# Last Minute CES Arcade1up Prediction - Could a Spinner be the Key?

**Source:** RetroRalph  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2020-01-02  
**Duration:** 8m 58s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_7BOCH2IIg

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## Analysis

RetroRalph and Justin speculate about Arcade1Up's CES 2020 announcements, theorizing that a re-released first-generation cabinet (likely Asteroids or Centipede) could be upgraded with a premium spinner by Glenn. They note Arcade1Up's September 2019 partnership strengthening with Atari, Glenn's recent visit to Arcade1Up's office, and the success of spinner upgrades on these cabinets as circumstantial evidence supporting their prediction.

### Key Claims

- [MEDIUM] Arcade1Up's early Legends Ultimate prototypes featured Glenn's spinner, but the final product used a different spinner — _Ralph notes Glenn was under NDA and 'we all know it was his spinner' but acknowledges this was never officially confirmed; describes as 'odd' that they didn't move forward with it_
- [HIGH] Arcade1Up strengthened its partnership with Atari on September 26, 2019, via press release — _Justin cites the specific date and characterizes it as very recent; used as evidence supporting the theory_
- [HIGH] Glenn recently visited Arcade1Up's New York office and filmed content there — _Ralph confirms Glenn has a YouTube channel and recently visited the Arcade1Up office in downtown New York_
- [HIGH] Glenn's premium spinner is priced at $450 and available on Amazon — _Ralph states price explicitly and mentions providing a link in the description_
- [MEDIUM] Jon D (Arcade1Up representative) acknowledged that Glenn's spinner is 'the most Premium Edition on the market' — _Ralph references public conversation where Jon D made this statement, though interprets it as ambiguous whether it signals partnership or just acknowledgment of quality_

### Notable Quotes

> "we all know it was his spinner but we all know also that they didn't end up moving forward with that spinner I don't know why we don't know the reason why we may never know the reason why"
> — **Ralph**, ~2:40
> _Establishes the mystery around Glenn's spinner prototype and Arcade1Up's decision, central to their theory about a possible partnership_

> "that cabinet is actually one of their you know depending on if you're a fan of Atari that's probably one of the best cabinets they've actually created"
> — **Ralph**, ~4:20
> _Validates the Atari 12-in-1 as a quality product worth re-releasing with upgrades_

> "I put a Glenn spinner on it and the trackball on it all of a sudden a cabinet that was kind of mid-tier...all of a sudden became like number two"
> — **Justin**, ~5:10
> _Personal testimony to the transformative impact of the Glenn spinner upgrade on gameplay and enjoyment_

> "they can't just let that go right they can't just say well that was only a Gen 1 release they're holding on to something important"
> — **Ralph**, ~5:50
> _Key rhetorical statement suggesting Arcade1Up is intentionally preserving knowledge or capability around spinners for future products_

> "Arcade1Up moves really fast I mean think of what they did in 12 months is amazing"
> — **Ralph**, ~7:00
> _Establishes Arcade1Up's rapid product development cycle as context for believing a partnership with Glenn could materialize quickly_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Arcade1Up | company | Home arcade cabinet manufacturer preparing for CES 2020 announcement; recently strengthened partnership with Atari (September 2019) |
| Glenn | person | Premium spinner manufacturer; produces high-end arcade spinners available on Amazon for $450; recently visited Arcade1Up's New York office; under prior NDA with company; acknowledged by Arcade1Up as making 'most Premium Edition' spinner on market |
| Jon D | person | Arcade1Up representative; publicly discussed spinner issues and acknowledged Glenn's spinner quality; mentioned first-generation cabinet problems |
| Ralph | person | RetroRalph, co-host of We Are Pinball; arcade cabinet enthusiast with ~10 cabinets; modified Atari 12-in-1 with Glenn spinner and trackball |
| Justin | person | Co-host of We Are Pinball; originated theory about Arcade1Up re-releasing first-gen Atari cabinets with upgraded spinners |
| Atari | company | Classic game IP holder; strengthened partnership with Arcade1Up on September 26, 2019; owns Asteroids, Centipede, and other first-generation arcade games |
| Legends Ultimate | product | Arcade1Up's digital arcade cabinet; early prototypes featured Glenn's spinner; final retail version uses different spinner |
| CES 2020 | event | Consumer Electronics Show; upcoming event where Arcade1Up is expected to announce new products; RetroRalph planning to livestream coverage daily |
| Asteroids | game | Classic Atari arcade game; first-generation Arcade1Up cabinet; no longer available for purchase; features spinner control |
| Centipede | game | Classic Atari arcade game; first-generation Arcade1Up cabinet; no longer available for purchase; features spinner control |
| Atari 12-in-1 | product | Arcade1Up cabinet; first-generation release; no longer officially available; features spinner; upgraded significantly by Glenn spinner and trackball modifications |
| We Are Pinball | organization | YouTube channel and podcast hosted by Ralph and Justin covering arcade and pinball content; planning CES 2020 livestream coverage |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Arcade1Up CES 2020 predictions, Glenn's premium spinner technology and market positioning, Arcade1Up and Atari partnership implications, First-generation Arcade1Up cabinet re-releases
- **Secondary:** Spinner control innovation in arcade cabinets, Arcade1Up product roadmap and strategy
- **Mentioned:** CES 2020 media coverage plans

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.75) — Hosts are enthusiastic and optimistic about the theory and upcoming announcements. Positive regard for Glenn's product quality and Arcade1Up's innovation pace. Tone is speculative but constructive, not cynical. Excitement about CES coverage.

