Coins, combos, and pure arcade mayhem.
Showcased during the recent Indie World Showcase (broadcast on October 28, 2026), RACCOIN: Chaos Max Edition blends the pure satisfaction of classic arcade coin pushers with roguelike deckbuilding. Developed by the three-person team that makes up Doraccoon and published by Playstack, the game launches on November 10, 2026 for Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. The Nintendo Switch 2 version includes Joy-Con 2 mouse support and an exclusive “Red and White” arcade cabinet skin.
We recently had the pleasure of speaking with the team at Doraccoon about the origins of the concept, the balance of luck and skill, the design of its colourful characters, and the most satisfying moments that emerge when everything clicks. This is what we learned:
Doraccoon | Pushing Chaos with RACCOIN: Chaos Max Edition
What sparked the idea of blending classic coin-pusher mechanics with roguelike progression and character variety?
Doraccoon: A classic coin pusher is genuinely fresh and exciting at first, but its essence is actually rather dull: it’s just about pushing the coins off the edge, and to do that you insert coins, over and over again.
So the process itself becomes especially important, which is why real coin pushers come in so many different themes, with rich sound and lighting. But once I’d grown used to all that packaging, everything turned repetitive again and the boredom came right back.
After I played Balatro, I started wondering whether adding roguelike elements to a coin pusher could make it feel interesting again. So I sketched out a few ideas: a bomb coin that blows coins off the platform, bunny coins that spawn more bunny coins. I thought it was fun, so we started development.
As for the character system, we only added it after roughly half a year of development. Before that, all the coins were mixed into a single pool, and the experience was actually rather messy, because it was much harder to draw the coins you wanted for your build. The character system solved that nicely.
Were there any real-world arcade machines or games that heavily influenced the feel?
Doracccoon: Galaxy Hunter was the first coin pusher I ever played, and it blended match-3 with RPG mechanics.
In Galaxy Hunter, alongside the coins, there are a number of red, yellow and blue discs. At the front of the machine there’s a screen showing the battle. You have to push three discs of the same colour off the edge to trigger the corresponding character’s skill.
In a typical coin pusher, the coins drop from above and pass through a wall of obstacles before landing on the pusher. In Galaxy Hunter, though, the coins are dropped from chutes on either side. I think that’s because the gameplay is all concentrated on the platform itself and on that screen.
With RACCOIN, we also wanted the platform to be the main stage where the interaction happens, so that players’ attention always stays there. That’s why, when we were building the prototype, we referenced Galaxy Hunter and put the chutes on the sides, cutting out the vertical drop entirely.
How do you balance pure luck with skillful decision-making in a score-attack context?
Doraccoon: A classic coin pusher runs on 90% luck and 10% skill, so developing RACCOIN has really been a process of raising the skill side of that ratio.
When we say we’re having good or bad luck on a classic coin pusher, it all comes down to physics: the coin tower won’t topple no matter how you push, or the coins stack on top of each other and the push goes nowhere. In RACCOIN, we’ve given players plenty of ways to break past those physical limits. You can take out a whole coin tower with a black hole, or shake the cabinet when you’re almost out of coins — any of these can be the turning point that lets a player flip a losing run.
The shop and the Coin Clip are where the main decisions happen. You have to think about what items to buy for your target build, or reshape the build around the items you’re offered. Coin Clip expansion also comes with a hidden choice: whether you want to carry more types of coin, or more copies of the same one.
When we design items for a character, we also ask whether items can produce enough combo effects with one another. Items are also divided by function: some purely raise Value and multipliers, some boost a global stat like Conversion Rate, and some trigger physical effects, such as Bomboin.
All in all, playing a classic coin pusher is a fairly passive experience. In RACCOIN, though, players have plenty of tools to push back against situations that would otherwise depend on luck, and items can be combined into many different builds, making the experience richer, more player-driven, and more strategic.
How do the eight characters and their themed coins create meaningfully different runs?
Doraccoon: First, each character has its own thematic playstyle. The Biologist, for example, is built around planting and hunting, while the RAC-001N that appears in Chaos Max Edition is themed around robotics and technology. Each character also has its own exclusive coins and items. Those two things make the experience of each character genuinely distinct.
Second, within a single character we also design several sub-playstyles. The Chemist, for example, has a water & lightning style, a snowman style, a sleepwalking style, and so on. We also stagger the unlocks, so that players are encouraged to try a different one on each run.
The Creator is a special case: it lets you play with the coins and items of any character you’ve already unlocked, which opens up far more build combinations. I’m confident that once players get their hands on Chaos Max Edition, we’ll see plenty of moments we never could have anticipated.
