Raid Waiting Arcade

WoW addon · beta

Five to twenty minutes between "I'm in" and "pulling".

You can't leave the client — you'll miss the invite and the voice call to gather. Alt-tabbing to a browser loses you both. The arcade fills that time inside the game: twenty games that run a few minutes each, and you can drop any of them mid-move.

Download the beta How to install
  • 3.3.5a · WotLK
  • Retail · Midnight
  • more clients soon
The arcade window: twenty game tiles

Commands

/arc
Opens or closes the window. Same as /arcade and the minimap button.
/arc chess
Jumps straight into a game, past the menu. Swap in your own: apothecary arkanoid breaker checkers chess gems gofish invaders jump merge mines pairs recipe slide snake solitaire stack sudoku tetris tower
/arc about
A window with links: releases, Discord. The client can't open links, so the address is shown pre-selected for Ctrl+C.
/arc broken
Which games got disabled by an error, and why. Useful when reporting a bug.

Twenty games, none of them an evening-eater

Puzzles, cards, real-time action, and games against an opponent. A game saves on Esc and survives /reload: dropping it costs you nothing.

Pairs setup screen: four modes, field size, pairs or triples
Pairs
A Klondike deal at the start of a game
Solitaire
A murloc opponent at the card table
Chests
A ring of enemies above the player's ship
Invaders
A sudoku grid with the number pad
Sudoku
A minefield with opened cells and flags
Mines
Flasks of coloured herbs to sort
Apothecary
A chess board at the starting position
Chess

All twenty

  • ApothecarySort herbs into vials so each color ends up alone in its own.
  • ArkanoidLevels run one after another as long as you have balls. Behind the gold walls are chambers with capsules.
  • BubblesClear connected groups of stones. The bigger the group, the more points.
  • Checkers2 playersRussian checkers (mandatory captures) against the bot or a friend.
  • Chess2 playersStandard chess against another person — there's no bot for this one.
  • Chests2 playersA memory card game: against the character at the table or against a friend.
  • ConstructionA crane swings a floor on a cable. A precise landing fills the whole floor with tenants.
  • InvadersWaves of enemies from above: formation, swarms, ring, rain, siege. Auto-fire, spacebar for your ability.
  • JumperThe character jumps on its own, arrow keys steer it sideways. Climb as high as you can.
  • Match ThreeSwap adjacent gems and match lines of three or more.
  • MergeSlide the board with arrow keys: two matching potions merge into the next recipe.
  • MinesClear the minefield: the number on a tile tells you how many mines are nearby.
  • Pairs2 playersA memory game: flip two cards at a time and find the matches.
  • RecipeGuess the secret recipe in a few pinches: brew the mix and read the result.
  • SlideA picture cut up and shuffled. Tiles slide into the empty spot.
  • SnakeEat food without hitting a wall or biting your own tail.
  • SolitaireKlondike, FreeCell, and Yukon: clear the layout by suit.
  • StorekeeperPush crates under the crane, fill in pits, and clear a full row.
  • SudokuDigits 1–9, no repeats in any row, column, or box.
  • TetrisA 10-by-20 board: pieces fall, and full lines clear.

Duo Play a match with a friend

Two players sitting on a bench in Dalaran, each with the arcade window open showing the same chess game
  1. Both players open the arcadeIt's needed on both ends.
  2. Send a game inviteOne invites, the other clicks "Yes".
  3. Play the matchRan out of time? Finish it later.

Chess, Checkers, Pairs, and Chests. You need to be in the same zone, layer, or instance.

About raids What it won't do to your evening

  1. Enter combat, the game pauses

    The game pauses and the window leaves the screen on its own — that's the "Hide in combat" checkbox at work. Bringing it back is on you, not the addon: there's no auto-return, so the game can't pop up mid-pull.

  2. You won't miss a ready check

    A ready check or a group invite pauses the game, but the window stays up: you can see the raid is forming, and forming without you, until you click.

  3. Chat stays yours

    The window doesn't take over your keyboard: Enter opens chat, Esc closes the arcade. Games only get the arrow keys and spacebar, and only while a game is running; keys can be reassigned, and most games play with the mouse alone.

  4. A closed window does nothing

    A hidden arcade drops its game loop instead of spinning it idle. An addon that eats frames while nobody's playing it isn't an arcade — it's a tax.

Look Looks like part of the client

Games are dressed in gear straight from WoW: icons come from the client by item ID instead of being redrawn. The window comes in one of six themes: Parchment, Dark Gold, Scroll, Stone, Slate, Flat.

The arcade menu in the Dark Gold theme
"Parchment": warm wood and gold.
The arcade menu in the Slate theme
"Slate": cold stone and steel.

Install How to install

One archive covers both clients — from the releases page on GitHub. Inside is a single folder — that's the one you drop in.

3.3.5a · WotLK

  1. Close the game.
  2. Drop the folder here: client folder\Interface\AddOns
  3. Launch the game and type /arc.

Retail · Midnight

  1. Close the game.
  2. Drop the folder here: World of Warcraft\_retail_\Interface\AddOns
  3. Launch the game and type /arc.

Beta

All twenty games are in, but this is the first public build: something's bound to turn up. Send a bug, an oddity, or an idea to Discord or as an issue on GitHub.