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  "description": "Imagine approaching an arcade venue with the following pitch.\n\nYou've got a machine that takes up the space of seven arcade cabinets. It's five vs five – and that's the newer, scaled-down version – with retro pixel art graphics, and there's a moderate learning curve.\n\n\"How much to play?\" the proprietor asks. You say it'll be the cheapest machine in the room.\n\nNikita Mikros and Josh DeBonis made that pitch every time they sold a Killer Queen cabinet, and while it seems like something owners might",
  "path": "/making-arcade-only-indie-games-for-a-withdrawn-world-nikita-mikros-grokludo-23/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-07T08:28:28.000Z",
  "site": "https://grokludo.com",
  "tags": [
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  "textContent": "Imagine approaching an arcade venue with the following pitch.\n\nYou've got a machine that takes up the space of seven arcade cabinets. It's five vs five – and that's the newer, scaled-down version – with retro pixel art graphics, and there's a moderate learning curve.\n\n\"How much to play?\" the proprietor asks. You say it'll be the cheapest machine in the room.\n\nNikita Mikros and Josh DeBonis made that pitch every time they sold a Killer Queen cabinet, and while it seems like something owners might balk at, the game has been a sensation in the US. Some have even called it an arcade revival.\n\nWhen I tried it in San Francisco, I was warned – \"People are _obsessed_ with this game.\" But after returning to Sydney, I had to admire its success from afar. One of the downsides to arcade games is some markets are hard to get a foothold in.\n\nHere in Australia, what passes for an \"arcade\" these days is row after row of gacha machines and rigged carnival games, with a couple of token 90s beat-em-ups in the corner. Mikros says this is par for the course, and those games are just for the dads – the industry calls them \"the dad games.\"\n\nThis is why Killer Queen's success actually springs out of adult venues like pubs, bowling alleys, and axe throwing joints selling alcohol – the arcade games just need to bring people in, and money is made on drinks.\n\nOdd, isn't it, that pubs there have _less_ gambling than the \"family friendly\" spots?\n\nBringing people in is something Killer Queen proved to be very good at. It's an eye-catcher, this mammoth machine with crowds around it, and people want to poke their head in to see what the fuss is about. At $2 per game (the _whole_ game, not each player) it's easy to try. Friends are made. Communities are established. There's even a dedicated competitive scene.\n\nAll of a sudden, this success story doesn't seem counterintuitive. It seems brilliant.\n\nNikita Mikros joins grokludo to talk about making arcade-only games in a world that just wants us doomscrolling, as well as the challenges Killer Queen had when Covid hit, and he also gives us a sneak peek at the new games he's working on.\n\nI hope you enjoy it, and thank you all so much for supporting grokludo!",
  "title": "Making Arcade-Only Indie Games for a Withdrawn World - Nikita Mikros | grokludo 23",
  "updatedAt": "2026-04-07T08:28:29.148Z"
}