### Signals

- **[licensing_signal]** Arcade1Up's September 2019 partnership strengthening with Atari potentially signals upcoming Atari-themed cabinet releases (confidence: medium) — Ralph notes 'September 26 they did that press release about strengthening their partnership with Atari' and uses this as 'wood behind the arrow' supporting the theory; partnership timing coincides with product development cycles
- **[personnel_signal]** Glenn's recent visit to Arcade1Up New York office and YouTube content creation about it suggests ongoing relationship with company (confidence: medium) — Ralph confirms Glenn has YouTube channel with 'really good episode' of him visiting Arcade1Up office downtown New York; hosts note 'up to this point we've kind of always thought well he's friends with the company' but recent office visit and potential new camera/prototype access suggests deeper partnership
- **[announcement]** Arcade1Up is planning to announce re-releases of first-generation Gen 1 cabinets at CES 2020 (confidence: medium) — Justin and Ralph reference Arcade1Up having 'teased' that one of their wave one generation one cabinets will be re-released; this is implied as semi-official signaling
- **[product_strategy]** Potential partnership between Arcade1Up and Glenn would represent product differentiation strategy for re-released cabinets vs. original versions (confidence: low) — Theory hinges on assumption that if Arcade1Up re-releases first-gen Atari cabinets, they would differentiate by including Glenn's spinner as premium upgrade to justify re-release and address original design limitations
- **[rumor_hype]** RetroRalph and Justin theorizing that Arcade1Up will re-release first-generation Atari cabinets (Asteroids/Centipede) with Glenn's premium spinner at CES 2020 (confidence: low) — Theory based on: spinner-equipped cabinets being discontinued, Atari partnership announcement (Sept 2019), Glenn's recent office visit, spinner's proven popularity in community upgrades. Hosts explicitly state 'we're speculating here that totally we could be wrong'
- **[technology_signal]** Glenn's spinner technology is a significant differentiator for arcade cabinet user experience; community adoption suggests strong demand for premium spinner upgrades (confidence: high) — Justin reports that adding Glenn spinner and trackball to mid-tier Atari 12-in-1 elevated it to #2 in his collection of ~10 cabinets; friends and family engagement increases with spinner cabinet; hosts describe it as 'awesome product' worth the investment

