NEWARK, N.Y. (WROC) — For Elena Kern, a pinball machine was the object of a childhood fascination. "Since I was a kid, I always wanted an Addams family pinball machine," she said. "My grandmother would take me to a pizzeria on Long Island, after school every day. They had one of these sitting in the pizzeria. We would play it and have a slice of pizza. "I said I have to have this but I was told 'absolutely not.'" Eventually, her boyfriend — now business and life partner, Derek — bought her one. But it didn't stop there. Kern found she loved not only collecting these machines but fixing them too. "I set (one) up in my living room, I fixed the problem in an hour or so, and I was like… What's the next one, let's do another one," she said. The next would come… Then the next one… Then the next one. Elena and Derek somehow fit 20 in their apartment. "He's really good at Tetris," Kern quipped. Unlike Tetris, matching a row does not eliminate pieces. So they rented a warehouse in 2019 in Newark just to keep and work on their games. The team realized that it was time after to open to the public to showcase their games, though 2020, naturally, slowed those plans. "The Arcade Project," opened to the public for its first season in 2023. They're in a mixed-use building in Newark, at 235 Murray Street. That extra time, however, allowed them to get their liquor license, and open a full kitchen and a gift shop area! They're "leveling up" for their second season (they close in the summer), and expect to have about 200 arcade games operable. From the Addams Family Pinball, to DDR, skeeball, shooters, air hockey, and as Kern said "some games you'll never see in this country or in your lifetime." On top of all that, Elena and Derek are working on bowling lanes in back! But, it comes down to the love of the games. "I love watching people enjoy the games. I think the biggest thing I get out of this is seeing people enjoy the games as much as I do," she said. There's no set date for the start of their second season, as they continue to work on the space, but they're aiming for a Saturday in late October. Check out closeups of some of the games here: