I finally visited Galloping Ghost on a Saturday in March 2026. I've been making excuses for not going since they opened. My wife had an author event at a microbrewery just a block away. The weather was perfect that day so walking from one to the other was quite nice. The brewery even had a taco truck this particular Saturday. I don't know if I could have asked for a more perfect combination of things in the same day.
I noted the date because the price and game selection may have changed by the time you are reading this. It's unlikely the game selection has shrunk though. When I went it was $25 for the entire day, leaving to go get tacos and microbrews didn't require a re-entry fee. That is a spectacular price. I believe it jumped from $20 somewhat recently which is understandable. I don't know if they own their building or rent, either way they would be impacted by property tax increases and other things that drive up the cost of real estate. I assume they are on the hook for power costs even if they are renting. They have no control over power cost increases which were quite high around the time I visited. Insurance is probably not growing cheaper for them either. Between all these factors I can imagine a 25% price increase happening.
I skipped a lot of common games like the Mortal Kombat series, regular Pac-Man, and anything else that I have on a game collection. The quality of home arcade collections has really improved in the past few years. Obviously it's not the same as playing a real cabinet but I largely passed on things I can fire up any time.
With that, let's get right into the main reason I wanted to visit...
Galloping Ghost has many cabinets that are extremely rare. In a couple cases they may have the only publicly playable versions in existence. These machines are not going to last forever. That alone makes a visit worthwhile.
As I understand, and I could be wrong, this is the only instance of an Argus cabinet anywhere:
They previously brought this to the 2016 Midwest Gaming Classic - geez, 10 years ago. I definitely put this trip off for too long.
I've only seen Holosseum once before, it was in an abandoned shopping mall:
Or was it Time Traveler I saw in the abandoned mall arcade? And why have I never posted photos of that weird trip?
Sorry, the photo I took of Joust 2 didn't turn out:
At this point I have a phone with what looks like 400 cameras and I still can't take pictures well. Anyway, if Joust 2 was a 1983 release I think it would have been a hit. Instead it came out after the NES was released and arcades were slumping. This is the only cabinet I remember seeing in person.
They brought this Primal Rage II machine to the 2015 Midwest Gaming Classic:
At the risk of repeating myself, I enjoyed this much more than the original.
Maybe Q*Bert Qubes isn't rare at all:
I'm not 100% positive I've seen Q*Bert Qubes in person before but am nearly 100% positive I haven't seen two at once. This is a really nice looking cabinet. I would wallpaper a room in that artwork.
Quake is only rare in arcade cabinet form:
This was a neat idea, but the controls were difficult. It relied on a trackball to aim and joystick buttons to move. It felt like playing Quake II on the Nintendo 64, something I would not recommend doing.
These are games I don't recall playing before. If I went through all 20ish years of Midwest Gaming Classic recaps maybe I'd find that I played all of them. Some of these may also be very rare games, I don't know enough about them to say. This is about games I found interesting, not a deep history into each of them.
The artwork from Blue Print looks familiar but a lot of things from 1981-1982 look like that:
Maybe this was on Starcade once, that could be said about many of these. I feel like that show could work today with a few tweaks.
I thought maybe I had played Boomer Rang'r before, after starting it was totally unfamiliar:
I quickly realized that some of these games are obscure because they just aren't fun. They are completely worth trying and of course preserving. It's easy to understand why they didn't take off.
Bullet was one of my favorite new to me games:
This is a twin-stick shooter game with a large area to explore. This could have been a good Genesis launch game.
Baluba-Louk no Densetsu was (obviously) a Japan exclusive:
It reminded me of Ghost House or Dragon Slayer IV (AKA Legacy of the Wizard).
Chicago 1929 looked and felt like something running on the Sega NAOMI hardware:
This was a fun game, whenever I go back I will try it again.
Sorry this next picture of Crash didn't turn out either:
I probably have seen this cabinet before though.
The Destroyer from Jail cabinet was for sure new to me:
This is a NARC knock-off with some interesting character designs. I don't know that it was good, more like "so bad it's good".
Exterminator sounds familiar but I don't recall seeing the cabinet before:
I guess "Exterminator" sounds like a lot of other game titles.
Jail Break felt like something that should have been ported to the NES:
A few hundred prisoners have escaped, and you have to just gun them all down in the streets I guess.
JoJo's Venture is based on an anime I know my kids are into:
We found a bar in Nakano that was based on this anime but couldn't get in. It was only open a couple of hours a day and the reviews could be summarized as: "don't even bother trying to get in if you are a tourist". It's fine, there are places everywhere like that, the rest of the country was very welcoming.
I assume Ketsui Kizuna Jigoku Tachi is also a Japan exclusive:
The marquee says 2002 but it looks like something from 1992, which is likely a deliberate choice.
I think I would remember if I ever saw Kozmik Krooz'r:
The game itself is alright, very similar to Asteroids.
