Polycade

Reimagining arcade gaming for the modern dayIn the past two decades, time spent out-of-home has steadily increased, while location-based entertainment that can be enjoyed with friends has also grown (think TopGolf, escape rooms, themed experiences like the Museum of Ice Cream, and more). In addition, the large video game industry continues to grow. Yet, these two worlds hardly collide. We believe that no gaming platform or gaming console has been designed for social environments, to bring families together for a shared experience, and that makes sense for the workplace, the bar, or similar community centers... Until now.Polycade reimagines the beloved arcade experience with a digital platform that always updates with new games and new features. Our games are carefully curated to appeal to the broad midcore gaming audience. In case you haven't heard of "midcore", these games are designed to be easy to learn, hard to master, respect the players' time, and not punish players too harshly. These games typically appeal to both casual and hardcore gamers, and perhaps most importantly, are accessible to players who "don't have time to play games anymore".With over $2M generated from inbound sales, we think Polycade has proven that homes and a wide variety of venues like community centers, offices, bars, restaurants, etc. want to include a social gaming experience. Over the years we've tested and learned what different venues need, and we've distilled this knowledge into a single platform that can be tweaked to meet the needs of each of these verticals. We are ready to bring the joy of high-five driven gaming back to communities everywhere!With this round of funding, Polycade plans to build our first sales team and grow outbound sales while implementing the next phase of our business model, designed to monetize individual players via premium tournaments, game sales, and NFT-based digital goods.

Time-based Bonus Perk: All investments $5,000 and above, made by November 19, 2021, will receive an additional $500 discount on Polycade Lux or Polycade Squad arcade machine.

Achieved over $2,000,000 inbound sales since inception in 2015 (unaudited)
2021 YTD sales (January to August 2021) are more than double the same period for 2019 & 2020 (unaudited)
Featured in The Wall Street Journal, Architectural Digest, The Price Is Right, Let's Make A Deal, Silicon Valley (HBO), Uncrate, and more
Strong digital following with over 40,000 social media followers and 22,000 email subscribers
Key investors include: Kevin Lin (Twitch), Toy Ventures, Wavemaker Labs, Blacktop Ventures, and Founders' Fund

• Marketing 
• Operations
• Employment 

Tyler Bushnell, Co-Founder & CEO
Tyler was raised in the amusement & gaming industries, attending tradeshows as soon as he could walk with his father, Nolan Bushnell (founder of Atari & Chuck E Cheese). Right out of college, Tyler worked at the arcade startup uWink by coding games, servicing arcade machines in the field, and assisting in manufacturing. He later went on to build behavioral online advertising systems and the analytics platforms that drove them while working at Interlincx Media. During his time at Interlincx, Tyler and his brother Brent attempted to launch a brick & mortar experiential startup, too similar to what would become Escape Rooms. Despite a compelling prototype, this venture was not able to secure funding and never got off the ground. Recognizing the opportunity to update the antiquated amusement industry with modern tech and analytics, Tyler launched Polycade in late 2015 via a Kickstarter campaign that raised $125k.

Jake Galler, Co-Founder & COO
Jake has been an entrepreneur since the age of 15. He started a music production and disc jockey company that he sold before moving on to The George Washington University for college. Out of university, Jake focused on developing his skills as a creative and business development executive in the TV and Film industry. During his time as a development executive at Craig Anderson Productions, he helped develop and produce over 30 feature films and TV projects, selling projects to Universal, ABC, NBC, Fox, and Sony Pictures. Jake then joined Pluto.tv in its early days, focusing on licensing and content acquisition while working closely with CEO Tom Ryan.