Matt Magnone (born: April 11, 1987), better known online as Arcade Matt (formerly Matt3756), is an American YouTuber who is known for his arcade game, coin pusher and claw machine videos.
Personal life[]
Matt was born in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, and currently resides in Western Pennsylvania. When he was growing up, he had two things he was interested in; claw machines and a camera. He got his first job at age 16 and saved up enough money to buy a claw machine in his own house which he bought from Craigslist for the price of $500. He stated in a video that he also owns a Big Haul machine and learned to be good at arcade games from an old arcade called Callahan's. He currently has one cat named Goober, and formerly Piggy, who passed away in 2024.
YouTube[]
Matt has been uploading YouTube videos since 2006. To celebrate 10 years of his YouTube channel, he uploaded a house tour. He created his "Will it Claw?" series in 2014 and has collaborated with other arcade games such as Angel and Crystal from Plush Time Wins. Matt also has worked with other arcade YouTubers, such as Carson Claws, Claw Craziness, ArcadeWarrior, JJGeneral1, and BrentTV whom also sometimes helps Matt film his YouTube videos. Some of Matt's other frequent guest camera people are friends Adam (nicknamed Camera Guy Adam) and Donnie and Greg; an employee from Zone28 who Matt repeatedly refers to as "a genius".
Before being known as ArcadeMatt starting in late 2018, he was previously known as Matt3756. His videos were either titled "Journey To The Claw Machine" and "Arcade Nerd". Matt refers to his fans as "Goobers" and veteran viewers as "OG Goobers" or simply "OGs" if they know him from the Matt3756 era or beyond.
Every year he attends IAPPA in Central Florida to showcase new and potential arcade games coming in the future. He mentions in videos he was able to take a tour of ICE and see some of the games they had in development. He had made a video in 2012 featuring a Cut The Rope prize redemption game and ICE contacted him about the video claiming that the game is 100% skill. Some games such as Pearl Fishery, Angry Birds Coin Crash, and Rick and Morty: Blips and Chitz have stickers on them with a QR Code that people can scan which leads them to videos he had filmed showing how to play the games and win jackpots.
Matt films his videos at a variety of arcades such as Zone28, Scene 75, Fun Fore All, and two locations of Dave & Busters (one known being located at The Waterfront). From 2016 to 2019, he filmed videos at an arcade known as The Lightning Bug which closed in early 2020. He has his Lil Diamond claw machine and a Stacker game onsite at Three Rivers Karting aka 3RK. Effective October of 2024, his Lil Diamond is no longer on location at 3RK and has been replaced with a custom claw machine.
When at 3RK or Zone28, he sometimes films behind the scenes videos showing various games being repaired. Zone28's owner also allows Matt to film videos when the arcade is closed, which he has repeatedly taken to his advantage to hit the jackpot on Gold Fishin'. According to Matt, the score to beat when the game is first turned on is 1,010 and is the easiest score to beat, which is also the lowest; he recommends playing it as soon as your arcade opens to have a better chance of hitting the jackpot.
In 2015, he introduced a new series of videos titled Journey To The Mini Golf where he plays a guest in an 18 hole game of mini golf. During the pandemic, he played a game against BrentTV at a mini golf course with 27 holes as opposed to the traditional 18. His most recent entry, uploaded in 2022, saw Matt play against (and lose) to a friend who plays actual golf.
Starting in 2018, he began filming carnival game videos at Kennywood. He would later expand to Cedar Point and frequently collaborates with Cedar Couple. The two games he has never defeated are Shoot The Star and the Ladder Climb. Starting in 2019 he began playing ring toss games where the prizes are pocket knives. In 2018 he began a series of videos at smaller carnivals where you win a goldfish and more wins means winning a plush. Matt claims that goldfish are hard to take care of and, when giving prizes away to fans, he hopes someone will take the goldfish. In 2023, he uploaded a video similar to the knife ring toss where you throw dimes into cups and whatever cup it lands in is your prize. One of the cups was censored in the video because it had profanity written on it which Matt censors in his videos to keep them family friendly (and because YouTube demonetizes videos with excessive swearing).
Matt became sponsored by ArcadeOnline and the two collaborated to make a game based on Matt called Mount Shabang. In 2024, LAI Games made Mount Shabang a real game and had two test units for people to play located at Scene 75 and a location of Pinstack in Plano, Texas; plush prizes of Goobers (the red balls featured in the game) were given as prizes in their respective prize areas. Matt stated that the game would be featured at the 2024 IAPPA event and he was hoping that arcades across the country would get the game.
On July 2nd, 2024, Matt's Google account was compromised by hackers, resulting in his channels, Arcade Matt and Mystery Matt, both being rebranded into a fake Tesla, Inc. account with a faux live stream of Elon Musk, then to MicroStrategy with a live stream of Michael Saylor. Both channels were reverted to their original state on July 3rd, 2024.
Trivia[]
- His favorite ride at Kennywood is Steel Phantom and his favorite ride at Cedar Point is Millennium Force
- Some of his videos feature clips from Family Guy and he quotes the show on occasion. He also frequently quotes Eminem's famous song "Lose Yourself" by saying "Palms are sweaty, mom's spaghetti".
- His catchphrase is "Shabang!". His Teespring store sells t shirts and hoodies with the phrase printed on it which he has worn in various videos. During the Journey To The Claw Machine era, his catchphrase was "Come on, baby" which he still occasionally says today.
- He has a website where he lists the various prizes he's won for sale; in addition to 3D printed keychains.
- His mom is an author who wrote a book titled Piggy The Cat and Arcade Matt; the book can be bought on Amazon.
- He will occasionally host a giveaway to win a high profile prize he's won in a video on Rafflecopter.
- Matt frequently claims in arcade videos that he is short; he is 5'8" tall.
- When Matt meets fans in videos, he will sometimes give away the various prizes he's won in addition to stickers.
- His favorite number is 22. When asked if the 3756 in his original name had any special significance, Matt stated he chose the numbers at random.
- When filming at Zone 28, Matt repeatedly mentions their pizza is delicious.
- Matt's favorite kind of prizes are ones that look like food and he has a collection of these prizes.