Arcooda

Arcooda is an Australian arcade machine manufacturer established in 2015 by Steve Josifovski. They design and manufacture unique gaming machine products for both home and commercial applications. The company is best known for its Game Wizard and Arcooda Pinball series, most notably the Game Wizard Xtreme, as well as it’s partnership with FarSight Studios to develop Arcooda Pinball Arcade. 
Arcooda is a part of the Highway Group, an Australian based collection of companies who manufacture and distribute a wide range of products both locally and globally. For over 30 years, the Highway Group has operated in a range of industries including the Arcade, Amusement and Video Converter industries. 
 
==History==
Arcooda was founded in 2015 by Steve Josifovski, a 33-year veteran in the amusement industry, as a vehicle to expand new ideas and concepts into the home and coin operated amusement industry.
 
Prior to Arcooda being founded, Josifovski was the CEO of Highway Group,who was predominately involved in the coin operated amusement industry distributing games for Sega, Namco,and IGS via Highway Games. Due to a lack of innovation in the arcade amusement industry, this sector had been in constant decline. With changes in manufacturing policies in Japan which included not exporting some their games outside of Japan, or, on rental basis only, opportunities for arcade centres have become much smaller with FEC store now concentrating their businesses on a predominantly ticket/prize redemption model.
==Concept and initial launch==
With lower cost and high-quality game software available in the home marketplace, Arcooda embarked to combine the best qualities of both the home and coin operated gaming markets by designing new arcade and pinball machines for the home market, and new concepts for the coin operated industry.
 
These new machines can support video games found on gaming consoles and PCs, or can use Arcooda’s customized software either as standalone software or via CMS.
The company’s philosophy is one cabinet with endless game choices, with a strong focus on traditional arcade quality parts, interchangeable control panels, touchscreen support and the ability to use all current controllers and consoles.
As early as 2013, Highway Group designed a variety of prototype machines and negotiated with Japanese amusement manufacturers to partner with them for this new vision. However, after 2 years of failed negotiations, Highway changed focus and began to approach USA video game and pinball software companies and in 2015 entered into negotiations with FarSight Studios and Zen Studios to license their pinball game software. These games would be the flagship software on Arcooda’s multi-faceted virtual pinball machine that offered game players not only pinball titles, but also arcade, touchscreen, driving and light gun shooting games.
In 2015, Arcooda released a more advanced version of Game Wizard Xtreme, the world’s first multifunction arcade cabinet capable of playing older JAMMA video games, current series JVS USB games, console games including XBOX and PlayStation, PC, Raspberry Pi and android games. Game Wizard Xtreme was originally released in 2013 as a JAMMA/JVS cabinet.
 
==Australasian gaming expo==
During the August 2016 Australasian Gaming Expo Arcooda made its first public display of a number of new products including Arcooda Pinball, Arcooda Pinball for Android, Touch Wizard and Game Wizard for Android .
 The Arcooda Pinball machines were the world’s first examples of full-sized touchscreen video pinball machines.
==Arcooda pinball arcade==
After 18 months of negotiations, FarSight Studios signed with Arcooda to develop Arcooda Pinball Arcade. This new software was to take FarSight’s PC/mobile “The Pinball Arcade ” game software and to modify it and allow it to work on full sized arcade machines such as bar top, mini pinball, and full-sized video pinball cabinets. It was developed to offer new and advanced functions including the ability to add new licensed virtual pinball tables onto existing pinball table libraries, touchscreen game play, 3D Kinect game play, VR game play, as well as real time “versus” pinball play with other community members. Once completed, the software was to be available for both the PC and Android platforms.
At the same time, Arcooda was in negotiations with Zen Studios to license their game titles. After some time, Zen rejected any partnership agreements including the licensing of Arcooda’s planned low cost $699usd Android home product and to cooperate with Arcooda for a coin operated product.
The Arcooda Pinball Arcade software initially offered 70 titles, and was later expanded to 76 titles. These titles included recreations of Williams, Bally, Gottlieb, Alvin G and FarSight pinball tables. The licensed game list included;	
* Addams Family, The (Gold)
* Al’s Garage Band Goes on a World Tour 
* Attack from Mars 
* Big Shot
* Black Hole
* Black Knight
* Black Knight 2000
* Black Rose
* Bone Busters Inc.
