Legends Ultimate Hardware

The machine itself is pretty tall, I would say not quite as tall as your larger arcade machines but bigger than the smaller ones.  It comes with a control panel that has a trackball in the middle, two joysticks, two spinners, and 6 buttons for each player.  You can pretty much play all normal games out there with this setup, only a few games that have specialized controls (think spy hunter and other driving games) will have issues.

The screen is nice and bright.  Since most games are vertical, a lot of the screen is taken up by filler background a lot of the time.    Only games that have a wider view use most of the screen.

There’s actually wifi built into the unit so you can download updates and buy new games.  I thought that was pretty cool that they got that all going.

Legends Ultimate Games

The games that come with the unit are overall kind of ‘meh’.  There are some really good ones like Operation Wolf and Centipede, but the majority of the games are pretty obscure.   I would say like around 20 of the games are pretty good.  There are 300 games that come with it, with some being arcade and actually quite a few coming from consoles.   Super Star Wars is probably the most well known console game of the group, although I don’t think it’s very good (or maybe it didn’t age well, I didn’t play it as a kid, lol).
There are options to purchase new game packs and new pinball tables as well.  Pinball seems to be the majority of the offerings, there are actually some legit good pinball machines simulated in their packs available for purchase like Rescue 911.

CoinopsX

For those of you interested in additional games and have the license, there’s also an additional option called CoinopsX.  Basically, it will run games emulated kind of like Mame used to.  It’s a good option for those games which aren’t available to purchase directly from Legends.   People have made up preconfigured drives to make it easier to do, if you check Etsy there’s a bunch of them with the USB drive already setup so you don’t have to spend hours configuring it.  There’s also a nice topper on there for sale and some cup holders.  Someone even makes a stand which makes it taller to play with, which is nice.  I might actually buy the stand since I’m so tall.

Control Panel

The standard control panel comes with two joysticks, two spinners, 6 buttons per player, and a trackball.  The joysticks are 8 way joysticks so great for some games but not for others like Dig Dug, Pac Man, etc.  The trackball is pretty nice honestly, and the spinners are good two.  Overall it feels like a real quality control panel.

There’s also a 4 player panel which I’ve recently purchased but haven’t installed yet.  It removes the spinners and trackball but adds 2 more players to the game so you can have proper 4 player battles.  It’s kind of expensive at $299 but if you play many 4 player games it would be worth it.  The one drawback is that you have to take out screws to switch the panels, so it’s not a 30 second swap or anything.

Marquee

The marquee is one of the coolest parts of the whole setup.  While the included marquee isn’t anything special, the BitLCD and BitPixel add ons are pretty awesome.  Basically, instead of there being a static image for the marquee, the marquee will change to show the original artwork for the game you’re playing.  It’s just a huge upgrade and cool feature that I’ve never seen before on these games.

They’re not the cheapest addons at $350 and $200, but worth it if you’re going to be using it very much.  Really completes the entire package.

Speakers and Sound

The sound can get pretty loud from the machine, there are volume buttons on the right side.  Probably about the same as the sound would have been back in the day at the arcade.  The one thing that does seem to be missing is bass, there’s just no bass from the speakers at all.  But back in the original arcades, there wasn’t any bass either, it’s more of a feature of more recent pinball machines than anything else.

Display

The LCD screen is nice and bright.  You can select to have scan lines or not, which is a nice addition.  Probably the biggest issue is that the games come in both horizontal and vertical formats, so the vertical format games you end up not using like 1/2 the screen unfortunately.  A more square screen would have allowed for better overall use, but who makes a square screen?  Nobody really, so I understand the limitations here.

Bitpixel vs Bitlcd

Both of these are offered as display options for Legends Ultimate, I went with the BitLCD. It’s a really nice screen and looks really cool. The Bitpixel gives you a nice retro look but in my opinion doesn’t compare to BitLCD. I have a video below showing it in action after I installed in place of the marquee. There are rumors that the Bitpixel is being discontinued, possibly due to licensing. In any case, the BitLCD is the way to go if you have the funds.

Conclusion

Is the Legends Ultimate Arcade worth it?  Compared to the other options out there, it’s a great value.  What could make it better?  It needs:

• More available games for sale
• More pinball tables available from the Bally/Williams Era
• Speaker add on capability, or at least more bass.

