May 11, 20222 min read

Spring Arcade Road Trip Stop 3: Nerdhaven Arcade - Madison, WI

After visiting The Garcade and Up-Down Milwaukee on day one of the Spring Arcade Road Trip, Rob and I needed to kill some time before the preview of the Midwest Gaming Classic opened on Friday night. Gar suggested that we head over to Madison, Wisconsin to check out the arcade scene there. I have to say, I'm very glad that we did. The hour and a half or so drive from Milwaukee was well worth it.

Out first Madison arcade stop was Nerdhaven Arcade. We had the pleasure of speaking with one of the location's owners, John Karalis, for a while when we arrived. Nerdhaven, which opened in 2020, consists of two sections, an hourly retro video arcade and a coin-op pinball arcade. Both areas are awesome. We're talking, an impressive 129 arcade machines and 38 pins. The arcade charges $15 per adult for entry to the arcade section for all-day play. The admission to that section comes with 20 free pinball tokens. The first kid is free and subsequent kids cost only $5 each.

The pinball section contained a great mix of classics and new games, including some really rare ones like Stern Electronics Orbiter 1. Even The Flintstones is a game that I don't see on location very often. Rob and I ended up playing a ton of that one.

The video arcade contained a great mix of all of the must-have classics, like Centipede, Galaga, Missile Command, Space Invaders, Joust, etc... with a number of pretty rare games like a Sega F-Zero AX, Atari Space Lords, a dedicated Midway Pigskin, a huge 3-monitor Taito Ninja Warriors and much more.

Nerdhaven was a great stop on the road trip and a must visit for anyone in the Madison, WI area. Below are its current pinball lineup, courtesy of Pinball Map, a video walk-through tour and a ton of pictures. Enjoy!

The Addams Family (Bally, 1992)

The Amazing Spider-Man (Gottlieb, 1980)

Attack From Mars (Remake) (Chicago Gaming, 2017)

The Bally Game Show (Bally, 1990)

The Champion Pub (Bally, 1998)

Creature from the Black Lagoon (Bally, 1992)

Cyclone (Williams, 1988)

Demolition Man (Williams, 1994)

Elektra (Bally, 1981)

Fish Tales (Williams, 1992)

The Flintstones (Williams, 1994)

Freedom (EM) (Bally, 1976)