• Review

Arcade1Up Infinity Gaming Table review: To Infinity and beyond

The Infinity Gaming Table is Arcade1Up's first major venture outside of it's arcade cab replicas. Do they hit the mark on their first venture into uncharted territory?

Blake Morse

June 23, 2021 6:00 AM

2

Game night, it’s a weekly staple for many a nuclear family here in the USA. For decades, families have plopped down on their respective couches or in front of their dining room tables for a night of wholesome entertainment for all ages. But as times change and the younger generation becomes more and more focused on gaming through tech, so do the ways we interact and play board games. That gap seems to be the exact one that Arcade1Up is trying to bridge with their latest and greatest product, the Infinity Game Table.

You’ve got the touch

While Arcade1Up is predominantly known for their ¾ scale arcade cab replicas, the company is branching out and into unexplored territories with the Infinity Game Table. This is a touchscreen table with a healthy number of familiar and traditional board games available for download via the table’s built-in wifi. We’re talking staples like Monopoly, Sorry, Scrabble, and Trivial Pursuit mixed in with classics like Solitaire, Checkers, and Chess. There’s also a few cool games that take advantage of the unique formatting like Whack-O-Mole, Fling Hockey, and a robust Puzzle Play app.

All the games have been made or retooled in order to fit the Infinity Game Table’s formatting and some include a decent amount of “House Rules” options that allow players to customize their experience instead of having to conform to a game’s traditional rules. However, options like that aren’t an across the board sort of thing, so don’t expect every game you download to have them. Some games even take on new life thanks to the Infinity Games Table. For example, since you can’t pull things out of an Operation board on a touch screen, you now have to drag your chosen piece through a maze using your finger without touching the sides. The tactile feedback is also great and adds some cool immersion to some games’ interactivity.

I do think there were a few missteps here and there in some of the game designs though. For a few games I had to rotate the table in order for me and another person to play it properly aligned. And while the Infinity Game Table came with physical blinders to hide things for certain games, there was an issue with Scrabble where basically you could hide your tiles one-by-one but the interface was a little wonky and we all just sort of gave up and let everyone see our tiles while playing in-person. I’m not sure if this issue would be present when playing online though, but that leads to another issue: It appears you can only play with people online you’ve added to the table’s friend list.

Even with a few missteps in some of the game designs, I have actually been having a lot of fun with Arcade1Up’s Infinity Game Table so far. I grew up playing a lot of Trivial Pursuit and being able to set it up at the push of a button and not have to deal with getting everything put back in a box afterward is pretty cool. And even when I don’t have a friend or two around I’ve been getting a real kick out of some of the solo games. I’ve been obsessed with What’s the Word (a game where you try and find as many words as you can in a letter scramble) and the Puzzle Play app has a ton of images built in and you can choose the number of pieces you want to deal with. I’ve also been trying to get my cats to play Whack-O-Moles with me, although they seem to prefer jumping up on the table during more intense games, so pet-owners should be prepared for their fur-babies to try and get in on the action.

She’s got legs

While I’m used to having to spend a bit of time assembling Arcade1Up’s arcade cabs, setting up the Infinity Game Table was a literal snap. Basically all I had to do was snap the included legs into the table and attach the power supply and I was good to go. The table comes in 24 and 32-inch forms with a resolution of 1920 x 1080, a 16:9 aspect ratio, and a refresh rate of 60Hz. Colors look vibrant and animations run smoothly overall. Underneath what I refer to as the “game master spot” (center-bottom of the table) users will find buttons for volume and power as well as two USB slots for what I can only assume will be more digital storage space. There even appears to be a spot to keep some drink coasters on the undercarriage. The Infinity Game Table also operates pretty damn well as a regular old table too. So far I’ve eaten meals with friends over games and had my cats jump up on this bad boy a whole heck of a lot with no damage to anything.

My one complaint about the physical design of the Infinity Game Table is that its legs are too short for me to comfortably fit my own gams under it. Fortunately, the legs are easy to take on and off and the Infinity Game Table functions just as well on a table or any other surface you can think of. Still, I think that they may want to think about adjustable heights for later iterations. I will give Arcade1Up a lot of credit for the overall design, form, and function they’ve put into the Infinity Game Table as this is a really sturdy machine.

Reach out and touch someone

I feel like there’s a lot of potential packed into Arcade1Up’s Infinity Game Table, but I don’t think we’ve seen that much of it yet. Right now there’s a lot of great traditional and popular table-top games available for download onto the table, but there’s not much beyond what I’d call an “all ages” level of skill. More games are coming though, such as Pandemic, and I’d really love to see games like Settlers of Catan, or card games like Illuminati make their way into the downloadable library of games. A lot of that is going to depend on what companies decide to partner up with Arcade1Up and who decides to take a shot at developing on their platform.

The price point of $599 USD for the 24-inch model and $799 USD for 32-inch may be an issue for some folks as well, although I do think it ends up being cheaper overall to buy an Infinity Game Table rather than buying every game individually and it takes up a lot less space while actually being functional for your everyday life. Still, I want to see more before I declare this a true homerun. And I definitely want to see some D&D apps show up on this puppy too!

This review is based off a review unit provided by the manufacturer. The Arcade1Up Infinity Game Table will be available soon at select retailers.

Blake Morse

Events Coordinator

Blake has been writing and making videos about pop-culture and games for over 10 years now. Although he'd probably prefer you thought of him as a musician and listened to his band, www.cartoonviolencemusic.com. If you see him on the street, buy him a taco or something. Follow him on twitter @ProfRobot