The base price is a good deal, and you can make it a lot fancier with the additional 4 player panel and BitLCD.  This is really the first commercial arcade machine that really checks all the boxes, previously these things all had some major drawback (price, size, lack of control options, etc).

What’s in the box

The box actually has a lot more than you’d expect. Instead of just the base keyboard, it comes with a skin cover (in case you have kids or are in a messy environment) and a charging cable. The keyboard itself has a pretty hefty metal frame, way sturdier than a normal plastic keyboard. It’s also a lot slimmer than normal keyboards.

The box itself is very slim as well. It’s a pretty tight package.

Jelly Comb Bluetooth Functionality

The keyboard itself has support for up to three different Bluetooth devices like PC’s, iPhones, iPads, etc. I was mainly concerned with using it with a PC for my home theater.

I was originally using a Jelly Comb mini keyboard in my home theater. The reason I got the mini one though wasn’t because of the home theater though, it’s because I was using it on my elliptical machine (where a normal sized keyboard would be too large).

Hooking it up to my pc was a pretty easy process. Just going into Bluetooth on the PC and ……

I didn’t have any issues with disconnecting with my PC despite the fact that my computer was in another room. A lot of times Bluetooth can be finicky when the range is longer or there’s not great line of sight.

Is the Jelly Comb a good keyboard?

The backlight in my home theater is actually awesome, my biggest problem in there is that I can’t see the keyboard very well. This is where this keyboard is a big improvement over the smaller one I had been using which wasn’t backlit.

The charging cable is USB-C, which isn’t my favorite honestly but it’s ok. I know that’s kind of the upcoming standard but I don’t have a lot of USB-C cables yet, so it’s a little harder to charge than say my Kindle.

In actual use the keyboard I really like, it’s got a nice feel to it. It is a little cold against my legs sometimes when I’m wearing shorts. I just throw a blanket over in that case.

I did try hooking it up to my phone just for fun as the keyboard allows 3 different Bluetooth devices to be used (switchable via 3 buttons). It worked decently well in practice.

Would I recommend the keyboard?

I’ve been using it quite a bit, it’s a pretty nice keyboard. It’s a little expensive that other wireless keyboards but other keyboards don’t have metal construction or triple Bluetooth capability either. If you’re looking for a slim wireless keyboard that’s backlit and has multi-Bluetooth capability, it’d be hard to beat the Jelly Comb. In fact, I typed part of this article from it.

What’s in the Cowin E7 box?

Of course the headphones are in there, and a charging cable as well. What was a little unexpected is that there was a pretty decent manual and a nice leather carrying case with it. Although I don’t personally use carrying cases, it was a nice touch for a budget pair of headphones. Also included was a cable to manually hooked up your headphones if needed. I did a short video below showing the headphones and what comes with them.

How well do the headphones work?

There are three options for the power switch, off, bluetooth, and active noise cancelling. I originally started off with bluetooth which worked really well. Actually compared to my skullcandy pair, they connected up much better and quicker. I was having this intermittent problem with my skullcandy pair where they would connect to my iphone but then not actually trigger the iphone to play. That isn’t a problem with the Cowin E7, the bluetooth performance is much better than I had previously.

The noise cancellation part also seems to work pretty well. Even without turning on the active part, the majority of noise is cancelled out. The sound quality is somewhat affected by the activation of the active noise cancellation, it’s a little more fuzzy.

Battery life and operation

The battery life is surprisingly strong, even better than my skullcandy pair. The volume control is a little weird though, at least with my iPhone. On my previous pair, I could start/stop/up volume/down volume with the side buttons. The up and down volume buttons would control the iPhone volume level.

On the Cowin E7 though, the up and down volume actually controls the volume of the headset and not the phone. This means that if you want to adjust the volume of the iPhone, you’ll have to do it manually. This hasn’t been a problem for me so far, but I just wanted to make a note of it for people in case.

It does have the ability to skip forward and backward, which is unusual for any headphones to have. I wish there was an option to switch the ‘skip’ and ‘volume’ controls around, the volume controls are done by ‘holding’ the button, while a press skips 30 seconds.

There’s also a built in microphone should you want to take phone calls on it. That’s a pretty nice feature as well that my previous pair didn’t have.

