‘A little nostalgic tickle’: Retro arcade the Headless Horseman rides into Wheeling
Pac-Man, Centipede and Galaga are just a few of the classic games inside Wheeling’s newly opened Headless Horseman Arcade.
Double Dragon, Donkey Kong and X-Men are here, too. So are a couple Mortal Combat varieties, Asteroids and even games based on the “RoboCop” and “Terminator” film franchises.
The titles may be familiar, but the Headless Horseman’s business model is different from the arcades of the 1980s and ’90s.
Instead of gobbling patrons’ quarters, all the games are set to free play. A $20 entry fee allows customers to enjoy unlimited games for one day.
Located at 1918 S. Wolf Road in Wolf Point Plaza, the Headless Horseman is the creation of owner Udey “Dave” Kumra, a former computer programmer and critical care nurse from Northbrook.
“I’ve been going to arcades since I was a kid,” said Kumra, 48. “It was always a good place to escape from real life.”
Kumra got his inspiration for the business from an arcade with the same flat-fee pay structure in Brookfield called the Galloping Ghost. The Headless Horseman’s alliterative name honors the Galloping Ghost.
Kumra originally proposed launching the Headless Horseman elsewhere in Wheeling in 2022 but withdrew his plans after the landlord offered the space to a different business.
Like Indiana Jones searching for a historical treasure or Mario trying to rescue the ape-napped Pauline, Kumra didn’t give up on his mission. He eventually inked a deal for a roughly 10,000-square-foot space that had been vacant since 2006.
The village board unanimously approved a special permit for the new location earlier this year, and Kumra got to work remodeling the space and loading it with game cabinets.
As of this week, the Headless Horseman has nearly 80 games in many different genres. A full list is at headlesshorsemanarcade.com.
While not all of them have the original wooden cabinetry, all have original circuit boards.
Kumra has promised more games will arrive every week or two. Tron and Gauntlet are among the games he’s hoping to acquire.
“That’s definitely on my list to get,” Kumra said of Gauntlet, a dungeon-crawling game that can be enjoyed by up to four people at once. “I’m focusing on getting more of the classics.”
Village President Pat Horcher said he expects the arcade will remind people of a certain age how much fun they had in the arcades of their youth.
“This will touch a little nostalgic tickle in their brains,” Horcher said.
The Horseman might also inspire younger generations of gamers to leave their homes and gather in person, Horcher said.
“That’s such a challenge today,” he said.
But without quarters to place on consoles, how will players claim next game? Kumra isn’t worried.
“People always find something to play,” he said.
The Headless Horseman is open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and from 11 a.m. to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. For more information, call (847) 393-5178 or visit the website.