We had the good fortune of connecting with Andrew O’Connell and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Andrew, is there something you believe many others might not?
I was a butcher for twenty years and always wanted to do my own thing with video games. I was always told that I did not have the background or training to do anything in this field. I strongly disagree with this notion. Learning new skills is something we should aspire to do; when that new skill is something you are passionate about you will find that it is not as daunting as it would seem. I spent a lot of free time working on and learning about arcade machines and pinballs and loved every minute of it. I could have listened to conventional advice and stuck with my 9 to 5 but i would still be punching that clock and would certainly not have taken the risk of starting The Retro-Cade. Follow your dreams. With hard work and dedication they will come true.
What should our readers know about your business?
I own and operate The Retro-Cade, a mobile arcade featuring all my classic games that I played growing up. It brings me a ton of joy seeing people enjoy these games. Adults light up seeing games that they have not played in perhaps 20 years and are instantly brought back to their childhood. It’s fun to show kids who have never seen these games how to operate them and to watch them figure out a new game for the first time. I get excited every time I take the arcade to an event and share these games with everybody. I have been doing arcade and pinball repair for years and collecting these games. My collection grew and was taking up too much room in the house. I did not want to get rid of these games and this is where the idea popped up — why not put them all in an RV? It was tough going right off the bat as I bought the RV in early 2020 and immediately had to put the project on hold due to Covid. But alas in January 2021, with the help and motivation from my good friend Johnny, we went to work with the conversion and on St. Patrick’s Day 2021 we did our first event. The first year was TOUGH, these games are not designed for over the road travel and there were numerous repairs along the way, as well as maintaining an old shuttle. Yikes, we had our hands full. However, our passion to keep this dream going got us through and the games and vehicle all hold up to the rigors of potholes and travel much better now. I hope everybody in Denver and the surrounding communities has a chance to play all these classics.
Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Some of my favorite places to drink and dine are the local breweries, such as Cannonball Creek in Golden. They have the best beers around. They also host my favorite pizza truck. Rolling Dough is probably the best pizza I have ever had and the guys on the truck are awesome. They offer crazy pizza ideas such as Cubano, Cordon Bleu, and a Chicken and Waffles which is sweet sort of like a brunch or dessert pizza. I also like to hit some of the local arcades such as the 1up in Greenwood Village, which has a great selection of arcade games and pinball machines. It’s the best pinball lineup around. Another great spot is The Monkey Barrel for pinball, beer, and burgers. One of my favorite places to bring out of town guests is anywhere in the mountains. One spot in particular (probably my favorite place on the planet) is a spot on a creek not far from town. There is a beautiful waterfall on the creek and a very large crabapple tree right above the waterfall. Every year in the fall we go up and collect all the apples and play “crabapple baseball” where one person pitches the apples from the top of the waterfall to the batter at the bottom. Needless to say it is a blast.
Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My good friend Johnny Hurley latched onto the idea of a mobile arcade and instantly loved it, I had purchased the vehicle right before Covid and due to the circumstances it sat for a year without any further work towards the dream. This is where Johnny comes in. My enthusiasm for the project had faded over the year as I became busy with other projects. Johnny brought new energy to the idea and motivated me to complete the arcade. Together we spent the next three months making countless trips to the hardware and craft stores, transforming the old DIA shuttle into an epic arcade with all the best retro games. If not for Johnny kicking me in the butt to get this going and all of his hard work, this vehicle would still be sitting in the storage yard collecting dust. Johnny you will never be forgotten my friend.
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