Ed Farias has a totally rad job.

As the co-owner of Arcade-In-A-Box LLC, a business that sells video game consoles, Farias is building an enterprise through a niche market — classic video game fans who are yearning for a bit of 80’s nostalgia.

“For years, people have been telling me what a cool idea it is to have a video arcade in their home,” said Farias, 30, who builds, designs and sells customized PC-based home arcade and video game consoles to people nationwide. “This is definitely for people who are in their 30’s and 40’s, who grew up in the arcades, dumping quarter after quarter into video games, and remember using joy sticks.”

The consoles — decked out in graphics and colors reminiscent of the 1980’s — can play up to 100 games produced by Atari, Namco, Midway and Taito. Such titles include Pac Man, Robotron, Missile Command and Centepeid, which are installed on the consoles.

Farias sells three models, which can all be plugged into a television or computer monitors.

Connections for audio outlets are also part of the system.

One sells for $449 for the “Jamma-In-A-Box” console that uses “mother boards” found in arcade systems and another called the Neo-Geo MVS System, a $649 console which plays Neo-Geo game cartridges.

The Arcade-In-A-Box model is the most expensive, selling for $1,799.

That console, essentially, is a Windows-based personal computer, Farias said.

Separated in two, the console’s bottom half is where the computer lies and where the top half is wired for arcade controls. That’s where the analog joy stick, buttons and the arcade track ball are housed, he said.

Since it’s a PC, the console has two USB ports, and can be used to surf the Internet and download programs, he said. The console also has an outlet where a key board can be plugged in.

Farias, however, has designed an “entertainment menu” which can be navigated using the arcade buttons, to play play DVD’s, music or for Karaoke.

Farias runs the six-year-old business from the game room in his East Tucson home.

Until this year, Farias said he assembled and sold the consoles during on weeknights and weekends.

Mostly it was for people who wanted to add games to their rec and family rooms, he said.

“It was more of a hobby,” he said. “Now business is starting to take off.”

He now is registered as an LLC, has an updated website and hired a Chicago marketing executive this year to get word out about Arcade-In-A-Box.

Since then, it’s been profiled on Home and Garden Television's “I Want That: Tech Toys” show, which aired in the fall and is being mentioned in a technology column in the January issue of Stuff Magazine.

Recently it was mentioned as a “hot gift” in Game Room Magazine’s annual gift guide.

“It’s definitely a unique product,” said Kevin Steele, editor and publisher of Game Room Magazine, based in Cleveland, Ohio. “It merges the old school with the new school.”

The 18-year-old magazine tracks the home game room market and reviews products — from vintage coin-operated arcade games to the latest in pin ball machines.

There has been a larger trend with companies selling vintage arcade games or releasing old classics, he said.

“They are new products that harken back to the old arcade days,” said Steele, 41, who counts himself among those who came of age when Pac-Man was quite popular and dashed across video screens across the country.

Those teenagers who grew up in the 80’s are now in their 30s and 40s and have bigger, disposable incomes, he said.

“Anyone who grew up in the 80’s will like this system,” he said. “Some gamers want nostalgia and are able to relive their childhood and teen years. It’s also novelty for those kids who’ve never seen those games.”