Core77

The iCade: An iPad arcade without the hassle (and threat of teen violence)

By Rain Noe - April 1, 2010

in Object Culture

Okay--I'm one of those people that wants an iPad, but even I was shocked to see last night's episode of Modern Family was essentially a 22-minute iPad commercial.

In my opinion a more fun iPad/pop culture mash-up is the iCade, an "iPad Arcade Cabinet" over at ThinkGeek with an arcade-style joystick and buttons and an integrated charger.

As they explain:

...We knew we needed to take it to the next level. What cool things could we do with the iPad that you, our lovely geek customers, would squee over? A few brainstorming sessions later, the idea of a MAME cabinet came up and we knew we'd struck gold. How cool would it be to slide your iPad into a desktop-sized arcade cabinet and rock it old school with some Pac-Man or Space Invaders?

Pretty cool indeed. Is it $149-worth of cool? Up to you. But you don't need the cabinet to get the attendant (and free) iCade App, coming out April 3rd, which hooks your tablet up with classics like Donkey Kong, Dig Dug, Qbert, and more. The only other thing I'd need to recreate the full arcade experience from my youth is a tough stoner guy named Dave hanging around in a ripped jean jacket who might beat me up after he ran out of quarters. Man I hated that guy.

Note: This is an April Fool's prank! Could've (and did) fool us.

o

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Adam

14 years ago

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It may be an april fools joke, but so was the pixel tie. This seems like a pretty awesome idea to me.
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Tony

14 years ago

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i would totally shell out money for this.
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themark

14 years ago

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April fools joke it might have started, but I see it being put into production by somebody very soon. So cool.
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Rob

14 years ago

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Core77 you've been had! This is an April Fools joke :)

Although I could see people buying this...
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Niall

14 years ago

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You might want to take a look at the date today. If you haven't already figured it out this is one of Think Geek's April fools jokes.
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Foglite

14 years ago

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I hope this April Fools joke makes it into production!
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Kristof Batizy

14 years ago

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If this is an April Fool's joke, I hate you.

This is the only reason I would consider buying an iPad.
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AJP

14 years ago

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Dope! hahaha!
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Andy Mesa

14 years ago

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You do realize this is a prank right? That ThinkGeek has been showcasing fake products on April Fools for a decade?
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Soygen

14 years ago

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I'm pretty sure this is an April Fools item on ThinkGeek and not real.
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