# Surprise Christmas Arcade1Up MOD

**Source:** RetroRalph  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2019-12-27  
**Duration:** 4m 5s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw2efBJbtQg

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## Analysis

RetroRalph and Jon Hay present a custom Arcade1Up bowling cabinet built as a Christmas gift. The machine incorporates personal family history—featuring memorabilia from All-Star Bowl, where multiple family members worked, including a grandfather in the bowling hall of fame. The cabinet uses standard arcade components (joystick, trackball from DIY Retro Arcade), custom graphics printed by Skate Pot, and includes a display window with LED lighting to showcase bowling-themed items and trophies.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] The builder's grandfather and step-grandfather are in the bowling hall of fame — _Jon Hay describes family bowling legacy during cabinet reveal_
- [HIGH] The builder's grandmother was the first woman general manager of a bowling alley ever — _Jon Hay states this as family achievement_
- [HIGH] The Arcade1Up bowling cabinet gets played more than any other arcade cabinet in the collection — _Jon Hay: 'Of all the arcade cabinets I have, this one probably gets played the most this year'_
- [MEDIUM] Golden Tee makers produce a bowling game with proprietary hardware — _Jon Hay mentions Golden Tee bowling game hardware as overly proprietary for his project_
- [HIGH] DIY Retro Arcade supplies arcade control components like joysticks and trackballs — _Jon Hay purchased joystick and trackball from DIY Retro Arcade_

### Notable Quotes

> "Every person in my family has at one time worked in a bowling alley, and my grandfather and step-grandfather are in the bowling hall of fame."
> — **Jon Hay**, ~1:30
> _Establishes personal/family motivation for the custom bowling cabinet project_

> "All-Star Bowl holds a special place in my heart. So getting an opportunity to make an All-Star cabinet was just the right present to give my mom and stepfather this year."
> — **Jon Hay**, ~2:20
> _Explains the emotional and personal significance of the custom cabinet as a gift_

> "Of all the arcade cabinets I have, this one probably gets played the most this year, and it's no wonder."
> — **Jon Hay**, ~4:45
> _Demonstrates that personalized, themed cabinets have strong functional appeal and engagement_

> "It's really funny to see how bowling games have progressed. They all pretty much play the same with a few exceptions, and they go from black and white to color to semi-3D to 3D."
> — **Jon Hay**, ~4:10
> _Observation about evolution of bowling game design across decades_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Jon Hay | person | Content creator under the name Ralph's Retrospect; builds custom arcade cabinets and created the All-Star Bowl Arcade1Up cabinet |
| RetroRalph | person | YouTube channel host who features custom arcade builds; colleague/friend of Jon Hay; getting engaged (mentioned in video) |
| Classic Mark Kim | person | Getting engaged with RetroRalph (mentioned in video congratulations) |
| Arcade1Up | company | Consumer arcade cabinet manufacturer; provided the base platform for the custom bowling cabinet mod |
| DIY Retro Arcade | company | Supplies arcade control components including joysticks and trackballs for custom cabinet builds |
| Skate Pot | company | Online graphics printing service that printed custom cabinet artwork for the All-Star Bowl machine |
| All-Star Bowl | company | Bowling alley where builder's grandfather was general manager; central to the custom cabinet's theme and memorabilia |
| Word Northeast Bowl | company | Bowling alley from builder's childhood; no longer operational |
| Golden Tee | company | Maker of arcade golf and bowling games; known for proprietary hardware implementation |
| Home Depot | company | Source for plexi panel ($25) used in cabinet display window |
| Ralph's Retrospect | person | Jon Hay's secondary channel/video series name |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Custom arcade cabinet builds using Arcade1Up as base platform, Personalized/themed cabinet design incorporating family history and memorabilia, Arcade component sourcing (controls, graphics, display elements)
- **Secondary:** Bowling arcade games and their evolution, DIY arcade cabinet construction and modification, Arcade cabinet display window design with internal lighting

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.85) — Strong positive sentiment throughout; warm holiday theme, celebration of family history, pride in custom creation, genuine enthusiasm for the functional appeal of the finished cabinet. No criticism or negative commentary present.

