Games
A Place To Bury Strangers Pinball is a custom pinball machine themed around the NYC psychedelic rock band A Place To Bury Strangers and the guitar pedal manufacturer Death By Audio.
The machine itself is a repurposed 1959 Gottlieb Mademoiselle that was gutted and rebuilt using modern technology, including a fog machine, strobe lights, lasers, and LED lighting.
Credits Hardware and Electronics: Mark Kleeb , Steve Litt and Ezer Longinus Software and Programming: Andy Wallace & Dustin Long Playfield Artwork: Joe Jurewicz Marquee Artwork: Preston Spurlock Sound Design: Travis Johnson Graphic Design: Chris Hernandez Original Music and Video: A Place To Bury Strangers The Cabinet The pinball machine was overhauled over a two year period, where the parts were (mostly) replaced, the playfield was painted, and microcontrollers were installed to handle the inputs and outputs on the machine.
Crystal Brawl is a 2v2 battle-sport local multiplayer game where 4 unique characters fight for the fortune and glory of the Crystal on a dynamic hex-based field. Choose from a roster of varied characters with different abilities, with a notable twist: each character has a unique ability that alters the terrain. Experiment with different character combinations to uncover hidden strategies!
Press BookishMatt: The Underground Crystal Brawl and Field-1 Tournament
The DreamboxXx is a custom arcade cabinet built by DBAA in conjunction with the LGBTQ venue Dreamhouse in Ridgewood, Queens. In addition to building them a custom arcade cabinet, we commissioned nine custom arcade games that were meant to live on the cabinet by local queer NYC developers.
Press Gothamist: Step Inside the Dreamhouse, Where DIY Arcade Games Meet Queer Culture
The Cabinet The Cabinet
The DreamboxXx was built by Mark Kleeb and Kyle Magocs using mostly materials found at the Dreamhouse.
Drink Rink is a six-foot long interactive bar that uses camera vision to detect drink koozies and hands on the surface and translates them into playable game pieces that can be used in several mini-games developed specifically for the bar.
Drink Rink first debuted at Low-Level Festival in 2016 and made its second public showing at the Dreamhouse in 2018. The cabinet was fabricated by Mark Kleback and the games and technology were developed by Andy Wallace and Anthony Marefat.
The Droid was the first cabinet built for Death By Audio in 2010. It was originally built as a MAME cabinet, but has gone on to feature games such as Niddhog, Foiled!, Nothing Good Can Come of This, Filthy Kitchen, and Super Sharp Birds.
The Cabinet The Droid was built in 2010 as a MAME cabinet by Mark Kleeb and Alex Bellows for the intended purpose of living in the Death By Audio music venue.
Score goals to paint the arena in the “air hockey platformer” inspired by screen print poster art! Slam and sling dye-soaked pucks in fast-paced 2v2 competition, each match a randomized series of chaotic stages. Drive your color to victory and print a poster unique to your team. First art wins!
Availability Available to play at Wonderville in Brooklyn!
Downloads and Links Wishlist on Steam!
Field-1 feels like playing hockey inside a pinball machine. Part frogger, part Hokra, part American Gladiators, Field-1 is an arcade game that’s accessible and exciting for both players and spectators. The goal of the game is to pilot your player into the opponents goal. Move faster by shedding weight, but a lighter player is vulnerable to chaotic collisions with heavier opponents and the physics obstacles that fill the field. The player with more points at the end of the round is the winner.
Long after the purge of Earth, humanity holds the pieces of its destroyed culture tightly. Now, on the brink of extinction with no home to return to, humanity must redefine itself. Though they need not start from scratch. They have a piece of Old Earth that could never be destroyed or taken away. They have the glory and the pride of the old world to help shape their future.
The Giffinator is an interactive photobooth that uses a green screen and custom animations to create gifs that can be uploaded directly to GIPHY.
It was conceptualized for the Weird Wedding in April 2018 and was also shown at PlayNYC at Terminal 5 in 2017 and Greenpoint Open Studios in 2018. The Giffinator box was designed and built by Mark Kleback. Dustin Long and Neil Sveri developed the software, and Chris Hernandez was part of the team that developed the custom animations.
