A retro game shop on Greenfield's busy S. 108th Street corridor has thrown open the doors to a full arcade where every single game is free to play. Game Together MKE, which has spent nearly three years buying, selling, and trading vintage consoles and games out of its storefront at 4635 S. 108th St., expanded into the space next door a few months ago and filled it with 39 arcade cabinets, from Pac-Man to Crazy Taxi to Mortal Kombat I, II, and III.
Owner Steven Barron told TMJ4 News the arcade is 100 percent free to play for anyone who walks through the door, a deliberate break from the coin-drop model most arcades rely on. He said he considered charging a quarter, fifty cents, or a dollar per game and decided against it, calling the free arcade a reflection of his mission to give back to the community.
“I love video games, I love game markets, I love the community here,” Barron said, per the same TMJ4 report. He added that watching the community grow around the shop has confirmed to him that expanding was the right call.
From Buy-Sell-Trade Shop to Full Arcade
Game Together MKE has operated as a buy, sell, and play shop since it opened in November 2023, and the store had previously let customers try out a handful of games on-site. The formal jump to a dedicated arcade room came after the City of Greenfield's Plan Commission approved a special use permit and site review for the expansion on June 9, 2026, according to municipal records reviewed by the City of Greenfield. The arcade also includes Pokémon Pinball and NFL Blitz, and the shop hosts weekly leagues for some of the titles.
The store will run the arcade seven days a week, giving Barron's retail side — which stocks everything from Atari systems to Nintendo Switch products to an $800 Dark Knight special-edition Xbox — a steady draw of foot traffic. To celebrate the expanded space, Game Together MKE is holding a grand opening this Saturday with hours stretching until 10 p.m., double-elimination tournaments for NFL Blitz and Mortal Kombat, and a giveaway for a rare Jungle Green Analogue 3D console, according to details the store posted on its Facebook page.
A Different Model Than Milwaukee's Barcades
Barron's free-play approach sets Game Together MKE apart from Milwaukee's better-known arcade venues. Up-Down Milwaukee on East Brady Street runs on a 25-cent-per-play token system and limits entry to adults 21 and older outside of its monthly family hours, according to the venue's own site, updownarcadebar.com. Suburban competitor The Garcade in Menomonee Falls takes a third approach, charging flat admission for access to more than 30 pinball machines and classic cabinets, per reporting from Kineticist.
Barron said he wants to preserve in-person gaming as an experience anyone can walk into without paying, a stance that lines up with a broader resurgence in physical retro gaming. The global retro video game market hit $3.8 billion in 2025 and is projected to grow at roughly 10 percent annually through 2033, according to industry research from Toynk Toys, with retro console sales up 32 percent year-over-year in 2025. Pinball manufacturing is riding a similar wave — global pinball machine sales are projected to climb from $2.8 billion in 2025 to $4.6 billion by 2034, Hoodline has reported.
Beyond the Storefront
Game Together MKE's presence extends past its Highway 100 storefront. The store hosts an exhibit room and tournaments each year at the Midwest Gaming Classic, the Milwaukee convention that marked its 25th anniversary at the Baird Center in April, spanning 350,000 square feet with more than 10,000 games on free play. Barron also runs an active online storefront on the Whatnot live shopping marketplace, where the business has logged more than 470 sales and holds a 4.9-star rating as of August 2026.
The shop's location along S. 108th Street, also known as Highway 100, puts it on one of the busiest retail corridors in the region, with average daily traffic counts between 28,000 and 50,000 vehicles connecting Greenfield to West Allis and New Berlin, according to commercial real estate data from CBRE. For Barron, that visibility now comes paired with an arcade room built to keep people coming back without ever reaching for a quarter.
