Arcade game cabinet maker Arcade1Up sales surge during coronavirus pandemic: exclusive

Scott Bachrach, TasteMakers Founder & CEO joins Yahoo Finance’s Alexis Christoforous and Brian Sozzi to discuss the state of Arcade1Up amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Video Transcript

BRIAN SOZZI: Joining us now in an exclusive interview is Scott Bachrach. He's the Founder and CEO of TasteMakers, which owns Arcade1Up. Good to see you this morning, Scott.

Wow. I am the "NBA Jam" champion of all time. I'm just looking at your backdrop there. I had a question all prepared for you, but that's my game, and I know I would love to dust-- to absolutely dunk in the face of my producer Nick Monte, but I won't. But how's business been?

SCOTT BACHRACH: Thank God business is great. Thank you so much for asking. And yeah, we love when people say they like to dunk on "NBA Jam." It's a nice tradition that goes along there.

BRIAN SOZZI: But we think--

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: But what are your top games right now, actually? I'm just curious. And how are you incorporating online play into them?

SCOTT BACHRACH: You know, it's a great question. First of all, you know, we're just so proud and lucky to be part of this solution right now for kind of keeping people busy and passing time at home. We've got some terrific machines out there right now. Our "Pac-Man 40th" was just released. Like Brian just said, our "NBA Jam" is our first arcade live machine. So it's the first one where if, Brian, you have one in your house and, Alexis, you have one in your house and I have one at my house, we can all play in real time live, and it's the first in many of the online pieces that will be coming out.

BRIAN SOZZI: I'm ready for you, Alexis. Bring it. Let's go.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: All right. I have to get one of those first, but yes, me too.

DAN HOWLEY: Hey, Scott, it's Dan here, Dan and my cat. And I just kind of want to know, you know, you've released a bunch of great games-- he got tired of this conversation-- a bunch of great games on the arcade cabinets that we've, you know, loved over the years. I've played them personally as a kid in, you know, roller-skating rinks, bowling alleys, at the grocery store. And, you know, it's good to see them coming back. What titles are you hoping to get going forward, and where do you think this will continue to go as you start to move into generations where you've seen more console releases?

SCOTT BACHRACH: Great questions. You know, it's funny. So I was asking Brian just before we jumped on how old he was, and he said-- I won't say it on live because I don't know what he says, but he says I'm almost at that age of millennial. And I said-- what he said to me was at that age it rings a bell to me. Everybody has their own favorite that they grew up with, right?

So I'm 51 years old. And I've told you this, Dan, a few times. 51 years old, I'm that "Pac-Man," "Ms. Pac-Man," "Galaga" guy, right? And, you know, the 35- to 40-year-olds, right, and younger are those "NBA Jam" fans. The 30-year-olds and younger are the "Turtle" fans and "Street Fighter" fans.

And so what's so amazing about this industry-- and I've learned it-- is that it's like the film and television and music business in that everybody loves music. Everybody loves television. Everybody loves gaming. You just have to find the right content. And the best part about it is that we've got content that's proven itself, in some cases, over 40 years.

So we've got a lot of other new titles coming out. "NBA Jam," like I said, was just our announced live machine. I can tell you that we're going to be making a lot of announcements over the next 30 to 45 days of some additional cabinets coming out, both this year and for years to come.

BRIAN SOZZI: Scott, I originally came in contact with your product for the first time two Christmas seasons ago. And the first thing I did when I went to a Walmart store-- I was there. I played it, and I was touching it. But obviously that's a different circumstance, especially heading into this holiday season. How are you changing the experience or how will that experience change-- the selling experience change in a Walmart, a Best Buy this holiday season?

SCOTT BACHRACH: Great questions. So we are partnering with both Walmart and Best Buy and others, and it's interesting. You know, we've seen-- I think you mentioned we've seen our sales increase week over week since the pandemic has started in the middle of March. And actually our line sales-- online sales, excuse me, have shot up significantly.

So I think what you're going to see is that as more people start to shop online and they continue to shop online, our presence there becomes more dominant. And we've had the last two years, like you said, to be out in front of the places at Walmart and other retailers where our product name has gotten out there and people have become familiar with it. And so now when they're seeing it online, hopefully they've heard of it before or, if not, they're getting experience of it online, being able to try certain things, and hopefully that will be an engaging experience and allow them to purchase the product.

DAN HOWLEY: Scot, there are a whole bunch of cabinets that you have that I've played with my friends growing up-- "Street Fighter," "Mortal Kombat," "Turtles," "NBA Jam." Lost constantly. But do you normally see the games that you can-- kind of you co-op with as being the top sellers?

SCOTT BACHRACH: Say that one more time? I'm sorry.

DAN HOWLEY: Do you normally see the games that you can play co-op with kind of the top sellers?

SCOTT BACHRACH: Yeah, so engagement, right? Yes. I think in today's time especially, you know, when you can play together and you can play as a co-op, as you said-- and co-op sometimes, as like right behind me, side by side, but now you can play co-op from different spaces. That's a truly engaging experience because, like I said, it just takes you back to a simpler time.

You know, we all remember-- I think you said the roller rink, right, or the bowling alley. And typically when you were there, you weren't by yourself. You were with a friend. And now to be able to do that and have that similar experience all over again, I'd like to just say they're simpler times way before all this craziness had begun.

BRIAN SOZZI: Scott, just a real quick question here. Your machines, I don't need quarters, right?

SCOTT BACHRACH: Zero quarter. Nope. You can continuously play, Brian. As long as you can beat me, you can play as long as you'd like.

BRIAN SOZZI: All right, fair enough. We'll leave it there. Scott Bachrach, the founder and CEO of TasteMakers, which owns Arcade1Up, good to speak with you, and good luck this holiday season.

SCOTT BACHRACH: Thank you so much for having me. We appreciate it. Game on.