ARTCADE - The Book of Classic Arcade Game Art: Extended Edition

Back in 2015, Bitmap Books teamed up with arcade enthusiast Tim Nicholls to publish the first edition of Artcade, a labour of love that was born out of Nicholls’ quest to restore his massive archive of original arcade game artwork, comprised of titles from the last four decades.

Within this Extended Edition, we have been able to build on the amazing foundation laid down by Nicholls, massively expanding it with newly restored artwork and exclusive written content. Nicholls’ efforts to bring the artwork of classic coin-ops back to life remains at the core of this revised version, but it is accompanied by a wealth of additional art which has been kindly contributed to by other collectors, restorers and fans. As well as adding a larger selection of memorable marquee artwork, we’ve also included a lot more side panel and cabinet art this time around, giving you a better overall picture of the complete machine, and what it would have looked like in its full glory. Artcade Extended’s format has also been changed, in direct response to feedback on the first edition regarding images running across the spine. The design now has one image per page.

While the art naturally remains the main focus of Artcade, there’s a lot more written content to digest this time around, including a brand-new, exclusive interview with the legendary Larry Day, who worked on seminal titles such as Moon Patrol and the pinball machine Catacomb. Day’s insights into the history of the amusement arcade industry help bring these bold illustrations to life, while an in-depth ‘how-to’ chapter – with contributions from Escape Pod, one of the world’s leading creators of high-quality restored arcade artwork – serves as a great taster for those of you who are entertaining the idea of picking up a battered coin-op classic and bringing it back to life.

Artcade comes housed within a Glow-in-the-Dark slipcase made from heavy board that offers great protection to the book.

Book specifications

356 pages. 297mm × 155mm. Glow-in-the-dark heavy-board slipcase. Edge-to-edge high quality lithographic print. Spot-varnished cover. Sewn binding for enduring quality and the ability to lay flat for ideal double-page image viewing. Shrink wrapped.

Extended Edition updates

In this new, improved edition, we’ve added more artwork, including marquee, side panel and cabinet art, along with new written content, including an interview with Larry Day and a new ‘how to’ chapter on resurrecting old coin-op game cabinets, with material by Escape Pod. In response to reader comments, the format has been changed to one marquee per page, without being obscured by the book’s spine.

Includes contributions from:

Python Anghelo, Larry Day, Damien McFerran, Tim Nicholls and Dan Soulsby.