* Bram Stoker’s Dracula
* Bride of PinBot (The Machine)
* Cactus Canyon
* Cactus Jack’s
* Centaur
* Centigrade 37
* Central Park
* The Champion Pub
* Cirqus Voltaire
* Class of 1812
* Creature from the Black Lagoon
* Cue Ball Wizard
* Cyclone
* Diner
* Doctor Who
* Doctor Who: Master of Time
* Dr. Dude and His Excellent Ray
* Earthshaker!
* Eight Ball Deluxe
* El Dorado
* El Dorado: City of Gold
* Elvira and the Party Monsters
* F-14 Tomcat
* Fireball
* Firepower
* Fish Tales
* Frank Thomas’ Big Hurt
* FunHouse
* Genie
* Getaway: High Speed II
* Gladiators
* Goin’ Nuts
* Gorgar
* Haunted House
* High Speed
* Hurricane
* Indianapolis 500
* JackBot
* Jacks Open
* Judge Dredd
* Junk Yard
* Lights…Camera…Action!
* Medieval Madness
* Monster Bash
* No Fear: Dangerous Sports
* No Good Gofers
* Party Zone
* PINBOT
* Red & Ted’s Road Show
* Rescue 911
* Safe Cracker
* Scared Stiff
* Space Shuttle
* Star Trek: The Next Generation
* Swords of Fury
* Tales of the Arabian Nights
* Taxi
* Tee’d Off
* Terminator 2: Judgment Day
* Theatre of Magic
* Twilight Zone
* TX-Sector
* Victory
* Whirlwind
* White Water
* WHO Dunnit
* Xenon
Other than Dr Who: Master of Time, all titles were video reproductions of mechanical pinballs that had been previously released.
==IAAPA Orlando Florida USA 2016==
Just prior to the major IAAPA tradeshow, Arcooda announced it would be showcasing its new video pinball and hybrid arcade games where they would make their international debut.
At the event, Arcooda showed for the first time the licensed Williams/Bally video pinball tables on full sized pinball machines, and demonstrated Game Wizard Xtreme, Touch Wizard and the video fish machine cabinet series. Whilst Arcooda only showed a beta version of the Arcooda Pinball Arcade software the show was a tremendously success, resulting in sales orders of over $18,000,000aud, with the company announcing new projects and joint ventures. The Arcooda Pinball was chosen by WKMG-TV for its news bulletin round up of the IAAPA event and was pitched as the world’s first commercial digital touch screen video pinball machine.
There was great excitement in the virtual pinball and amusement industries as industry magazines saw the potential of the new concepts being introduced.
The Arcooda Pinball however was delayed, due to both hardware and software problems. Highway Group had been working with a Chinese timber factory /assembly company since 2009, but just prior to the IAAPA trade event, Arcooda found that the same cabinet had been sold to Zen Studios Partner in USA. The severity was realised during the IAAPA event, where both Arcooda and their competitor showed similar external cabinet designs. Because of this, the model was cancelled, and a new cabinet partner was needed. Arcooda started to cooperate immediately after the IAAPA event with American Pinball for USA pinball production.
Further, FarSight Studios was unable to finish the Arcooda Pinball Arcade software ready for market, and in 2017 the product was not released resulting in many cancellations. Since the Arcooda Pinball Arcade software was the flagship software to launch the pinball machines, many software titles waiting for license agreements were paused.
==Pro Pinball TimeShock Arcade Edition==
Arcooda did however announce their agreement in Feb 2017 with Barnstorm Games for their Pro Pinball TimeShock PC game, to be created as TimeShock Arcade Edition . This created further interest in the amusement industry as it was the first-time video pinball products were being introduced on a traditional pinball cabinet as a coin operated product.
==Fish Machine Coin Operated Products==
As Arcooda was being told by international distributors that they would wait for the virtual pinball machines and would not order other home products such as the Game Wizard series until the pinball machines could ship, Arcooda refocused on coin operated products, especially on the video fish gaming software and machines.
