Real-time player interaction is the lifeblood of modern arcade games, transforming solitary experiences into dynamic social competitions. Developers achieve this seamless interplay through a sophisticated blend of networking technology and game design principles. The foundation lies in a robust client-server architecture. Each arcade cabinet or device acts as a client, continuously communicating with a central game server. This server acts as the ultimate referee, receiving inputs from all players, processing the game state, and broadcasting the results back to each client almost instantaneously.

A critical technique employed is dead reckoning. To minimize the perception of lag, the game client predicts the movements of other players based on their last known velocity and direction. When the server's authoritative update arrives, the client smoothly corrects any minor discrepancies, ensuring fluid animation even on imperfect networks. For fighting games or rhythm games where timing is measured in milliseconds, developers use a technique called input buffering. This system stores player commands for a few frames, allowing the game to synchronize actions from multiple players effectively, creating a fair and responsive feel.

The choice of network protocol is also vital. While TCP guarantees data delivery, its error-checking can introduce delays. For fast-paced action, many developers opt for UDP (User Datagram Protocol), which prioritizes speed over reliability, accepting that a small percentage of packet loss is preferable to high latency. Furthermore, modern cloud-based server infrastructure allows developers to deploy game instances in data centers geographically close to their players, drastically reducing ping times. By mastering these technologies—client-server models, prediction algorithms, and low-latency networking—arcade game developers create the thrilling, real-time interactive experiences that define the genre.