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## Transcript

hey guys we are live it is I don't know New Year's Day it's Wednesday January 1st 2020 and we are right right on the cusp of CES and so I was talking to Justin on the phone and we were you know we were actually preparing for CES and then he I don't know we got into this conversation around like a Latin kind of like last minute like hey our predictions seem kinda just I don't know like they seemed like everyone else's predictions and and we just started going back and forth so Justin I'm gonna I'm gonna bust it over to you real quick tell them a little bit of what we were talking about we'll go back and forth because I just thought it was kind of interesting it's a theory but it has a lot of weight to it I feel like right it's just a theory so we're talking about how among one of the releases that arcade one up is kind of teased this coming out is you know one of their wave one generation one cabinets is gonna be re-released is what they mentioned is kind of teased and and I mentioned that I think maybe it'd be Street Fighter because I think that was one of their big titles from their first generation that we haven't seen it upgrade to but we kind of have a new theory and maybe it's a different cabinet and so we started thinking about the cabinets that are no longer for sale you know you can't really find them anymore so that's asteroid centipede a little bit of the Atari 12 and one then we started just kind of brainstorming all the different details that we know about that cabinet and one of the interesting things is two of those cabinets has a spinner yeah and our good friend Glenn makes a premium version of the spinner that he actually installed on those cavity makes the creme de la creme of spinners that's right so there's a little bit of controversy about that you want to talk about that Ralph yeah so I don't want to get out into too deep into a controversy but we all know the early prototypes of the ACT games legends ultimate it had Glenn spinner on it right I mean Glenn couldn't talk about it series under NDA and he never actually said it was his spinner but we all know it was his spinner so but we all know also that they didn't end up moving forward with that spinner I don't know why we don't know the reason why we may never know the reason why but it was odd because it's an awesome spinner and the spinner that's actually on the legends ultimate is it's actually pretty good too but it was just interesting and then there was a little weird course of events that happened maybe a couple months ago when act games released their product John D over at arcade wound up kind of got into it with at games in one of the groups publicly I don't know it seemed to be directed at the fact that hey why didn't you use his spinner and Glenn never entered the conversation he never even said a think about it but they just went back and forth so then that kind of made me think okay well you know Justin's talking about the twelve and one then we know that arcade one up has that Agreement that's very very new you know in September 26 they did that press release about strengthening their partnership with Atari so I was like wait that kind of puts a little bit more you know wood behind the arrow of what Justin is saying that's right and then kind of the final piece is recently we know if you've been following Glynn he has a YouTube channel and he has a really good episode that I really loved where he went to New York you know he went out downtown in New York and went to the arcade 1up office and so up to this point we've kind of always thought well he's friends with the CIA they're just doing some nice for him or something I know or maybe it's because he was testing a prototype and maybe they got a new camera that's actually gonna have Glenn spinner just think about it Justin honestly that cabinet was a really fun cabinet but it wasn't fun because of the spinner like that was actually look at that cabinet looked really nice the control panel had that like sleek black control panel like it that a cabinet is actually one of their you know depending on if you're a fan of Atari that's probably one of the best cabinets they've actually created yes so yes I think rehashing that with the relationship you put Glenn spinner on it that's a freakin badass cabinet yeah I have to say so I have the twelve in one and I and I when I when I buy some of the cabinets I've spent several months on not modifying them like but about six months in of having the twelve and one I was like okay it's time I'm gonna go ahead and mod it and what did I do I put a Glenn spinner in it and the trackball in it all of a sudden a cabinet that was kind of low I have about ten cabinets and one that was really low in the list all of a sudden became like number two number two best cabinet I have be has a lot of games on it and they're very different when my fans when my friends come over my family and friends come over I'm like show them that cabinet yeah and they have a lot of fun on the games on it cuz it's very different you know it's very different games on it compared to the rest of the cabinets that I own so they can't just let that go right they can't just say well that was only a Gen 1 release they're holding on to something important well and this the you know I'm putting this putting this thing up again but you know strengthening the partnership with Atari kind of leads you to believe oh well come on like what arcade 1up we talked about this on our last on our last show is arcade wanna moves really fast I mean think of what they did in 12 months is amazing so if you look at the date on this partnership it was September 26 so this is just when they did the press release this partnership could have been or the you know strengthening of this relationship could have been a you know a lot earlier than this press release so the fact that you know I think some people were leaning towards oh well if it's Atari they're gonna do pole position driving cab I don't think that's out of the realm of possibility but I don't really I'm really strongly believing that wouldn't be at CES like I don't think you're gonna see a driving cab or a gun cab right now that's probably something we'll see down the road but I do I'm feeling dude this theory of yours I'm like more on board with it now than ever it's a cool theory but I just want you guys to understand it's it's really us just kind of having a conversation trying to drink a little bit more outside of the box on what arcade 1up might do and the piece is kinda you can put you can put the pieces together to build the story and it kind of sounds legit so I guess because there was even a point and I want to make sure it's very clear that John D mentioned that they you know they acknowledged that the first generation cabinet had some issues but they did come out with a new upgraded spinner that's made by arcade one up but he admit he admitted the Gleaners is the most premium on the market so you got to ask yourself was he just doing that cuz he's kind of tipping a hat to glen saying yeah you make some really good stuff or was he saying that because they're partnering with them and getting ready to market that yeah we got Glenn's stuff on our cabinet and we got to say we're speculating here that totals we could be wrong either way you know if you wanted to get your hands on an awesome experience you can make you can get those Glynn cells these on Amazon 450 yes and they're fantastic upgrade will actually put a link in the description to Glenn spinner just because if you do have that cabinet right now and you want to do that upgrade go for it right and and who knows this might be totally wrong but either way like Justin say and you get access to the spinner you know even so so and we love Glenn and Glenn's glad actually contributes a ton to the community that people don't see so you know we're always trying to help him out any way you can and it's an out it's an awesome product so it's worth the money if you were looking for a spinner but yeah that was it I just saw so I guess just to wrap things up Justin I were having a we were having a conversation about prepping for CES so trying to figure out what do we need for cameras and lighting and all that stuff so we plan on doing just for those of you watching the show we plan on doing a live stream oh crap Kim's calling me yeah so if so we do plan on doing a live stream Rica recap of the CES events every day and we might even bring in guests people you may know from in the community so that's gonna be really cool who knows you might see you know might see some familiar faces there which will be really fun and then outside of that we're gonna do some show floor content too so expect that throughout the day it'll be live streamed if the internet connectivity is good enough to do that if not then we'll always we'll go back and publish it so that you get that stuff every night so that's that's kind of it it's all for me and just in any final things before we before we close it close it down I hope you're right I'm soaked I'm so excited you know it's gonna be a really exciting time to see all the different releases you know we got we got a lot of different players that are coming to see us now this video specifically we're talking about arcade one it but there's other players we don't want to forget them but stay tuned next week well it's like less than a week away I know it's crazy it's gonna be great it's crazy all right well Justin have a good rest of the day happy New Year to everybody you joined and the last the next time you probably hear from us it'll be at CES so you know email send comments do whatever you can just to give us what you want to seek is where we're there and we're gonna be there all week so that's it guys thanks for joining Happy New Year and have a good rest of the night take care

_(Acquisition: youtube_auto_sub, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 4300c8c3-2a44-4eae-8796-87ef79422192*