During 2017/18, Arcooda released a number of video Fish Machine cabinets including Fish Deluxe , Fish Metro and the 2 player Fish Legend , as well as fish game software including The Lost Dragon , Deep Ocean , and Mystic Dragon 2 . Mystic Dragon 2 was released as both a 6 and 8 player machine. This machine was later released as a ticket redemption machine and popular in Asian FECs as well as cruise ship liners.
Arcooda also developed an anti EMP cheater device. In some arcade stores, people were using EMP devices to cheat the machines by pulsing electrical current into coin mechanisms and bill acceptors. If successful, the machines would add credits onto the cabinets, resulting in thousands of dollars in losses. This product was the first product to be successfully tested and sold in USA with FCC approval.
==Arcooda & Tencent Cooperation==
In Feb 2018, Arcooda was asked by Tencent Video Game division to privately develop a modified version of Game Wizard Xtreme for PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) as well as other game cabinets for their MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) titles.
==Arcooda Pinball Arcade - Delays & Loss of License==
Arcooda Pinball Arcade Software continued to be delayed by FarSight, and during May 2018, FarSight Studios announced they had lost their license agreement [40] for the Williams/Bally pinball titles, these licenses being obtained by Zen Studios [41]. In turn, this meant that Arcooda also lost their ability to sell these titles on their Arcooda Pinball Arcade software. The dire situation created a problem for Arcooda as the software still had not been released by FarSight Studios in working condition, and Arcooda’s ability to recoup their development work and sales was lost.
In June 2018, Arcooda announced 3 versions of the Arcooda Pinball Arcade software a cabinet unlock for Steam users, a standalone generic software for public machines, and a more advanced software version for Arcooda machines. Arcooda announced it had pre-ordered software licenses via FarSight prior to the 30th June expiry date.
The Steam “cabinet” version of FarSight Studio’s Pinball Arcade PC software allowed players who owned any of the 76 licensed pinball tables in their Steam library to have physical cabinet support.With the unlock code, players could enable 2 or 3 monitors game play, new camera angles, variable plunger and nudge support. During the June release however, the software had errors which created a very slow game play. Arcooda and its customers worked with FarSight Studios to solve these issues with a number of firmware updates, and by late July the game play speed had been solved.
==Virtual reality & rrcooda pinball ultra==
During Pinfest Australia in August 2018, Arcooda announced it had been working on a number of new innovations including VR development and public showing of their advanced Arcooda Pinball Ultra model.
At the Pinfest event, Stern Pinball CEO Gary Stern, Homepin CEO Mike Kalinowski, and Arcooda’s CEO Steve Josifovski gave presentations about the pinball industry and new products.
 Arcooda showed private development information including their range of new vertical pinball machines, coin operated products, and how the interchangeable control panel functions work on Arcooda machines.
In September 2018, Arcooda started to ship the Generic version of Arcooda Pinball Arcade software to the market. This software allowed owners of any branded or home-made virtual pinball machine to install the Arcooda Pinball Arcade software. 76 game titles were included in this software, and worked as a standalone software product, not needing internet.
 
==Kinect 3D support==
Arcooda surprised fans in October 2018 when it announced that 3D Kinect support was available for all versions of the software at no charge. The software add-on automatically was released to all versions of Arcooda Pinball Arcade. It was designed for non-experienced PC users to easily add 3D game play with onscreen calibration.
==Pinball cabinet production & further delays==
As the Arcooda Pinball Arcade software was unavailable, sales opportunity disappeared during 2017 and Arcooda was unable to proceed with production of their “Pro” version timber cabinet with American Pinball. Instead, Arcooda was developing their Steel “Ultra” pinball cabinet in China, and during 2018 began working with Homepin, a pinball machine manufacturer based in China, to develop a range of pinball parts to be used in the Arcooda Pinball series.
Arcooda had also planned to start production in 2019 at the Homepin factory of their “Standard” timber model however with delays in the production of Homepin’s Thunderbirds Pinball, flow on delays occurred with the release and manufacturer of the Arcooda Pinball machines. By July 2019, Arcooda abandoned all development work with Homepin and the project again stopped. Homepin closed their factory in China in February 2020.
Arcooda restarted development work, and announced in October 2019 that it had moved its pinball machine manufacturing to South Korea.
==EMP anti cheater abandoned==
During November 2019, Arcooda announced that it had stopped manufacturing its Anti Cheater Device due to the high level of copy and fake products being sold into the world marketplace.