Final Thoughts

The Cowin E7 are a pretty good pair of budget headphones. I was looking for something that was comfortable and reliable, the flaky bluetooth part of the skullcandy stuff was starting to annoy me. And at 1/2 the price of the previous pair I had, it’s a win. About the only thing I would change is the volume button stuff.

DribbleUp Soccer Ball

The DribbleUp Soccer system is basically a special yellow soccer ball combined with a phone or tablet. The phone or tablet has to be put pretty low on the floor for it to detect the ball. I’ve got a video below showing exactly how it works:

You can see that it puts green circles where the ball needs to be to ‘register’ in each drill. So when the ball moves left and right, it will count ‘completes’ as the ball moves through the virtual circles.

My son really likes it. You can do either prerecorded drills or take classes with live instructors. Originally my youngest son was just doing the prerecorded drills but switched to the live classes after a couple weeks. The live classes are a significant step up in terms of interaction and fun in my opinion. After trying both, I think the extra money is definitely worth it.

My oldest is doing the classes for the basketball right now as the drills and they’re very high quality.

Space Required

You can see from the video that it doesn’t really take too much space. Probably a 5 x 8 space would be enough. The floor we’re doing it on rolls really well, so we ended up putting our soccer training ring around to keep the ball from rolling away. If you’re doing it on carpet, you probably won’t have that same problem. The angle to view the videos on isn’t the best but it’s better than the basketball angle in my opinion. I say that because with soccer you’re kind of looking at your feet anyways so look down at the video is pretty natural. With basketball, not so much.

Is it worth it?

I think if you’ve got spare time, it’s definitely worth it. My son has never really practiced on his own outside. Like never. So the fact that he kind of likes this makes it totally worth it. If you’re time constrained and your son is already practicing 2 to 3 times a week, this might be too much on top of that. It kind of depends on the kid. The cost though is pretty low, so if it doesn’t work out you can always sell it to get your money back.

SCX Digital Slot Cars

SCX used to be one of the premier slot car manufacturers. They’ve went through some tough times and still exist, but not very much in the USA anymore. However, all their stuff is easily available through ebay still and is of really good quality. That’s where I ended up buying mine like 5 years ago when my kids were little.

What’s the difference between analog and digital slot cars? Analog cars run strictly off the power rails on the track. When you squeeze the trigger, it provides more power, and the car goes faster. Digital slot cars on the other hand get digital messages over the track instead just pure electricity. These messages tell the cars to faster or slower, to change lanes, to turn their lights on, etc. It allows for this whole other world of control.

Most people don’t even know you can put multiple cars on a slot car track, they’ve never seen such a thing because tracks from 20 years ago required a lane for each car. I didn’t know either when I started, I initially bought a cheaper analog set like the one in the Amazon affiliate link below:

Carrera Slot Car Set 1/32

It was so much fun that we upgraded to a digital set so both my kids could play with me at the same time. We ended up buying two different sets, a GT one and a Nascar one. The GT one was better because the cars had lights on them and were generally cooler overall. The Nascar set probably had a better overall track though, I believe it had higher banking on the turns which made it easier. I think we built the Nascar track and then ran the GT cars on it. I have a couple example videos below which show multiple cars going and just a single car going:

Digital Slot Car Options

SCX digital tracks and cars have a lot of options. Like:

• Lights for cars, both headlights and taillights
• changing lanes
• lap counter
• lap speed
• ability to slow down cars
• support for up to 6 cars on a track

We’ve had all 6 going at one time before, it’s a little crazy honestly with kids. Adults would work a lot better, and frankly to have that many cars you probably need a pretty long track or otherwise you’ll be crashing all the time.

You can adjust the magnet on the bottom so you make your car really ‘stick’ to the track if needed (helpful for newer drivers). It just takes a little screwdriver to make the adjustment. We typically would limit my youngest son’s car’s speed and then make it sticky, so he could go around the track without crashing but be able to take out other drivers on lane changes pretty easily. It was super fun for him to do.

Cost and Durability

Digital slot cars aren’t cheap, they’re like $50 apiece. That’s a lot of money for a toy. However, even 5 years later my cars still work, albeit a little banged up from all the wrecks. Side mirrors, spoilers, etc all eventually get taken out by another driver or a hard wreck, at least in my experience. I think if you were a lot more careful it probably wouldn’t happen, but with our emphasis on fun it just naturally happens.

