Keene’s Artcade Offers More Than a Game

Artcade owners Stephen and Kristina Crabb revisit Dance Dance Revolution, a game they’ve played together since early in their relationship. Courtesy photo

Third places are having a moment. In our modern era — overly digitized, increasingly disconnected, jarringly polarized — many people are gingerly placing the last of their optimism eggs into the basket of offline locations that focus on creating real-life connections. While coffee shops and libraries work well for some, others are seeking spaces that provide a little more play. Enter Artcade, an arcade-meets-art-gallery-meets-makerspace, which opened in downtown Keene this spring.   

“Young people especially need a place that is not online,” co-owner Kristina Crabb says. “They need an actual physical location to go to form community.” Kristina and her husband, Stephen, hope that Artcade — which is packed full of games and offers arts and craft workshops — can be that place for kids and kids at heart. “Gen X grew up going to arcades, so there’s nostalgia on that end,” Kristina says. “Then we see kids that are experiencing it for the first time in their hometown.” The last time Keene had a standalone arcade was in the 1990s. 

The Crabbs both have a professional background in accounting (Stephen still does some part-time CPA work), but gaming has been a part of the couple’s relationship since the beginning. The night that Stephen introduced Kristina to his parents, they stopped at an arcade beforehand to loosen up with a little Dance, Dance, Revolution (DDR). 

At the beginning of COVID, Kristina told Stephen that she wanted a Skee-Ball machine for their house. “I think she meant maybe a small, home version,” Stephen says. “But I found somebody selling a full-size arcade machine.” After that was all set up, he asked the seller, “What else you got?” 

Once the basement was overflowing, the Crabbs set up some of the extra games in the back corners of two nearby businesses — a laundromat and an antique shop — but the Crabbs knew they wanted to do even more. When the space at 116 Main St. became available, they jumped at the chance. 

An arcade alone would have been ambitious enough, but they knew from the start they wanted it to be more about building community than locking in for a few hours of solo gameplay. In addition to her pandemic-driven Skee-Ball hobby, Kristina says she took some drawing classes and started taking art commissions. “Art is fun to make, but it’s really difficult to market and sell,” Kristina says. “I wanted to make this space where people would come in because of the games and then happen to see local artists’ work.” 

Those who come in for the games are met with an extensive selection; there’s a wide range of both retro and newer options on offer. Stephen thinks the oldest game cabinet they have is a Wacky Gators from the late ’80s. Plus there are plenty of other classics, like Time Crisis, Pac-Man, and Galaga. 

“It’s a rush of nostalgia to share these games with my 9-year-old daughter, Evelyn,” says Emily Sodders, a local muralist and fine artist who’s hosted workshops at Artcade. “And there are plenty of new games to try, too.”

At the time of this interview, the newest on site was a new Pokémon pinball game. “Pinball machines are kind of having a comeback,” Stephen says. At Artcade, you’ll find classic themes — like Jurassic Park and Mario — as well as newer, nerdy favorites, like a Dungeons & Dragons machine voiced by Matt Mercer, and Star Wars: The Mandalorian with a Grogu figurine that uses his force power to capture the ball. 

While pinball is typically a solo endeavor, many games are meant to be enjoyed in a group. “We tried to do a lot of games where people could play together,” Stephen says. For example, in NERF Arcade, players battle each other from side-by-side seats. They have two Skee-Ball lanes so two people can play at the same time and a Pac-Man table that sits up to four players. 

Of course, the Crabbs wanted to have DDR. They weren’t sure it would be a hit, but people have been really excited about it —
so excited that when they had to move it to make room for the new Pokémon pinball machine, one person left a panicked “please tell me DDR isn’t gone” comment on the Artcade Instagram. 

You’ll also find games that are less common to see in the wild. For example, they have Guitar Hero, which Stephen says has sort of disappeared from the arcade circuit. In the back of the arcade sits a prototype cabinet for the Flamin’ Finger game, which was made by Dell Labs and sold to NAMCO. 

“I put a final board of the game inside so you can play the real game,” Stephen says, but the cabinet is a prototype that was never actually produced. “It’s the only one (of this version) that I’ve ever seen.”

In addition to games, Artcade has a small store stocked with work by local artists, crafting materials, games and more. In addition to games, Artcade has a small store stocked with work by local artists, crafting materials, games and more. In addition to games, Artcade has a small store stocked with work by local artists, crafting materials, games and more. Courtesy photo

Stephen swaps games out about once a month; a bunch of the cabinets can host several different games. Stephen points out one that held Primal Rage — a ’90s-era game where players fight as prehistoric beasts — when they first opened. “People don’t remember or care about Primal Rage, so I put NBA Jam in,” he says. 

To keep with the retro vibes, guests pay for the games with quarters, which they can get at the front desk. The pricing also feels like a blast from the past: “A lot of the games are the same price as they were when they came out,” Stephen says. Most are 50 cents to play, with some as low as 25 cents per person and a few, like the extremely popular claw machines, that go up to a dollar. 

Most of the games reward wins with tickets, which players can trade in for prizes. Stephen says Pokémon cards are the most popular option, with the Rubik’s Cube coming in second. 

In addition to sourcing the games, Stephen is the in-house repairman, a skill he’s taught himself. “When I would buy the machines, they would have been in an arcade for many years. They generally had things not quite right with them,” he explains. “I get them back to where you can play them the way they should be played.” 

While Stephen takes the lead on the gaming side of things, Kristina oversees the art half. This includes coordinating with local artists both to display their work throughout the space and to have them host workshops, some of which are geared toward kids from as young as 2 and some specifically for adults. 

Sodders, for example, ran a mural painting class that resulted in a mural on the backwall; she also ran a micro-painting class. 

“She’s covering both sides of the spectrum,” Kristina says, noting that they’re actively looking for more artists of all kinds who are interested in hosting workshops through the summer and fall. 

Visitors can also come in and use the workshop space at their leisure, which many young people do. “I love seeing (kids) come in after school,” Kristina says. “This space will be covered in backpacks.” The back wall is covered in drawings that were made by kids in between rounds of pinball.

Work by professional artists is on display for three months at a time. Most of the pieces are for sale, and there’s also a small boutique at the front of the store where visitors can buy work from local artisans, as well as other art- and gaming-centric treasures. 

Overall, the community seems excited about this new addition to downtown. “It’s so exciting to have an arts-focused space like this right on Main Street,” Meg McIntyre, who leads local writing and arts workshops, says. “The Monadnock region has always been a creatively rich area, and Artcade’s visibility downtown really highlights that for both locals and visitors.” Sodders agrees: “It’s as unique and niche as one could want for the Monadnock Region.”

The Crabbs’ plan for Artcade’s future can be summed up in two words: more fun. They’ve applied to be a Pokémon League location, which would make them an official meeting point for people who want to play and trade cards. They’re partnering with Maxt Makerspace in Peterborough to make a “really big stadium” to host Beyblade tournaments, plus they’d like to bring in a projector screen to do Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. tournaments. 

And, of course, they want to find more ways to lift up local artists and encourage in-person community. “The art community in Keene is really vibrant,” Kristina says. “It’s really nice to be a part of that.”