==Current==
In February 2020, Arcooda said it was finally ready to release their pinball machines including new models Game Wizard Mercury 2.0 and Dynasty vertical pinball machine. However shortly after the announcement, Arcooda was unable to start manufacturing due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The virus had severely impacted Arcooda with many of their suppliers closing or going into bankruptcy.
==ARCOODA PRODUCTS - MACHINES==		
Release Date 	Product 	Notes 	Link #1 	Link #2
June 2015 	Game Wizard Series 	All machines in the Game Wizard series supports XBOX One, XBOX 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PC, Raspberry Pi, Android and JAMMA arcade boards.
The control board can be updated by firmware. In May 2018, firmware 1.08 was released adding Nintendo Switch support.
Players can use their game libraries from Steam, Origin, Epic, Google Play, XBOX Live and PlayStation Plus accounts and play on their Game Wizard machines.	https://www.arcooda.com/our-machines/game-wizard-series/ 	
June 2015 	Game Wizard Xtreme 	32” HD LCD monitor, with JVS, Jamma and Highway IO wiring system, Highway IO board, Sanwa Joysticks & buttons, and interchangeable control panels including joystick, gun shooting, steering wheel, and music panels.
Supports JAMMA & JVS arcade games, XBOX 360, XBOX One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Android, Raspberry Pi, PC and Nintendo Switch consoles. 	https://www.arcooda.com/our-machines/game-wizard-xtreme/ 	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14cj9wpiS5Q
Feb 2016 	Arcooda Deluxe Fish Cabinet 	58" HD 8 Player fish cabinet, supporting IGS, China and Korean game software. Multifunction cabinet also supports bill acceptors, printers, hoppers, coin mechs and card readers with one wiring and cabinet management system. 	https://www.arcooda.com/our-machines/arcooda-8-player-fish-machine/ 	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pap0jrp6ri8
August 2016 	Game Wizard for Android 	26" HD Touchscreen, with Jamma and Highway wiring, Highway IO Board, Android motherboard, Sanwa Joysticks and buttons. Supports JAMMA games, XBOX 360, XBOX One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Android, Raspberry Pi, PC and Nintendo Switch consoles. 	https://www.arcooda.com/our-machines/game-wizard-for-android/ 	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSdMLjIbQI0
August 2016 	Arcooda Video Pinball for Android 	Specs: 42” HD LCD touchscreen monitor for play, 32” HD LCD monitor for game score/game title display, Highway IO board, Sanwa Joystick & buttons, android motherboard, traditional pinball parts including coils & buttons, Sanwa Joystick & buttons for interchangeable arcade control panel
World’s first released touch screen full sized video pinball machine
Released August 2016 at the Australasian Gaming Expo (AGE) Sydney 2016	https://www.arcooda.com/highway-games-showing-arcooda-products-at-age-now-open/ 	
August 2016 	Arcooda Video Pinball   	Specs: 42” HD LCD touchscreen monitor for play, 32” HD LCD monitor for game title display, 14.9” LCD for game score, Highway IO board, traditional pinball parts including coils & buttons, Sanwa Joystick & buttons for interchangeable arcade control panel
World’s first released touch screen full sized video pinball machine
Released August 2016 at the Australasian Gaming Expo (AGE) Sydney 2016
Product was discontinued November 2016.	https://www.arcooda.com/highway-games-showing-arcooda-products-at-age-now-open/ 	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrfNmJIyB6s
Aug 2016 	Game Wizard Neptune 	26" HD 2 Player cabinet, with Jamma and Highway wiring, Highway IO Board, Sanwa Joysticks and buttons. Supports JAMMA games, XBOX 360, XBOX One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Android, Raspberry Pi, PC and Nintendo Switch consoles. 	https://www.arcooda.com/our-machines/gamewizard-neptune/ 	
November 2016	Touch Wizard 	Specs: 19" HD LCD touchscreen monitor, Jamma and Highway wiring, Android motherboard, Sanwa buttons and joysticks, interchangeable control panel.
Released Nov 2016 at the IAAPA Show Florida USA together with Arcooda Pinball Arcade for Android software. 	 	
