Down along State Street in Media, Pennsylvania the brightly colored awning above the entrance to Game On State hints at the fun and games inside. It’s an arcade and it’s packed with old-school faves like Pac-Man, Donkey-Kong, and pinball. Aimee Rubin, the owner of Game On State, set out to create a wholesome arcade for kids and their families to enjoy together.

But she’s also fulfilling another mission: to provide employment to individuals with disabilities.

Game On State Is an Arcade with a Mission

A former teacher and longtime resident of Media, Aimee has always been someone who wants to help. During the pandemic, she and a neighbor formed Circle of Giving. Providing basic necessities to families in need. this charity raised more than $200,000 to date.

However, wanting to empower disabled individuals is a mission that’s close to her heart, because it hits close to home.

The story of Game On State is partly her eldest son’s story. As a child, he was diagnosed with a rare chronic pulmonary illness and has “special needs around executive function and anxiety,” Aimee said.

In the fall of 2020 her son went away to college, but things didn’t work out and he came home after six weeks. He began working a retail job, but struggled with the role and wasn’t hired back after the holiday break. She found out that the management hadn’t even realized her son had special needs, just that he had difficulties on the job. So they let him go.

Aimee hit a breaking point of sorts. “How am I going to fix this?” she thought. “I can help all these other people, but how do I help my own child?”

Customized and Supported Main Line Employment

Aimee spent many hours of many days on the phone trying to get services for her son and trying to figure out “what form or what department to get this or that?”

Eventually she found her way through the maze and discovered the Community Integrated Services (CIS) of Delaware County. This organization places individuals with disabilities in jobs using a customized and supported employment program.

“Local businesses can partner with CIS and customize a job for individuals with disabilities, so that they can be successful,” Aimee said.

Through the CIS program, Aimee’s son began working at a job with the support of a coach. With that assistance in place, he progressed along a path to success and independence. He’s happily working in a full-time position as a job coach, helping others with disabilities.

Aimee was incredibly grateful to have found this program for her son, but wondered, “What do people do who don’t have someone like me to find the answers for them? What happens to these other people?” 

She realized that there was “this whole population out there that needed help” and that wasn’t acceptable to her.

Game On State Begins

Through her work with the Circle of Giving charity, Aimee learned about a prime storefront space that was available on State Street. It was right in the heart of Media’s shopping district. One day, her husband Eric, who had loved going to arcades down the shore as a kid, said he had an idea. “What if we opened an arcade in that retail space on State Street and hired customized and supported employees?” 

“That’s when the lightbulb went off!” Aimee said. “He always wanted to open an arcade and I wanted to help people.”  

What’s more, they both agreed that although Media had a lively and walkable downtown, there really wasn’t that much for kids and teens to do. They felt that bringing “the nostalgic feel of arcades to Media,” would be a welcome addition to the town.

Game On State is Everybody’s Arcade

That lightbulb moment happened in February 2021. By October of that same year, Aimee and her husband opened Game On State and declared it “everybody’s arcade.” This motto sums up Aimee’s business mission.

Game On State provides a safe, inclusive gaming space for individuals of all ages, backgrounds — and all levels of abilities. Since day one, Aimee has worked with CIS, to hire disabled persons and create customized roles for them. 

“We create jobs for individuals based on what they can do, not what they can’t do,” Aimee said. There are a lot of tasks that her disabled employees can do at Game On State. Employees greet customers, create candy boxes, and fill the candy bags, which need to be weighed, sealed, and labeled.  

When deciding how many disabled employees to hire, she modeled her staff on the percentage of the U.S. population who are disabled. 

“About 20% of our employees have disabilities, like Pedro, who has Cerebral Palsy and uses a speech device. Pedro is the most amazing individual,” Aimee said. “He sits in the front and greets everyone using his device and he maintains the candy selection. He did a story time with the kids at Christmas and taught himself how to stamp our shopping bags with his elbows. We call him our ambassador.”

Game On State Normalizes Disabilities

When kids and adults come into the arcade and browse the candy, they interact with Pedro and other disabled employees. It helps everyone become more accustomed to seeing disabled persons with an active role in the community. And that’s good for everybody. 

“I really feel as a teacher and a mom that you always want to lead by example,” Aimee said. “My goal was to have children come into the store and see these employees who may be in a wheelchair and normalize it. I want kids to see that those individuals can work and realize, ‘I can go up and talk to them.'”

In this way, she hopes that “the community can be a kinder place.”

As a timed play arcade, gamers can leave the quarters at home. No quarters are required. Play any game for the flat rate of $10 per half-hour or $15 per hour. An onsite candy shop with 350 types of candy sweetens the fun.

Game On State hours may vary. Store hours change based on special events or parties. Check Google Maps for the current Game on State open hours.

Parents may drop off children, ages 11 and older to stay and play independently and safely until pickup. Game On State also offers birthdays and private events packages, such as an adult BYOB party, corporate event, or mitzvah.

Media, Pennsylvania Arcade

Game On State is a diverse and inclusive entertainment space. Enjoy nostalgic and modern gaming experiences in the heart of downtown Media, Pennsylvania. Wholesome fun for kids and families, the arcade and candy shop also provides employment to people with disabilities.