The team got to go hands-on with the incredible Throwback: Jai-Alai Heroes arcade cabinet at PAX East 2026 and are now trying to figure out how to buy one for the office. Or maybe buy several.
I’m an “adult” from a particular era where arcade sports games were a surefire way into the hearts of many a gamer. It’s no secret here at SideQuesting that Windjammers is a game I consider perfect and one of my absolute all time favorite titles. Going into PAX East this year I got an email promoting an arcade exclusive title called Throwback! Jai-Alai Heroes, and everything about it was J.J.-coded. Its siren’s call drew me to the PAX Rising area where it was stationed and was the first thing I played on the show floor — and it truly accomplishes what it sets out to do.
Throwback! is an over the top arcade action version of a sport that is already kinda over the top. If you don’t know what that sport is, that’s fine (you should watch some, it’s very cool) because the game teaches you the basics without being obtrusive. Jai Alai is a sport where competitors have scoop gloves and use them to hurl balls against a wall at breakneck speed. They throw, bounce and even do wall jumps. Scoring is like that of tennis or handball.
So, turning this into a fast-paced sports action game with a simple three-button layout that features balls bouncing back at you at an incredible velocity seems like a no brainer and seems like it should be something that has existed for decades. Even though it hasn’t the developers at Astro Crow made it feel like it has. Playing it is just that fun.
The only negative I really have is that I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to play it again. Throwback! is only ever going to be on a cabinet, and there are currently just 4 states where it’s available and 7 cabs total. The developers want to put at least one cabinet in every US state to start. It’s not yet in my home state, so you know what has to happen: it’s time for me to start pestering every local arcade I can get in contact with.
This preview based on hands-on at PAX East 2026. Images and video courtesy publisher and SideQuesting. This video first appeared on The SideQuest for March 26, 2026.
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