Licensed vs Open PC vs Empty Arcade Cabinet

Three definitions, three SKUs, no mixing

Three crates. Three answers. Licensed means a paid menu is in the box when the truck stops. On this floor that is Dreamcade Vision 32 at $3,999 list and Dreamcade Vision 40 at $4,599 list. Open PC means a computer you administer. That is Polycade Sente at $2,499, then the marquee and stand ladder. Empty means the wood and the glass and the sticks, and you bring Saturday. That is X-Arcade Machine 32 at $2,000. The Arcade Co prints the split on the card because mixing them is how a $2,000 American cabinet becomes a fight about missing Pac-Man. We will not load ROMs onto an empty crate. We will not put Steam on a Dreamcade. We will not tell you a Polycade is a licensed 300-title menu. Pick the honesty that matches the room.

This is the same three-column split on Compare, the buying guide, and Best Home Arcade Machines 2026. Cash bands live on How much does a home arcade machine cost. Named SKUs, maker numbers, freight class, and the refusals that keep a Saturday from becoming a return.

Licensed menu: Dreamcade Vision 32 and Vision 40

Dreamcade Vision 32 is the licensed upright people actually mean when they say “plug it in and play.” List is $3,999. The maker also publishes a $3,399 promo. The Arcade Co shows list. We do not race the homepage to win a text. The panel is 32-inch HD with 31 inches viewable. The crate is a Windows 11 PC with a custom Dream Arcades front-end and 300+ licensed titles in that menu. Final assembly and QC are in the United States. It ships assembled. Dual heavy-duty wheels and a tilt-to-move system are how it walks a rec room that already has a path. Two-player deck is the default. Light guns, trackball, spinner, LED rails, and a custom marquee are factory options, not dealer afterthoughts. Power is a standard 110V residential circuit. Freight is assembled-upright class, not Polycade’s $250 parcel. Liftgate is required on a driveway. Measure the door, the stair turn, and the ceiling before you put a card on a 32-inch assembled cabinet.

Dreamcade Vision 40 is the same licensed story with more glass. List is $4,599. The maker publishes a $3,699 promo. We show $4,599. Forty-inch HD. Four-player panel available at order. Same 300+ licensed titles in the front-end. Same Windows 11. Same US assembly. Same assembled freight. If two kids and two adults will stand at one deck on Saturday, this is the licensed SKU. If two people will play, save the width and the ticket and stay on Vision 32. A 40-inch upright does not go up a tight Victorian stair without a plan. Tell us the path. We will tell you if it loses before you pay.

What licensed does not mean

Licensed does not mean you can add your own games. You cannot put Steam on a Dreamcade. You cannot drop a ROM folder onto the Windows box and call it an open PC. The front-end is the product. The Arcade Co will refuse the ticket that treats Vision 32 like a Polycade with a nicer marquee. If that sentence makes you angry, you wanted open PC. Buy the Sente.

Retro Reload is a separate Dreamcade library. The maker discloses it on the Vision tickets as a way toward a larger library under Dream Arcades rules, with its own accounts. It is not Steam. It is not The Arcade Co loading a USB stick in Utah. You cannot add Steam games to a Vision 32. We sell Vision 32 as 300+ licensed titles in the menu, US assembled, 2-player, $3,999 list. We sell Retro Reload as the maker’s own add-on conversation, not as an open PC.

Open PC: Polycade Sente and the stand ladder

Polycade Sente is the open-PC start on this floor. Street is $2,499 on the standard mini-PC: 256GB SSD, 8GB DDR5, Ryzen 6850U. The body is powder-coated steel, 90 lb, 25.5 inches wide, 42 inches tall, 14.5 inches deep. The panel is 24-inch 1080p at 75Hz. Controls are Sanwa JLF sticks with octagonal restrictors and eight gameplay buttons per player, plus three menu buttons. Speakers are 2× 15W. Electrical is 100–240V, grounded, 5A. You hang it or you stand it. Software is open: Polycade store, Steam, GOG, and the library you already paid for. That is the whole pitch. It is a computer in a cabinet that looks like a cabinet. Featured twice in Architectural Digest for a reason that is not a Walmart aisle.

Freight is the other reason this SKU exists. Polycade publishes $250 continental US on one Sente, $500 to Hawaii and Alaska. In-stock units ship 1–4 days after order, 3–7 days in transit. That is maker-published, not The Arcade Co invention. It is parcel-class compared with a 400 lb X-Arcade. Confirm stairs anyway. Ninety pounds still loses a bad turn if you pretend it is a suitcase. Inspect the crate. Photograph damage before you sign.

The ladder is finish and stance, not a different computer story. Polycade Sente + Marquee is $2,699. Same steel, same Sanwa, same 24-inch panel, lighted marquee so the room reads arcade instead of PC in a box. Polycade Freestanding + Marquee is $3,399. Pedestal in the crate. You do not drill the wall. Polycade Striped Freestanding is $3,895. Magnetic factory side treatment, not a vinyl wrap you peel in a year. Upgraded RAM and SSD step from those streets. The Arcade Co will not discount a Sente under the live Polycade.com number to win a thread. Home lines from this maker still discount in public. We show the live street and we hold it.

