GameRoom magazine was founded in 1988 by Dave and Donna Cooper in New Albany, Indiana. Their first monthly issue was dated January 1989 and the editorial content leaned towards jukeboxes. At the time, that hobby sector was experiencing its boom years. However, GameRoom's content included all aspects of the coin-op (and related) collecting hobby such as slot machines, trade stimulators, pinball machines and gumball machines. Back then, GameRoom even featured articles about antique ice cream scoops, carousels and petroliana.

In 1993, GameRoom absorbed the rights and obligations of a competing hobby publication, The Pinball Trader. With that, pinball coverage was expanded and ice cream scoops and other off-topic coverage was (thankfully)eliminated.

In September 1996, Dave Cooper suddenly passed away and GameRoom was sold to Tim and Jacqueline Ferrante. The magazine's operations were moved to Keyport, New Jersey. The new ownership resulted in more monthly pages, regular columnists, a website and coin-op book and merchandise department.

By January 1997, GameRoom widened its coin-op collecting coverage to include arcade video games. In 2001 we published "The Arcade Video Game Price Guide", the world's first price guide for arcade video games.

Today, GameRoom magazine is based in Cleveland, Ohio and is part of the Steele Publishing, LLC media family (which also includes the home arcade web site RetroBlast). It reaches collectors worldwide and is the leading publication of its kind. GameRoom regularly features articles covering pinball machines, arcade video, jukeboxes, arcade games and other coin-operated collectibles.