Can you walk through the combo and item systems that produce the biggest “chaos” moments?
Doraccoon: This is for the players to discover!
What has early demo feedback taught you about player engagement?
Doraccoon: The demo showed us where our onboarding fell short. We found that players didn’t want to read a lot of dialogue — they just wanted to get playing. So before launch we cut a lot of wordy text and tried to keep the tutorial to a few pointers that come up as the player acts.
Because the full game is much bigger than the demo, we were also worried that players would feel overwhelmed by the amount of information. So we later changed some systems that originally unlocked early on so that they unlock per character. For example, the Chemist unlocks Modifier Prize, and the Trader unlocks the Custom Wheel system.
We also noticed that some of the game’s text confused English-speaking players, probably because we’re not native English speakers. So Playstack later helped us a lot with polishing the English text. Players in the community also gave us a lot of suggestions for text improvements.
How do high-score chases and character unlocks encourage long-term play?
Doraccoon: Chasing a high score first requires a deep understanding of the game’s mechanics and of each character’s items, and that only comes from playing many runs. On top of that, to help players digest the content, we hold some of the more complex items back until they’ve played a number of runs, which also makes each run feel a little different.
Character unlocks give players a variety of ways to play, which solve horizontal long-term motivation, so they don’t get bored. And as I mentioned in the previous question, unlocking a character also comes with unlocking new systems. Those bring more variety in experience and more strategic options, which raises the game’s long-term replayability.
How does Joy-Con 2 mouse support enhance the coin-pushing feel?
From Lian, producer of RACCOIN: the Joy-Con 2 mouse support provides an additional option for players to play on Switch 2. The coin-pushing feel is similar to using a Joy-Con as a controller, but the Joy-Con 2 mouse support gives players a more precise and intuitive way to interact with the game, such as applying modifiers onto their coins with more flexibility.
What went into designing the Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive arcade cabinet skin?
Doraccoon: This skin is called “Red and White,” and it’s a nod to the Family Computer controller.
Actually, when we first built the RACCOIN prototype, our whitebox cabinet already used an FC-style colour scheme. We wanted to evoke the retro feel of pixel-art arcade cabinets, and to us the FC is also that kind of retro symbol.
So when we later came to make the exclusive skin for Nintendo Switch 2, the FC theme was the first thing we thought of. It fits naturally with the pixel-art retro arcade look we’ve built, and it also quietly echoes what RACCOIN looked like at the very beginning.
What is the most satisfying combo or score moment you’ve personally achieved in development?
Doraccoon: That must be the tree-growing build. I personally really love the design of growing a coin-tower tree out of coins. The moment you pop a Rain Cloud chip and the tree goes wild, the sense of achievement is maxed out. During the demo, players found a way to grow trees infinitely with Silver Fertilizer. I loved that too, but unfortunately, to keep everyone’s computers from burning up, we did make some adjustments for the full release 😉
We’d like to take this moment to extend our sincere thanks to the entire team at Doraccoon for taking the time to share such thoughtful and enthusiastic answers with us. We wish you the best of luck today with the release of RACCOIN: Chaos Max Edition!
About RACCOIN: Chaos Max Edition:
RACCOIN is a roguelike deckbuilder where you combine special coins with powerful items to trigger wildly satisfying combos.
RACCOIN: Chaos Max Edition blends the chaotic fun of classic arcade coin pushers with the element of roguelike deckbuilding. Combine special coins with powerful items to trigger satisfying synergies. It’s a nonstop dopamine rush packed into one unpredictable, coin dropping ride.
SYNERGIZING COINS & CHAOS: Discover all kinds of special coins during your runs! Combine Seed Coins with Water Coins to grow a money tree right inside your machine. Drop a Cat Coin to hunt down every last Rat Coin and rack up extra tickets. Need more points? Use a Multiply Coin to boost your score across the board. Too slow? Launch a Nuclear Coin to trigger a massive explosion and blast every coin forward at once!
CRAFT POWERFUL STRATEGIES WITH ITEMS: Stack multipliers, spawn coins with extra points, or simply shake the machine when you’re running dry. Apply special plating to your favorite coins to enhance their effects and unlock even wilder combos.
DIFFERENT CHARACTERS, DISTINCT PLAYSTYLES: Play as one of several unique characters, each with their own set of themed coins and playstyle. Take on the role of a greedy raccoon manager who excels at math-based combos, or a quirky biologist who specializes in animal-based coins. Every character offers a fresh and wildly different way to play.
Share this:
Discover more from
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.