The track is pretty durable but is susceptible to bending if stepped on. My kids used to step on it accidentally all the time trying retrieve their cars, leading to spots in the track that didn’t make great contract sometimes. These can be fixed by carefully bending it back, but just be aware that you probably can damage the track beyond repair if you bend it too much.

How much space do you need for a slot car track?

You actually need a lot more than you would think. For a 1/32 track, you’d probably better have a 6 x 10 spot on the floor to lay it out plus leave yourself some room to move around it. It doesn’t seem like it would take much but it does. The 1/48 scale stuff from when we were kids doesn’t take much space, but for this better stuff it does. It’s also not something you’re going to want to put away every night after setting up, so having a room you can put it in for periods of time would be best.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at gameroominfo@gmail.com

Rocksmith

Who hasn’t dreamed of being able to play the guitar? With Rocksmith, you can finally learn in a fun way. And it supports two player, so both you and your child/significant other can learn at the same time. My son and I have been playing it together for years, it’s a great time. They have tons of songs available to learn.

Dribble Up Soccer

Stuck inside, your kid loves soccer or isn’t getting any activity, what can you do? Dribble Up came out with the perfect invention for the kid who’s stuck at home and wants to play.

My son got it for Christmas but hasn’t had time to use it since he’s had both basketball and soccer going on at the same time. Now that we’re in isolation though, he’s had a lot of time to start using it and he really likes it. I can see it making a difference too, his skills are getting better and better.

Dribble Up Basketball

Same thing as soccer, only in basketball form. My oldest loves basketball, so when it looked like we were going to be stuck inside for a long time, I ordered this for him.

We signed up for the monthly classes (only 99 cents to start) and I’ve been pretty impressed with them to start. The light show in the background is pretty funny sometimes, it’s like it’s rock concert or something, lol. But the skills are good and I think he’s improving.

Lego Mindstorm

What’s the problem with modern lego sets? They’re expensive and they only build one thing. Well Mindstorm doesn’t fix the expensive part, but it does build whatever you possible imagine. People have built incredible things like the guitar below:

Video games

PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch are all great options if you’re stuck at home alone. As far as bang for buck goes, I think the Xbox One is probably the leader currently due to the Xbox Game Pass option for $15 that gets you over 100+ games to play whenever you want. Games like Grand Theft Auto 5, all the Halo’s, Tomb Raider, Forza, etc. All of them are good for games like Fortnite.

If you have a good PC, then downloading steam and buying some games there is also a great option if your computer can handle it.

Peloton

You want to work out at home? There’s probably no better option than the Peloton bike right now. My wife got one a month ago after wanting one forever, and she absolutely loves it.

It has tons of classes you can do whenever you want plus live classes every day. I like to use it with the tray add on, so I can type and ride at the same time. It’s a great way to combine a couple activities together.

Darts and Ping Pong

Obviously you need a lot of space for most game room items, but darts is something that you don’t need a whole lot of space for. In fact now, with boards like the Gran Board 3, you can even play darts online, which was never possible before. And since a lot of us are currently trapped inside, it’s a good way to pass the time.

Ping Pong would normally seem to be too big for an apartment. However, they now make miniature tables that are perfect for small areas like the Joola. They even make sets that are perfect for your home kitchen table.

I finally decided that I needed to stop tripping over the cord and come up with a long term solution. To do that, I did some research on what wireless adapter had the best bang for buck. I ended up buying this one below.

Amazon affiliate link:

Wireless Guitar Adapter for Rocksmith

I also had to buy a female to female adapter as the adapter and Rocksmith cable both have a male end. Amazon affiliate link below:

Female to Female 1/4″ adapter

Wireless Rocksmith

So how well does it work with Rocksmith? In a word, flawlessly. It’s something I should have bought a long time ago. I have like 500+ hours in Rocksmith, and all that time I’ve been tripping over the stupid cord.

There’s actually an additional benefit that most people don’t mention, you can use it to send input into both Rocksmith and an amp if you buy an additional adapter. The wireless features a one output to many input feature that allows your guitar to send to both your console/pc and to another amp. The adapter supports up to 6 receivers from one transmitter.