It seems like I should have run into Motorace USA sooner:
This plays like a slower Spy Hunter or faster Triple Action. It would have been a better home console game.
I didn't have to play Munch Mobile for long to see why it's obscure:
This... this was not fun at all. Those yellow curbs aren't boundaries you bump off, they totally wreck your car.
Pig Out sort of reminded me of Mappy:
The idea is your pig is trying to eat as much as they can without getting caught by the wolf, also while avoiding various things getting in your way. It was fine, also would have made for a decent home game.
Hmm, another picture didn't turn out, too bad for Prehistoric Isle:
It's a game where you massacre dinosaurs for reasons.
I'm sure I would have remembered the Space Gun cabinet if I saw it before:
It looks like a giant Virtual Boy really.
Trio: The Punch is another Japan exclusive:
It's a side-scrolling fighter game. It's a little too weird to have received a western port.
I think Wacko is on one of the many Midway collections I own:
The title is an accurate description of the game. I'll try it again.
Here are a few games that I will pretty much always try if I run across them.
I think I only have BurgerTime on one collection... on the Wii of all things.
I even did fairly well when I played it. That's unusual for me.
I haven't seen either of these Dungeons & Dragons games in a while:
They are similar to Golden Axe, someone will find issue with that comparison.
I sought Deathstalker out in particular:
I played this at the 2019 Midwest Gaming Classic and was instantly hooked. I should buy the Steam version already.
I am terrible at both Ghosts 'n Goblins and Ghouls 'n Ghosts but enjoy the premise and setting:
I barely remember seeing either of these in the arcade when they were new.
Gorf is always an automatic play for me:
I can't explain why I like Gorf so much.
Lock 'n Chase is one of my favorite Intellivision games, and didn't know that it even was an arcade game for a long time:
I did alright at Lock 'n Chase too, it's on the easy side for an arcade game.
Lucky & Wild is one of my favorite premises for a game:
I saw one of these cabinets at a warehouse sale once. It's one of the times I regretted not owning a pickup truck or cargo van.
M.A.C.H. 3 totally impressed me as a kid:
OK, it's slower Afterburner with better backgrounds. I still like it.
I don't understand the point of Mikie but find it fun anyway:
As far as I can tell you just run around a school head-butting people in the groin. I'm missing something.
I don't recall this Pac-Mania cabinet variant:
It's the same game, one of the easier Pac-Man games, just with a cooler marquee.
I am biased toward games that I briefly appear in:
I still don't think this is a bad game.
I have Super Pac-Man on a couple collections but will always play it live.
I can't explain why but Super Pac-Man has probably my favorite cabinet art ever.
Sadly, these were not working:
These are both solid fighting games. They were up against tough competition, leaving them as also-rans.
Here are a few games I have seen before, possibly even played, and completely forgot about.
I know I saw Gladiator, likely at Aladdin's Castle, and did not try it before:
It's OK. I can see why it wasn't a hit.
I will never stop finding these knock-off wrestlers in The Main Event funny:
This game is too tough for me. I think I got like two hits in.
I remember Pitfall II, I forgot (or never knew) it had an arcade version:
It's an odd arcade game because it plays like a home platformer.
I played Roc'n Rope somewhere else but can't recall where now:
Here's the thing, your guy is way too slow. It's impossible to survive for long.
I think I erased Super BurgerTime from my brain:
I'm not a fan of this one. I would have been happier if they stayed with the original premise.
Tattoo Assassins... I think I thought it was vaporware or an April Fools joke:
This is clearly trying to leech off the popularity of Mortal Kombat.
I played the NES Three Stooges game a lot, the arcade game is different:
You know what, I probably played this some time in the past 10 years.
I remember Trojan as an NES game and forgot it was originally an arcade game:
I know I've seen the cabinet a dozen times before too.
There were a few games I was really excited to track down... only to find my memories of them are sugar-coated.
I am biased toward thinking LaserDisc games are great and remembered Astron Belt favorably:
The cabinet looks nice but the game itself is a dull shooter. The backgrounds are amazing but it's not much fun.
I messed up this picture too:
This game is OK. Nice cabinet again but not for me.
I saw Cliff Hanger exactly once when I was a kid. It wasn't at an arcade, it was one of those machines that was in the front lobby of some other store. I didn't know it was based on an anime because how would you possibly know that in the 1980s? I remembered it as being like Dragon's Lair.
I died immediately and often.
Cool artwork for Cloak & Dagger, kind of boring game, sorry:
I think the movie over sold me on this game.
I usually like twin stick shooters and remembered Krull as being a good one:
I was wrong. It's better than the movie though.
I'm not joking when I say these pictures represent about 10% of the games at Galloping Ghost. I spent about 4 hours there in total which is not enough time to try more than about 10% of the selection. I'm going to make it a point to go back every 1-2 years and maybe even post about what I found new & interesting each time.
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