What Happens to High Scores When a Classic Arcade Game Is Powered Off?

By HighScoreSaves Technical Team

Reviewed and updated August 22, 2026

You earn a new high score on a classic arcade machine, enter your initials, turn the cabinet off for the night, and power it back on the next day. Is your score still there?

On many original classic arcade games, the answer is no. The machine can maintain and display high scores while it has power, but the original hardware may not have been designed to preserve those player scores after the cabinet is switched off.

The reason involves the difference between volatile and nonvolatile memory. Understanding that difference explains why many original arcade games lose scores at shutdown and how a HighScoreSaves upgrade kit can preserve them on supported original arcade PCBs.

Why Do Many Classic Arcade Games Lose Their High Scores?

During normal operation, an arcade game needs working memory. The CPU uses RAM to keep track of changing information such as game state, player data, counters, temporary values, and high scores.

Conventional RAM used as working memory is volatile. It requires electrical power to maintain its contents. When power is removed, the information stored there is lost.

If an original game's high-score table exists only in volatile memory, switching off the cabinet removes the stored player-score information along with the other temporary data.

What Happens When the Arcade Game Starts Again?

When the cabinet is powered back on, the arcade PCB starts its boot process again. The CPU executes the game's program code and initializes the memory required for operation.

A game that does not permanently preserve player scores may initialize its high-score table with default score values or other predetermined information included by the game's software.

This is why seeing a high-score table after power-up does not necessarily mean the game saved the scores from the previous session. The table may have been recreated during startup.

RAM and ROM Perform Different Jobs

RAM and ROM are often confused when discussing vintage arcade hardware, but they perform very different functions.

RAM is generally used for information that changes while the game operates. ROM contains information intended to remain available without power, such as program code and game data.

A player's newly earned score cannot simply be written into the original program ROM during normal gameplay. The ROM contains the game software; it is not the game's normal working score-storage area.

For more information about ROM devices, see Original Arcade ROMs Explained: Program ROMs, Graphics ROMs, and Sound ROMs .

What Is Nonvolatile Memory?

Nonvolatile memory can retain stored information when normal operating power is removed.

There are multiple ways electronic systems can preserve information. Some systems use batteries to maintain otherwise volatile memory. Other designs use memory technologies that retain data without requiring continuous battery power.

HighScoreSaves kits use battery-free serial EEPROM for persistent score and settings storage on supported designs.

How HighScoreSaves Preserves Arcade High Scores

On supported original arcade PCBs, a HighScoreSaves upgrade kit adds persistent high-score storage while keeping the original arcade game board in operation.

Many HighScoreSaves designs use a 93C86 serial EEPROM. EEPROM is nonvolatile, so saved information does not require a battery to remain stored when the cabinet is switched off.

The exact number of scores and the information preserved depend on the individual game and kit. Some supported configurations maintain relatively small traditional score tables, while others can provide substantially larger all-time score tables.

For the detailed technical explanation, read How Arcade High Scores Are Saved Without a Battery: Serial EEPROM Explained .

Does the HighScoreSaves Kit Replace the Original Arcade PCB?

No. A HighScoreSaves daughterboard is an upgrade for a supported original arcade PCB rather than a replacement game board.

On many designs, the original CPU is removed from its socket on the arcade PCB and installed on the HighScoreSaves daughterboard. The daughterboard then installs at the original CPU location.

Learn more about that architecture in How High Score Save Kits Work on Original Arcade PCBs .

What About Battery-Backed High Scores?

Some electronic systems preserve volatile memory by supplying it with power from a battery after the main system is turned off. Depending on the arcade hardware, batteries may also be used for settings, bookkeeping information, or other retained data.

Battery-backed memory and EEPROM are not the same thing. Battery-backed RAM requires a continuing backup-power source to preserve its data. EEPROM retains stored information without that continuous battery supply.

The original storage design varies by arcade platform, so the hardware and documentation for the particular game should be examined rather than assuming every classic arcade PCB handles saved information the same way.

Are Wi-Fi Leaderboard Scores Stored Only Online?

No. On supported HighScoreSaves Wi-Fi kits, local score saving and online leaderboard submission are separate functions.

The kit saves supported score information locally. When Wi-Fi is enabled and configured, qualifying leaderboard information can also be uploaded after initials are entered.

If internet access is unavailable, the supported local score-saving function does not depend on an online server to retain scores.

For details, see How HighScoreSaves Wi-Fi Leaderboards Work on Classic Arcade Games .

Do Multigame Kits Keep Separate High Scores?

Supported HighScoreSaves multigame upgrades can maintain separate score tables for the included games or game versions according to the design of the specific kit.

This is important because a multigame installation may run several compatible titles on the same supported original hardware platform. Scores from one included game should not simply become the score table for another.

See How Multigame Upgrade Kits Work on Original Arcade PCBs for more information about multigame operation.

Turning Off an Arcade Cabinet Should Not Erase a Properly Saved HighScoreSaves Score

Once supported score information has been properly saved to the kit's nonvolatile memory, a normal cabinet power cycle should not erase that saved information.

This is the central difference between a score that exists only in volatile working memory and a score that has been written to persistent storage.

The result is a classic arcade machine that can still operate on its supported original PCB while retaining player achievements from one power cycle to the next.

The Important Question Is Where the Score Is Stored

A score appearing on the screen does not by itself tell you whether that score will survive shutdown. The important question is where and how the score information is being stored.

Volatile memory normally loses its contents when power disappears. Persistent storage retains selected information. HighScoreSaves upgrade kits bridge that difference on supported original arcade hardware by providing nonvolatile high-score storage without replacing the original game PCB.

Get More Arcade Knowledge

Enjoyed this article? Join the HighScoreSaves newsletter for new Arcade Knowledge articles, kit announcements, installation tips, product updates, and occasional subscriber-only offers.

Join the HighScoreSaves Newsletter

Classic Arcade • Modern Features