Ever since the first time I went to a Chuck E. Cheese-hosted birthday party, chowing down on greasy pizza and slurping sodas with my best buddies, I have had a singular nerd goal in mind: creating my own arcade.

I'm not talking about designing my own arcade game, of course. As cool as that would be, I lack the engineering finesse and the elbow grease to get my story and gameplay ideas out of the old noggin' and into a hulking game system.

No, what I'm talking about is having my own arcade arena. An arcade paradise, if you will.

I call it Arcadia.

The dream isn't necessarily as far-fetched as one might think on the surface. I've met plenty of folks over the years with the occasional arcade game propped up around their houses. For example, my dentist -- a family friend, thank god, or else life could have gone down a different route -- had the original Kickboxer arcade game in his basement. That made coming over for Passover dinners pretty darn cool.

Of course, getting the scratch together for a legitimate arcade setup isn't easy by any stretch. We're talking about thousands and thousands of dollars worth of investments. Pinball machines can range anywhere from a bit under $1000 to as high as five figures, depending on the rarity of the machine and how expensive it is to move and make. Actual arcade games will have a similar price tag due to a variety of factors, including but not limited to the specific game you're looking for and your cabinet of choice, be it the standard upright arcade, a cocktail table or a cockpit game.

But let's assume you've got cash to burn and you can afford the arcade of your choosing. Where do we go next? Is it enough to simply have one upright machine, even if it has over a hundred games available? For some people, absolutely. But those of us searching to satisfy that urge to build the ultimate man cave -- that elusive slice of videogaming and pizza-partying paradise -- the first arcade game is only the first brick on that golden road to Arcadia.

Do what you can to scrounge up the other gaming essentials. Ask your high school pals if they're still using their parents' old pool table. If they aren't, take it off their hands on the cheap and fix it up with some extreme neon colors, just like what you'd see at a Chuck E. Cheese or a Dave & Buster's. It doesn't have to be a pool table, either; you could always go for an air hockey table, or in a worst case scenario, a ping pong or foosball table. However you want to shake it, some sort of tabletop centerpiece is going to kick things up a notch.

Still, having your arcade game and your tabletop isn't quite enough. It would be fantastic if you could get one or two more additional games -- a pinball machine or a cockpit game would be tremendous, if not extremely expensive -- but what you really want is a jukebox. Like arcades, jukeboxes can be priced on the high-end. For the sake of your wallet, you might want to consider crafting your own jukebox exterior just for show, then have the arcade's music controlled by your own, less expensive stereo system. After all, you didn't build Arcadia to make money, right?

Wrong!

Arcadia is a business, ladies and gentlemen, and businesses require investments. If you want to set up a solitary arcade in your basement, major kudos to you. Not many people have that, so that would be tremendously cool. But if you're after the Holy Grail of home-based arcades -- if you want Arcadia -- pour your bank account on the table and make back your expenses on quarters and ticket sales. Set up an endorsement deal with Coca Cola or your local pizza chain.

It's like "Field of Dreams," people -- if you build it, they will come.

Then again, in today's home arcade climate of the Playstation Network and Xbox Live, striving for Arcadia might be a pipe dream. But hey, we're videogamers -- dreaming is what we do.