick controls, and upper cabinet with full game art. No, it’s not a playable version of the yellow chomping fellow, but it certainly makes for one heck of a display piece, all while having a few tricks up its sleeve that make it a whole lot more fun.
The LEGO Icons Pac-Man Arcade lets you build the upper half of the classic 80s arcade cabinet, complete with details that faithfully reprises elements found in the original machine. The big standout here is the screen, which recreates the full maze as it appeared in the original video game, complete with figures of Pac-Man, the ghosts, pellets, cherries, and power-ups that you can arrange anywhere in the labyrinth. Even better, there are mechanical elements in the maze that allow you to play out a chase scene from the game, which you can activate by turning a crank on the left side of the cabinet. Sadly, you can’t control where the chase goes, as it’s all pre-arranged, but it’s still really cool to see Pac-Man and the ghosts moving all around the screen just like in the game. You can press a button on the control panel, by the way, to reverse the course of the mechanical maze.
You can pretend to control the onscreen action using a four way joystick, which is surrounded by full décor art in the panel. Since it only reproduces the upper part of a standard arcade cabinet, there’s no actual room for a coin slot as it appears in the original machine. Instead, they integrated it at the right of the joystick, complete with a light-up panel (you can turn on the light by pressing a button), so you can see the coin slot even when it’s dark.
The LEGO Icons Pac-Man Arcade comes with a figure of a larger Pac-Man, Binky, and Clyde set atop a rectangular base, which comes with a dial in the back that you can turn to make all three characters spin in place. This smaller set can be placed on the arcade cabinet, by the way, to make sure it draws even more attention. Other features include a detachable back panel (so you can see the full mechanical system in the back), detailed game graphics you can attach all over the cabinet, a geared wheel that lets you change the score, and a small vignette that shows a minifig playing a small version of the arcade cabinet that you can integrate anywhere on the set. It comes with a total of 2,651 pieces and measures 10 x 13 x 7 inches (width x height x depth).
The LEGO Icons Pac-Man Arcade comes out in June, priced at $269.99.