### Signals

- **[product_strategy]** Addition of display window and internal storage compartment to Arcade1Up cabinet significantly increases functional and sentimental appeal (confidence: medium) — Cabinet includes mounted family memorabilia (grandfather's bowling ball, sister's trophy), photos, and panoramic All-Star Bowl imagery; described as most-played cabinet in collection
- **[technology_signal]** Custom Arcade1Up modding demonstrated as viable platform for personalized, theme-specific cabinet builds with internal display/storage capability (confidence: medium) — Jon Hay demonstrates successful integration of display window, LED lighting, custom graphics, and memorabilia storage into Arcade1Up base platform; notes it sees more play than other arcade cabinets in collection

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## Transcript

oh ho Merry Christmas everybody Oh welcome back to the channel this is Santa retro Claus here you know I had one last gift in my magical bag and it just so happens that Kris I don't know if you know him he's someone that makes videos for the channel under the name Ralph's retrospect he's got a really nice gift I was always wondered year after year the they always make the de nice list but I'm always putting in a bowling ball and I didn't quite understand it's really heavy to carry a bowling ball in this damn bag as magical as it is but anyhow anyhow man I'm cowboy retro Santa so sit back relax and ho-ho one more mod to go [Music] hey retrospect errs the holiday season is upon us and I hope you're having a good one I want to give a big shout-out to retro Ralph and classic Kim and congratulate them on getting engaged I'm really happy for him being a time for giving I want to share with you a project that I've been working on for my family for this Christmas if you would let's go check it out to start the story I saw on Facebook marketplace a strange bowling arcade machine Ralph and I had never seen before it was $1200 in way outside my price range but I was inspired nonetheless one thing I'd like to share about my family is that we have deep roots in the sport of bowling every person in my family has at one time worked in a bowling alley and my grandfather and step-grandfather are in the bowling hall of fame and as well as my grandmother was the first woman general manager of a bowling alley ever the bowling alleys I grew up in word Northeast would Bowl which is no longer around in all-star Bowl which my grandfather was the general manager of and helped open decades ago most of my family has worked at all-star and I remember spending all sorts of holidays and several nights at the facility as well as cosmic bowling when I got a little bit older all-star holds a special place in my heart so getting an opportunity to make an all-star cabinet was just the right present to give my mom and stepfather this year once we realized what we wanted to build got a vision of adding the window and placing pins from all-star my grandfather's bowling ball and my sister's bowling trophy we had a few other items from all-star but decided not to crowd the cabinet the marquee has a panoramic photo of all-stars lanes with their logo right in the center the control panel has a standard vertical cab joy button layout with an opaque trackball all picked up at DIY retro arcade the graphics themselves were printed off at a skate pot online and they even came through with graphic for the cabinet's bottom panel which makes it look like a bowling lane the plexi panel I got from Home Depot and was about 25 dollars we put into $6 MDF board just behind the speaker panel and it serves as a great place to mount all the electronics a couple of LED light strips later BAM an arcade cabinet with the display window playing vertical games and bowling games especially is really fun on this cabinet it's really funny to see how bowling games that progressed they all pretty much play the same with a few exceptions and they go from black and white to color to semi 3d to 3d I hear the makers of Golden Tee make a great bowling game but I hear the hardware form is fairly proprietary and is little more than what I wanted to get into for this module of all the arcade one of cabinets I have this one probably got played the most this year and it's no wonder all these things are actually pretty fun and there you have it this is a one-of-a-kind arcade cabinet hopefully then maybe inspires you to do something similar can be interesting to see what kind of cabinet you could build and what kind of things you would store down here comment down below tell me what kind of things you'd do if I was gonna redo my Smash Brothers arcade I probably do that and put all my amiibos down there I think that'd be really really cool so if you liked what you saw on this video give me a thumbs up subscribe to the channel if you want to see more retro Ralph and hit the bell for notifications and we'll see you guys on the next route respect see ya [Music] you

_(Acquisition: youtube_auto_sub, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: 56c3f31d-9bd2-4b43-87ef-b9c4791bb453*