Why would you want this feature? Well Rocksmith has a tendency to kind of mask imperfections in your playing to a degree, while the amp hides nothing. The first time I tried it I was like “Wow, I suck at this song” when I thought I was really good (according to Rocksmith). While technically I was hitting the notes, what I was playing also had all kinds of imperfections that made it sound terrible. It’s a key part in getting better.

What other advantages does this have? Well it will also keep your Rocksmith cable from wearing out, which is also something that eventually goes out after extended use.

That’s where the 3/4 size guitars come in. They resolve all the problems that kids have with the normal sized guitars while still sounding great. My sons have played all three of these a bunch, and through watching them and using them myself, I can finally put together an extensive review here. This review covers about a 3 year use case, so it’s definitely not like I picked them up yesterday and am now writing a review, we’ve had these things for a while. We were using them almost exclusively with Rocksmith 2014, if you haven’t heard of that I recommend you check it out as it’s an awesome way to learn.

Fender Squier Mini

This is definitely the most popular choice of the three mainly because its brand is so much stronger than the other two. If you see a 3/4 size guitar at a store, it’s likely to be this one. One of the good things about it is that it comes in a variety of colors, from pink to blue to black. We’ve got a the red one, it’s really nice looking in person.

This was the first of the three that we bought. My son became interested in Rocksmith about 3 or 4 years ago and I bought this guitar for him to start with. He played this thing for over 100 hours without any issues, and in fact still looks brand new. It worked really well with the game as well, registering tones very well.

Probably the biggest downside of the guitar is that it doesn’t sound particularly good when compared to a full size guitar. The rest of the construction is on par with a full size guitar of similar price.

Ibanez Mikro

The Ibanez Mikro is kind of like the darkhorse of the 3/4 electric guitar scene. Not nearly as popular as Fender, the Ibanez Mikro makes up for that with a higher build quality and better sound overall.

I got the Ibanez about 2 years ago when looking into getting a 3/4 Bass (check out the Ibanez Mikro Bass if you’re interested in that at all, it’s a good mini bass). Based upon the reviews I had read, they said it was a higher quality version of the mini Squier. After my son and I have used it over the past couple years, I think I would agree with that sentiment.

In general, it’s a better sounding guitar with more frets too (24 vs 21). The design is slightly more edgier as well, looking more grown up than the mini Squier which looks kind of like a toy sometimes with the bright colors. Honestly though, both of them are very close in performance, I don’t think you could go wrong with either of them. I can’t say the same for the Peavy though.

Peavey Rockmaster, Iron Man Edition

The Peavey Rockmaster is series of guitars themed for kids, with guitars featuring Iron Man and Captain America. That in itself gives them a huge appeal for kids wanting to play, my youngest loved that his guitar had Iron Man on it. The actual quality of the guitar though left a lot to be desired.

When I first got the guitar, out of the box it was a mess. All the strings were broke or unusable, and the neck was bowed so badly that it was unplayable. It took some severe truss rod neck adjustment in order to get it playable.

After I got it adjusted and added new strings, it became somewhat playable. It’s not the worst guitar, but it’s well below the Squier or Mikro in terms of quality. However, my son will not part with it, to him he’d rather have Iron Man on his guitar than play one that’s of better quality. He’s only 9 though, and I think as he gets older he may change his mind.

Probably the best way to describe the difference is that the Peavey Rockmaster feels like a toy while the Squier Mini and Ibanez Mikro feel like real guitars. I wish the quality was better so I could give it a good recommendation, but I would steer clear of it if at all possible. It’s just not on the same level as the other two.

Best Mini Guitar for Kids

Out of the three, the Ibanez Mikro is the one I’d recommend the most for kids. It’s just a better quality instrument than the other two, and since their prices are so similar you might as well go for the better one.

Second place would go to the Fender Squier Mini Stratocaster. It’s the most popular version and isn’t a bad choice by any means. It comes in a lot more styles and colors than the Ibanez, so if your son or daughter likes the look of it more than the Ibanez, it’s not a bad choice to go with it instead.

In a distant third place I’d put the Peavey Rockmaster. It’s just not a good enough guitar compared to the other two to recommend. I probably would have returned it if I wouldn’t have gotten it for my son as a gift. He just loves it too much in spite of the flaws.

