Update: The cabinet mock-ups were created by Jdevy, while the accompanying article was written separately. This was an April Fools joke, not a real arcade product announcement.
Rocket League’s combination of football and rocket-powered cars made it an obvious candidate for an imaginary arcade conversion. The fictional pitch imagined players swapping a small analogue stick for a steering wheel, bringing the popular console game into a purpose-built arcade cabinet.
The joke leaned on the game’s reported audience of more than 10 million home-console sales, suggesting that its broad recognition would make a dedicated machine an instant earner. That claim was part of the gag rather than a genuine business forecast.
An imaginary Raw Thrills collaboration
The mock-up suggested that Psyonix had partnered with Raw Thrills. Alongside the familiar Rocket League branding, the fictional cabinet included several deliberately over-the-top ideas designed to separate it from the home version.
One concept borrowed from classic pinball: illuminated letters would be collected during play. Completing R-O-C-K-E-T L-E-A-G-U-E was said to unlock an exclusive vehicle, with each letter lighting up across the marquee.
Rocket-powered cabinet features
The imagined machine also included a tongue-in-cheek “Bonafide Butt Rocket” device, or BBR, intended to make the player feel as though they were sitting on a real rocket. An “Exhaust Port” supposedly blasted heated air and steam towards the rider to imitate the sensation of being near a launch.
It was pure arcade absurdity rather than a genuine hardware specification. Yeeeehaw!
A proposed mini-deluxe version was shown as an option for a second crowd-pleasing screen.
Cards, upgrades and a very unlikely prize
Another fictional feature was a card dispenser. Players were invited to collect 500 cards featuring rocket-powered cars, then scan them to unlock paint schemes, wheels, engine upgrades and other in-game items.
The joke went further by claiming that a complete set of 500 cards could be exchanged at a participating redemption centre for a Rocket League football made from “real titanium alloys”. Like the rocket effects, this was part of the deliberately exaggerated premise.
Would it have worked in an arcade?
The imaginary release was presented alongside equally fictional arcade versions of Among Us and Super Smash Bros. It also listed a supposed MSRP of $32,000 per cabinet, excluding shipping, taxes and distributor fees.
A rumour in the joke suggested that Dave & Buster’s would receive four machines at each location after successful testing, with cabinets able to link up to eight players. None of those proposed plans represented a real Rocket League arcade launch.
For genuine cabinet news, hardware ideas and buying advice, explore the RETROCADE arcade blog, browse arcade machines, or compare options in the arcade machine buying guide. Compact setups can also be found among the bartop arcades.
Final note: If the April Fools clues were not clear, do not place a pre-order. The cabinet designs and specifications above were created for the joke.
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