April 2017 	Metro Fish Machine 	55" HD 8 Player fish cabinet, supporting IGS, China and Korean game software. Multifunction cabinet also supports bill acceptors, printers, hoppers, coin mechs and card readers with one wiring and cabinet management system. 	https://www.arcooda.com/our-machines/arcooda-8-player-metro-fish-machine/ 	
June 2017 	Game Wizard Xtreme Coin Operated 	In addition to the Game Wizard Xtreme features, new additions include programmable coin operated timer board, and new commercial use control panel. 	https://www.arcooda.com/our-machines/game-wizard-xtreme-coin-operated-edition/ 	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9Wwc5cWUkg
June 2017 	Arcooda 2 Player Fish Machine 	32" HD 2 Player fish cabinet, supporting IGS, China and Korean game software. Multifunction cabinet also supports bill acceptors, printers, hoppers, coin mechs and card readers with one wiring and cabinet management system. Linkable up to 4 cabinets. 	https://www.arcooda.com/our-machines/arcooda-2-player-fish-machine/ 	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9Wwc5cWUkg
Aug 2017 	Arcooda 6 Player Fish Machine 	50" HD 6 Player fish cabinet, supporting IGS, China and Korean game software. Multifunction cabinet also supports bill acceptors, printers, hoppers, coin mechs and card readers with one wiring and cabinet management system. 	https://www.arcooda.com/our-machines/arcooda-6-player-fish-machine/ 	
Dec 2017 	Touch Wizard Pinball 	In addition to the Touch Wizard features, this product included 70 video pinball titles from the Arcooda Pinball Arcade software, nudge and tilt support, mechanical coils, and support for other video games. 	 	
Dec 2017 	Game Wizard Legend 	32" HD 2 Player steel cabinet, with Jamma and Highway wiring, Highway IO Board, Sanwa Joysticks and buttons. Supports JAMMA games, XBOX 360, XBOX One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Android, Raspberry Pi, PC and Nintendo Switch consoles. 	https://www.arcooda.com/our-machines/game-wizard-legend/ 	
Jan 2018 	Game Wizard Mercury 	20" HD 2 Player cabinet, with Jamma and Highway wiring, Highway IO Board, Sanwa Joysticks and buttons. Supports JAMMA games, XBOX 360, XBOX One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Android, Raspberry Pi, PC and Nintendo Switch consoles. 	https://www.arcooda.com/our-machines/game-wizard-mercury/ 	
Jan 2018 	Arcooda Pinball Ultra 	43" HD Touchscreen monitor, 32" HD headboard monitor, 14.9" LCD score display, with traditional pinball parts including plunger, coils, together with proprietary IO boards including Arcooda Management Board, Arcooda Smart Tilt. The machine supports all current virtual pinball software, and have interchangeable control panels supporting joystick, driving, gun shooting, music and mobile phone gaming. 	https://www.arcooda.com/our-machines/arcooda-video-pinball/arcooda-video-pinball-ultra/ 	
May 2018 	Mystic Dragon 2 Ticket Redemption Machine	New dragon bosses, advanced guns and ability to adjust the value of each shot you take, the machine supports both electronic and traditional redemption ticket payouts. 	https://www.arcooda.com/our-machines/mystic-dragon-2-6-player-machine/ 	
Feb 2020 	Game Wizard Mercury 2.0 	In addition to the Game Wizard Mercury features, new features include touchscreen, subwoofer sound, Arcooda Management IO, rumble IO, and pinball add-on (including VR, nudge/tilt, variable plunger, real pinball coils, independently programmable LED cabinet lighting support). 	https://www.arcooda.com/our-machines/game-wizard-mercury/ 	
Feb 2020 	Arcooda Dynasty 	32" HD Touchscreen monitor, 19" HD headboard monitor, 8" LCD score display, with traditional pinball parts including plunger, coils, together with proprietary IO boards including Arcooda Management Board, Arcooda Smart Tilt. The machine supports all current virtual pinball software, VR pinball, and has interchangeable control panels supporting joystick, driving, gun shooting, music and mobile phone gaming.	https://www.arcooda.com/our-machines/arcooda-video-pinball/arcooda-dynasty-vertical-pinball/	
==References==
Category:Gaming miniatures companies
Category:Game manufacturers
Category:Virtual reality games