Hopefully this article has helped you decide which mini guitar to start your child on. I know I had a lot of questions when I started out, wish there would have been an article like this to give it to me straight (which is why I wrote this). If you have any questions or comments, please let me know.

New Features (Kixx vs Super Kixx Pro)

Compared to the old version, the most obvious upgrades are to the sights and sounds on the new color screen.  Most of the surrounding plastics on the fields have gotten an upgrade as well.  Gone also is the turf from the earlier games, it’s now replaced by a flat green surface similar to the hockey games.  I think this is a big improvement in speeding up the game.

Also new are the dual LCD screens, one in each corner of the the field.  Instead of the overhead scoreboard, ICE put them in the corners.

To launch the ball, ICE added an elevator mechanism to bring the ball up to the field.

You can also order each game now with your favorite teams right off the bat.  Unfortunately, the game is also pretty expensive at over $4000.  But if you like soccer more than hockey, it could be a really good option.  You just have to decide whether you want this for $4k+ or a regular Foosball table for under $1k.  I think that’s part of the reason it hasn’t came back before now, Foosball is more popular and probably hurts sales since it’s cheaper and in the same sport.

I’m hoping to play one of these eventually on location but I’m guessing it’s going to be pretty hard.  I don’t expect to see very many of these around, as Super Chexx games are pretty hard to find on location as well.

#1  Red Dead Redemption 2

The #1 anticipated game for 2018 is finally out in stores.  Was it worth the wait?  It’s a little slow in places but the storytelling is great and it has a huge expansive world to explore.  As of this writing it has a 97% on metacritic.  I’m not sure I would rate it quite that high, but it’s definitely worth playing.  Also to note, this game is rated M for mature, not a game you’re going to give a young kid.  It’s available through my Amazon affiliate link below:

Red Dead Redemption 2

#2  Super Chexx Pro Bubble Hockey

The new version came out last year and the response has been overwhelmingly positive.  If you have hockey fans in the house, there’s no better game for them.  In my game room of foosball, ping pong, darts, pinball, etc, bubble hockey is my most popular item for two people to play by far.  It’s almost in constant use when kids come over because it’s such a unique item that isn’t seen very often.  It’s available through ICE directly only, my affiliate link is below:

Super Chexx Pro Bubble Hockey

#3  Tornado Foosball Classic Edition

If you’re looking for a foosball table that’s going to last 40 years and stand the test of time, there’s no better choice than buying a Tornado Foosball Table.  They make 4 different models, but I think the classic is the best overall value.  The T3000 looks are undeniably awesome, but it’s hard to pay that much more for marginal functionality gain.  My Amazon affiliate link is below:

Tornado Foosball Classic

#4  Spiderman/Forza Horizon 4

If you own a PS4, then Spiderman is a great choice.  If you own an Xbox, then picking up Forza Horizon 4 is a no brainer.  I own both these games on these each console, and they’re two of the best games on each console.  Unfortunately they’re exclusive so you have to own the right console in order to buy them.

Both of these are family friendly, so they’re good choices for kids.  My 9 year old has played through most of Spiderman, loves the game.  I’ve spent like 20 hours going through Forza Horizon 4, they’ve done a good job of making new challenges this time.  My Amazon affiliate links for both games are below.

Spiderman for PS4

Forza Horizon 4 for Xbox One

#5  Gran Board 3

The new Gran Board version keeps on with the excellence from the previous two versions and adds all new led lighting to the outside.  The effects are pretty awesome overall.  I’ve made some video on my Youtube channel for the Gran Board 2, the dart boards are identical other than the LED light addition.

The dart board allows you to hook up to a cell phone or ipad to display all the current scores for the game.  You can even pipe the video to a TV screen off the phone if you want, I’ve done that as well.  My Amazon affiliate link is below for the Gran Board 3.

Gran Board 3

#6  Roku Express

If you want to stream shows but your built in smart TV functionality is lackluster, the Roku Express is the perfect solution.  After our older LG WebOS TV didn’t support SlingTV, we got a Roku Express to go on it.  Not only is it faster than WebOS, it supports way more apps.  Now that we’ve got it, we run everything through it.

The best part?  It’s only $29.99, which is bargain for all the functionality it gives you.  Highly recommended for those TV’s lacking things like Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.  Roku Express is available through my Amazon affiliate link below.

Roku Express