Hair Nah is a travel game about being a black woman who is tired of people touching her hair. It is played via motion capture, without using any joysticks or buttons.
Credits Fabrication: Mark Kleeb, Dustin Long, Matt Fry Game Designer: Momo Pixel Additional Game Development: Tuxic, Dustin Long The Cabinet The Cabinet The Hair Nah Arcade Cabinet was the result of built over the summer 2021 in and around Wonderville.
Delve into the world of HOVERBURGER, Earth’s last and best hope to divert the galactic rampage of the cosmic menace known only as the Space Ram!
Witness the newest arcade game from ROBYSOFT in which you must weave, drift, zig and boost your way through a new subterranean sector generated every week. Grab as many bonuses and powerups as you can before the Space Ram smashes through the sector, and you!
KungFu Kickball is a team based platform fighting sports game where the best ball-kicker wins. Punch, kick, and headbutt your way across the field to slam the ball into your opponents’ bell and rack up points!
KungFu Kickball cabinet was built on stage as part of our How To Build An Arcade Cabinet at Super MAGFest 2019.
Credits Fabrication: Kyle Magocs , Allen Riley and Mark Kleeb Game Designer: Jonah Wallerstein Music: John Fio Environment artist: Juno Mendiola The Cabinet The KungFu Kickball cabinet was pieced together in front of a live audience for a panel at Super MAGFest 2019 in National Harbor.
MASSIVE is an arcade game about the transfer of matter between the environment and the players. The goal is to transfer the most matter to your goal by absorbing it from your opponent and collecting free-floating nuggets.
Credits Design, Fabrication: Matt Fry Game Development: Matt Fry and Nick Santaniello Music: Devin Curry / Grand Atrium Press Seen in this interview/music video by Complex for Puma’s “gamer shoe”
Availability
Nest is a competitive local multiplayer game where you control cute, wobbly and wonky felted wool creatures and fight to control all the nests in the sky. Capture a nest by flying into it. Once inside, you’ll have to defend it against incoming opponents for 4 seconds before it becomes yours. Win a round by capturing all the nests!
Press MakeZine: An Arcade Cabinet Made From Felted Wool
The Cabinet The Nest cabinet was built by Ken Amarit.
Two people are trapped in a featureless room. After waiting in near-silence, a loaded gun drops from a hole in the ceiling, falling between them. What is this supposed to mean? What happens next?
This is a minimalist local multiplayer game based around the struggle for control of a deadly weapon.
The Cabinet Nothing Good Can Come Of This was built by Mark Kleeb and Michael Consoli at Floating Point Studios in 2015.
PARTICLE MACE is a game by Andy Wallace about defending yourself in a hostile universe by swinging particles into enemies.
PARTICLE MACE is a game about capturing the thrill of classic arcade games with a new, physics based mechanic
PARTICLE MACE is a game about trying not to die, but that’s impossible.
Press TouchArcade: Come and Swing With Me Rock Paper Shotgun: A Game of Competitive Space Physics 148 Apps: Particle Mace Review Dark Zero: Particle Mace PC Review The Cabinet The PARTICLE MACE arcade machine was the third DBAA cabinet and began its life at the legendary Death By Audio venue.
POWERBOAT ITALIA ‘88 is a frenetic speedboat racing game that combines old-school button mashing with precision maneuvering and timing.
Up to 4 powerboaters storm their way toward the prospect of supreme victory and unending fame by boosting over hurdles, snagging powerups, and blocking the paths of their rivals.
It’s a true test of endurance… and a measure of just how far you’ll go to win.
The Cabinet The Powerboat Italia ‘88 cabinet was the fourth cabinet in the DBAA collection, made in conjunction with Particle Mace in 2014.
Salmon Roll:The Upstream Team is a two player collaborative game with a five-foot long custom controller based on the 1983 arcade game Ice Cold Beer (also the inspiration for TumbleSeed).
It was commissioned in 2017 by PlayNYC, a games conference in NYC held in Terminal 5.
Brief write-up of the development process here.
