The owners behind Star Worlds Arcade in DeKalb, celebrating 40 years in business, are leveling up this year with their latest expansion into a new market.

Star Worlds Arcade, 1234 E. Lincoln Highway, is expected to expand this month with the launch of gaming machines inside ice cream shop Roiel Scoop, 316 N. Sixth St., in Rochelle.

Owner Pat “Pac-man Pat” O’Malley said he is excited to see that the new spot is a go.

“I think it’s a good pairing because [the owner of Roiel Scoop’s] already got good family-based customers,” O’Malley said. “And Rochelle does not have anything like this.”

The Rochelle gaming location is not the first expansion of Star Worlds Arcade.

In a social media post, O’Malley said the Rochelle spot is one in a series of five new locations planned for this year.

“It’s the first thing in Rochelle, but I mean, we’ve expanded game-wise all over Illinois here and to the edge of Wisconsin,” O’Malley said.

This all comes to a head as Star Worlds Arcade celebrates its 40th anniversary in the gaming business in 2025.

O’Malley said hitting this milestone means a lot to him and his partner, Glenn Thomas.

“We’re honored to still be in our community, and we’re still doing what we do best,” O’Malley said.

Thomas shared that sentiment.

“I think it’s great, especially nowadays, with video games being made more available to people who weren’t around in the ’80s when the boom started,” Thomas said. “Right now, people play on their cellphones, so it’s interesting to see some younger generations come in and see the original game or something that was a cellphone game is now an arcade game.”

O’Malley said he’s given some thought to the arcade and the plan for going forward.

“I wouldn’t mind finding a place bigger to expand the brand,” he said. “I don’t want it to be huge because I like the intimacy of what Star Worlds is. But if another location came along, I would like to at least double the size of Star Worlds.”

The arcade occupies about 2,000 square feet in a space along Lincoln Highway, right across the street from the DeKalb Moose Lodge.

The space is home to more than 40 gaming machines. The entire collection consists of about 1,400 game titles.

O’Malley said they strive to offer something for everyone. He said he thinks it can be difficult for some to find things they can do for family-friendly entertainment in the area.

At Star Worlds Arcade, families have options.

One such game title, O’Malley said, that keeps patrons coming back for more is the Pac-Man Battle game.

“A lot of families come in,” O’Malley said. “That’s the first game they play, and they save their last tokens to be the last game they play. But parents and kids actually enjoy time together, and we’re honored for that to actually happen.”

O’Malley touted the loyalty of the arcade’s customer base.

“We’re seeing four generations of families, which is incredible,” he said.

When visitors enter the arcade, they are greeted by games, more games and prizes amid music blaring and lights glaring.

O’Malley said this is all done by design.

“To me, an arcade should have energy,” he said. “A lot of the arcades in the ’80s were dark and dingy. I don’t like that.”

O’Malley said it’s important to him to be able to connect with the customers.

“I love our customers and getting to talk to people,” O’Malley said. “It’s kind of like Star Worlds is the modern-day version of the show from the ’80s called ‘Cheers.’ When people walk in here, we all know each other.”

Thomas said he does a lot of behind-the-scenes work at Star Worlds Arcade.

He usually repairs the gaming machines in the arcade when they need maintenance.

“We work with equipment from back in the ’80s all the way up to some present-day stuff,” Thomas said. “And you know that they’re machines, so it’s always something to do – especially the pinball games.”

Thomas said he loves being able to expand the availability and the legacy of the games.

“My favorite part is me versus the game,” Thomas said. “Sometimes the game wins. Most of the time, I do. And nowadays, some of the equipment we maintain they don’t make the parts for anymore, so then it becomes a research game to find the parts or something that will work.”

The gaming industry has seen a variety of changes over the years, with the rise of gaming consoles such as Xbox, Nintendo and PlayStation.

“It’s definitely something I’ve had to pivot on. I remember the first console that came out was the Nintendo NES, the first one,” Thomas said. “And when I saw the TV commercial, I was like, ‘OK, that’s the same graphics that I now have in my arcade games. Where is this going to go?’ And I had to pivot into watching the console market because the graphics had gotten better.”

For O’Malley, nothing beats the attraction of an arcade, even as he’s faced competition.

“More and more people wanted to stay at home and play games, and that’s where, as an arcade, you need to be involved with your customers,” he said.

O’Malley said having a presence on social media has helped Star Worlds Arcade find ways to stay relevant in the gaming industry.

“I’m always constantly out there on social media, engaging,” O’Malley said.

At the same time, O’Malley always has his head in the game.

“There’s always new stuff coming out,” O’Malley said. “I’m constantly going to shows.”

Some of the newer game titles available for play at Star Worlds Arcade are Crossy Road, a “Godzilla” pinball machine and more.

O’Malley said he knows where Star Worlds Arcade aligns in the gaming world.

“Something that feels good to me, that I kind of know our customers are going to go after, I grab it,” he said. “And the same thing with the used market on the classic games.”

O’Malley said he has a knack for picking gaming machines.

“I’m always looking for those games that people remember and haven’t played in a while,” O’Malley said. “I know that they’re going to go for that. I also listen to what our customers are saying, too.”

O’Malley has some rare game titles in his collection. They include a Dance Dance Revolution gaming machine from Japan, Chunithm and more.

Rare game titles can often be hard to come across, but O’Malley said it all comes down to relationships.

“It’s about knowing people and knowing a community,” O’Malley said. “It’s pretty scary sometimes spending money on something that’s in another country. It takes forever to get here, and you hope it does get here. So, it’s a risk.”