Custom Baby Pac-Man Topper from www.noiselandarcade.net
One of the fun things about having a home gameroom is the opportunity to personalize that space to make it unique and fun. Besides the variety of games contained within, one way to make your games stand out is through the addition of toppers, or objects and decorations that sit on the top of your arcade game or pinball machine. This will hopefully be a recurring feature on Gameroom Junkies to feature what some collectors have already done to make their gamerooms exciting while hopefully giving readers some cool ideas to jumpstart their own topper collections. Read on and enjoy!
1. Journey 8-track topper
This unique topper idea comes from KLOV user “back2the80s”. He took an actual in-store display for the 8-track release for Journey’s “Frontiers” album. It’s vintage, it features the same robot head as the video game, it stands up on its own, and it’s JOURNEY! What’s not to like?
2. 1980’s “Ghettoblaster”
What’s nice about this topper is that has near- universal appeal to any of us who grew up in the Golden Age of arcades, and it doesn’t apply to only a single game title. Just pop this on top of any of your vintage 80’s games, pop in a cassingle (yep, that was a thing – look it up, kids!) and pump up the jams! Who needs a jukebox to take up space when you have this utilitarian piece of nostalgia? Image credit goes to KLOV user Superully.
3. Custom Q-bert
Who doesn’t love Q-bert? That cute little…Um…I have no idea what he is, but he’s adorable! This custom topper was created using foam core, some fabric, and a little love from Jamie over at noiselandarcade.net. What makes this great is the visual representation of the main character, and the fact that it is 100% homemade. Don’t worry, Jamie’s not keeping this all to himself. Learn how to build your own here.
4. Super Mario Bros
Toys and statues are always a great addition to any game, but what makes these great is the larger size and the attention to detail. The world’s favorite plumbers instantly draw your eye to whatever Nintendo cabinet you have them perched atop. These 9” figures are available from Think Geek who also sells a Yoshi figure as well. Image credit goes to Gameroom Junkie Shawn Gioiosa (previously featured here) who proudly displays these on top of his Mario Bros. game along with some cool 1up mushrooms and coin blocks.
5. Alien Abduction Lamp
Sometimes something comes along that you think, “hey, that’s neat,” but by itself it doesn’t seem to have a good use. However, if you constantly think about games (like I do), sometimes it occurs to you that that “neat” object could be transformed into “AMAZING” when standing on top of a game. That’s the case for this Alien Abduction Lamp from www.abductionlamp.com . What would normally just be “neat” or “cute” sitting on your desk or sidetable, becomes an awesome addition to your favorite alien-themed game. Take a peak at the lamp sitting on top of Shawn’s Revenge from Mars pinball game. If you didn’t know better, you might think the topper was straight from the Williams factory.
6. Yoda, Jedi Master
The force is definitely with KLOV user “superbert1971” who gave us this topper idea. It’s Yoda. On top of a vintage Return of the Jedi Machine. Life Size. Need we say more?
Want to be featured in the next Game Topper Roundup? Just send us a photo of your favorite game topper to gameroomjunkies (at) gmail (dot) com.