What open PC does not mean

Open PC does not mean The Arcade Co builds you a pirate library. You own Steam. You own GOG. You own whatever you legally put on the SSD. We sell the cabinet. We do not sell a gray USB of 4,000 titles. If you wanted 300 licensed names in a closed front-end with no ROM conversation, that is Dreamcade. If you wanted an empty 73-inch American box because you already have a PC in the closet, that is X-Arcade. Polycade sits in the middle: the computer is in the drawer, the sticks are Sanwa, the freight is $250 published, and Saturday is the library you already had.

Empty crate: X-Arcade Machine 32, Space Race, Tankstick

X-Arcade Machine 32 is the empty American upright. Street is $2,000 on shop.xgaming.com. Height is 73 inches. Weight is 400 lb. Display is 32-inch LED. Origin is American-made, commercial-grade, Pittsburgh hardware with twenty-plus years in the category. It ships assembled. Games are not in the crate. Xgaming currently lists this SKU with no arcade games included. You add boards, a PC, or a console. That honesty is why it is on this floor. It is cheap for what it is if you already have the computer. It is a trap if you thought $2,000 included 300 titles. The Arcade Co will say that in email before we take the card.

Four hundred pounds is a freight event. Dock or liftgate. Two people on the receiving end. Inspect the crate. Photograph crushed corners, wet cardboard, and tilt indicators before you sign. Refuse if the crate is destroyed. Concealed damage is 48 hours. This is the machine that destroys a month if you skip delivery photos and then ask us to eat a stair scrape. We will refuse a ticket that loses a Victorian stair. Ninety-pound Sente hangs or stands. Four-hundred-pound X-Arcade does not hang. Measure every turn. Confirm ceiling height at the landing, cabinet plus wheels, 73 inches of vertical, not the open joist.

X-Arcade Space Race cocktail is also $2,000. Sit-down table. Easier through a doorway than a 73-inch upright. The maker currently lists the 250-game bundle as discontinued. Treat it as hardware. We will not refund a missing game list that Xgaming already disclosed. X-Arcade Tankstick is $199, USB, parcel, no liftgate. It is the honest $150–$300 accessory on a floor that otherwise starts at a $2,000 empty cabinet. You already own a PC or a Raspberry Pi. You do not need a 400 lb crate to find out if you will actually play. Games are not in the Tankstick box either. The Arcade Co does not load ROMs onto a USB deck.

Will The Arcade Co load ROMs onto an X-Arcade?

No. We will not image a drive, we will not copy a folder, and we will not take a software return on an empty serial we just sold. If you need licensed titles in the box, the SKU is Dreamcade Vision 32 at $3,999 list. If you need Steam in a steel body with Sanwa sticks, the SKU is Polycade Sente at $2,499. If you need an empty 73-inch American cabinet because you already built the stack, the SKU is X-Arcade Machine 32 at $2,000. Those are three products. They are not one product with a checkbox.

How to pick in one Saturday

If guests will walk in and play without a Steam login, buy licensed. Vision 32 at $3,999 list is the two-player default. Vision 40 at $4,599 list is the four-player glass. If you already live in Steam and you want Sanwa sticks on a 90 lb steel cabinet with published $250 freight, buy open PC. Sente wall at $2,499, marquee at $2,699, freestanding at $3,399, striped at $3,895. If you already own the computer and you want a 73-inch American box that will still be here in fifteen years, buy empty. Machine 32 at $2,000. If you are not sure you will play, buy the Tankstick at $199 and find out. Do not buy Arcade1Up from The Arcade Co. We do not stock it. The 3/4-scale living-room unbox lives at Walmart. The split versus full-size is Arcade1Up vs Full-Size Arcade Cabinet.

Home versus commercial is a different axis. Everything named above is 110V home and light-commercial. Coin mech, 220V, FEC floor, ICE Games operator iron: write us. Do not add those to cart. The quote we refuse in a bonus room is on Home vs Commercial Arcade Machines. An alley is not a licensed menu either. Skee-Ball Premium is $4,499. Classic 10-foot is $8,995. Length versus stair is Skee-Ball for Home Game Room. Pinball on this floor is Stern James Bond 007 Pro at $6,999. Licensed table. Not a multicade. Not an empty crate.

Price, freight, warranty, and the return we will not take

Cash on this three-way split: Tankstick $199, X-Arcade cabinets $2,000, Polycade $2,499 to $3,895, Dreamcade $3,999 list and $4,599 list. Freight extra except Polycade’s published $250 continental on one Sente. Dreamcade assembled uprights and X-Arcade 400 lb cabinets are quoted: liftgate, residential, crate class. Warranty is manufacturer on the serial. The Arcade Co is the dealer of record. We open the RMA. We do not invent extra years. Returns: unused, original crate, authorized in writing, 15% restocking plus reverse freight unless we agree dead-on-arrival. Licensed software is not an open-box item. An empty cabinet with a drive you imaged is not a software return. A 400 lb cabinet coming back is a freight event. Path first. Crate contents second. Power third. Finish last. If you start with a marquee color you will buy the wrong honesty and a stair that loses.