1997 Cosmodog is founded in Chicago by Andrew Pines, fresh off a gig with Viacom New Media where he worked as a producer creating video games with subsidiary MTV.
Latest News from Cosmodog
CHICAGO, IL - September 17, 2025 — Cosmodog, Ltd., the arcade game developer behind Jukebox Bowl-O-Rama®, Pac-Man’s Pixel Bash, Pac-Man Battle Royale Chompionship, and many more is excited to announce the launch of the SPIKE 3 System in Stern Pinball’s Star Wars: Fall of the Empire pinball machine. Cosmodog developed and licensed this new next generation hardware platform to Stern Pinball to be used in all of Stern’s upcoming games. SPIKE 3 features significantly increased computing performance, the ability to drive multiple high resolution displays, a new, more powerful, immersive sound system, and wireless headphone support, all while maintaining compatibility with previous generations of the SPIKE system.
Our Origin
Cosmodog came into being largely because Viacom decided to stop making video games. Andrew Pines (Cosmodog's founder) was working as a producer at Viacom New Media when Viacom came to the realization that making consumer video games is difficult, risky work and chose to exit the market. That left Andrew with a choice: find another risky video game company to work for or put that MBA to use and start a new risky video game company. For good or ill he chose the latter, and Cosmodog was born.
Cosmodog was founded with the intention to create arcade video games, a goal which took some years to achieve. Initially, the company was involved in contract electrical engineering and programming, first in industrial controls, then in toys. After a couple of years of consulting work, the Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga combo game project came along, and it's been pretty much all video games ever since. Cosmodog still does the occasional toy project, but the consulting work has been severely curtailed in favor of in-house video game projects.
Timeline for Cosmodog, Ltd
1997
1998
Cosmodog’s flair for bringing retro-looking electronics into the modern world begins with the Neon Nixie Clock. At the time of its production, Y2K concerns were top of mind for engineers like Cosmodog. The Neon Nixie Clock website boasted: “Of course, it's fully Y2K compliant, capable of maintaining the proper time and date into the 22nd century.” Shortly after, Cosmodog started providing Nixie Clock assemblies to Tyler Hays’ BDDW
Eventually, the bespoke neon tube Numechron Nixie clock receives press coverage in Maxim and Sharp: The Book For Men. In 2015, Cosmodog partners with yet another great Chicago industrial design firm, Beyond Design, to create the Numechron Nixie clock, enclosed in machined aluminum and a cloth-wrapped power cord to achieve the look and feel of vintage electronics.
2001
Cosmodog lands its first big contract with Namco to resurrect the iconic Ms. Pac-Man and Galaga arcade games using modern technology in time for their 20th anniversary. Ms. Pac-Man Galaga Class of 1981 becomes a hugely popular coin-operated combination game for Namco. That same year, Cosmodog engineers a new combo of Centipede/Millipede/Missile Command, a big seller for Team Play. It is a busy year for Cosmodog, Namco and Team Play.
2003
Cosmodog is contracted to engineer two more blockbuster arcade combo games, Robotron/Joust and Defender/Stargate, in response to growing demand for retro coin-operated game titles.
2003-2006
Cosmodog staffs up and develops its first original arcade game, Rockin’ Bowl-O-Rama. For this trackball bowling game, Cosmodog hires a Math PhD to deploy real-world physics and develops a patented strike bonus to render a realistic bowling experience on-screen. Equally important was the look and feel of the cabinet, which Andrew envisions as a tribute to the bowling alleys of the 1950s. The industrial design firm Design Integrity realizes the vision and Rockin’ Bowl-O-Rama is licensed to Namco, which releases it in 2006.
2009
Cosmodog engineers the FunStop Photobooth for client Team Play, innovating a new technology to automatically center the photobooth camera on the subject’s face. FunStop Photobooth proves to be a successful outing for Team Play, which still sells the popular photobooth.
2011-2015
Cosmodog enters the annals of pinball history with SPIKE, created for client Stern Pinball. As the first new electronic platform for pinball in decades, SPIKE takes as its inspiration for node-bus technology the distributed processing used by the auto industry. SPIKE improves performance while greatly reducing wiring, creating a gee whiz moment for pinball enthusiasts everywhere. Stern debuts the SPIKE system on its WWE Wrestlemania title.
2016
Cosmodog engineers SPIKE-2 pinball hardware system to incorporate efficiencies and advances in technology, all with an eye to powering the creativity of Stern game designers. Stern debuts the SPIKE-2 system on its Batman ’66 game title.
2017
Cosmodog creates Pac-Man Pixel Bash for Bandai Namco. Coin-operated pillar Pac-Man gets a fun update (including a mini fridge in the home version) which is still in production today.
2022
Cosmodog designs Raspberry Pi Compute Module-based platform for making future arcade games. This goes on to run Pac-Man Battle Royale Chompionship Edition, Jukebox Bowl-O-Rama, and forms the basis for Stern’s Spike 3 system.
Cosmodog creates Pac-Man Battle Royale Chompionship Edition for Bandai Namco, a coin-operated illuminated table version of Pac-Man for up to 8 players.
2023
Cosmodog launches Jukebox Bowl-O-Rama for the home with a bigger, higher resolution screen, a vastly upgraded sound system, Bluetooth® connectivity, Karaoke, and more."
2025
The arcade hardware platform Cosmodog designed is licensed to Stern Pinball and forms the basis of SPIKE-3 along with many enhancements and much integration provided by Cosmodog. Stern Pinball launches STAR WARS: Fall of the Empire on its new SPIKE-3 system.