Credits Game by Andy Wallace and Jane Friedhoff . Art by Diego Garcia Photos by Jo Chiang The Controller The controller for Salmon Roll is a 5 foot long wooden box held by players at either end and with joysticks sticking out of the sides.
Slam City Oracles is a rambunctious, riot grrrl, Katamari-meets-Grand Theft Auto physics game, in which you and a friend slam onto the world around you to cause as much chaos as possible in two minutes. With a rollicking riot grrrl-inspired mechanic designed and programmed by Jane Friedhoff, bright and adorable art by Jenny Jiao Hsia, and an upbeat soundtrack by Brooklyn-based, women-fronted rock band Scully, Slam City Oracles is a gleeful, delightful slam-em-up.
Star Versus is a competitive one-versus-one shooter; outthink and outmaneuver your opponent. Frantic and fearsome gameplay that’s quick to pick-up but impossible to master!
Released exclusively as a physical cartridge that runs on the NES.
Press Popular Mechanics: A New NES Game Came Out This Year and It’s Fantastic!
The Cabinet The Star Versus cabinet was built by Dustin Long and Mark Kleeb in 2015. Since the game was built for an NES, it was important that the cabinet had a CRT monitor instead of an LCD monitor.
Super Sharp Birds is a 2-player, 1-button game, starring two birds (that are super sharp) battling to collect hypercubes by wall-jumping and head stomping each other.
Fabrication: Steve Faletti, Chris Hernandez, Mark Kleeb, Dustin Long
Game Designer: Neil Sveri
The Cabinet Super Sharp Birds was built over the months of April and July 2022, on location at Wonderville.
Availability Super Sharp Birds can be played at Wonderville in Bushwick.
VIDEOFREAK is a video art arcade game.
Playing the game involves manipulating live analog video feedback and audio effects that are built into the console.
The game features videosynth visuals and analog electronic music generated using a Hearn Videolab, Jones Colorizer, and Doepfer modular system at Signal Culture in Owego, NY in January 2016.
Some of the music was produced using an electric organ at the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts in Nebraska City, NE in November 2015.
VOLLEYGON is a raucous 2-on-2 anti-gravity showdown where geometric shapes flying through space take center stage! Utilize the ceiling and floor to bounce, lob, and smash the ball into your opponent’s zone! Just be careful as the ball can change gravity on a whim, and so can your opponents!
You might have played VOLLEYGON at Magfest or Playcrafting, at the Smithsonian or any number of rambuncious DBAA functions, but what you might not know is that VOLLEYGON will soon be avilable in your very homes – VOLLEYGON is coming soon to Xbox One and Steam!
A two-player cooperative navigation game where players work together to guide a series of tragic heroes through obstacle-filled corridors en route to a climactic confrontation with the sun. Using custom hardware, the game recontextualizes the classic “light gun” control scheme as a call-and-response mechanic for coordinated movement.
Establish a rhythm with your companion and put your rapport to the test across four unique chapters in this realtime death-driven kinetic waltz.
WeatherSys Admin is a brand new arcade cabinet designed, produced and hand-built by Arcade Commons with support from the Brooklyn Arts Council’s 2024 Arts Fund Grant! Featuring games created by six local development teams, WeatherSys Admin is a multi-cab where games use weather APIs to affect gameplay. This interactive sculpture is currently available to play Wonderville and will be featured at this upcoming MAGFest in the indie arcade!
Clock in and get to work at mysterious NGO, W.
The Wondercab is an arcade cabinet curated by Death By Audio Arcade and featuring indie games that rotate for 3-month residency periods. The cabinet was originally Crystal Brawl, but was converted during the COVID-19 pandemic to the Wondercab featuring names of Kickstarter backers etched into the side.
Each new Wondercab residency is accompanied by a launch party. Here is a list of former games featured on the cabinet:
2013 - 2020: Crystal Brawl Spring 2021: Galactic Battleground Summer 2021: Meow Pow Fall 2021: Chrono Winter 2021-2022: StarCrossed Spring 2022: Smush Bois Summer 2022: CD-RUN Fall 2022: Speglar Winter 2022-2023: Tough Love Arena Spring 2023: Leisurely Eatery Summer 2023: Molar Mayhem Fall 2023: Trapped In Here With Me
