{{Infobox comic strip <!-- Part of Wikipedia:WikiProject Webcomics -->
|title= Penny Arcade
|image= Image:Penny Arcade logo.png
|caption= 
|author= Jerry Holkins<br />Mike Krahulik
|url= [http://www.penny-arcade.com/ penny-arcade.com]
|rss= http://www.penny-arcade.com/rss.xml
|atom= 
|status= Monday, Wednesday, Friday
|syndicate= 
|publisher= 
|first= 1998-11-18 [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/1998/11/18]
|last= 
|genre= Gaming, Humor
|rating= 
|preceded by= 
|followed by= 
}}
'''''Penny Arcade''''' is a  webcomic written by Jerry Holkins and illustrated by Mike Krahulik. It focuses mainly on video games, the video game industry, and gamer sub-culture. The webcomics are accompanied by a blog.

''Penny Arcade'' is among the most popular gaming webcomics currently online,<ref name="1UP"></ref> and it hosts both a children's charity (Child's Play) and a PAX) each year. It debuted on November 18, 1998 as a regular feature on the video game web site loonygames.<ref></ref> The authors launched their own site in late 1999, and new comic strips are usually posted every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

== Overview ==

The strip regularly features the two authors' cartoon alter egos, Tycho Brahe and John Gabriel ("Gabe"), who represent Holkins and Krahulik respectively. Holkins and Krahulik have explained that the characters were not originally meant to represent them, thus they are not caricatures. The two characters spend much of their time playing and commenting on computer and video games, forming the basis of the humor in the strip. Another theme, albeit less common, is the use of conflicts between the two in real life. The strip also sometimes refers to other Internet subcultures, and often features in-jokes that are explained by the news posts accompanying each comic, usually written by Holkins.

Both Krahulik and Holkins make a living from ''Penny Arcade'', placing them in a very small group of web comic artists devoted to their creations full-time. Originally, Penny Arcade was supported solely by donations. A graph on the main page indicated how much people had donated that month. After hiring merchandise revenue alone. According to Holkins, the website handles more than two million pageviews daily (excluding forum traffic).<ref name="PennyArcade20060313"></ref> On 2005-11-13, the website was given a face lift<ref name="Penny Arcade 2005-11-14"></ref> in celebration of their seventh year running and to match the designs of the Child's Play Charity and Penny Arcade Expo websites.

==Attributes of the comic strip==
As a (primarily) topical video gaming news comic, there is little plot or general continuity in ''Penny Arcade'' strips. Any story sustained for longer than a single strip is referred to as "dreaded continuity", something of a Dante from ''proposing to his girlfriend of two years.<ref></ref>

Some of the strips are drawn from the perspective of fictional characters within a game or  movie. Occasionally, Gabe and Tycho are featured as they would be as characters or players in the game themselves, often having some sarcastic remark to make about some feature or bug in the game. At times the comic also depicts meetings between game developers or business people, or features or mocks the reporters of a news article that is commented on in Holkins' newspost.

''Penny Arcade'' has a theme song, "Penny Arcade Theme", written and performed by nerdcore artist In the Groove''.

==Protagonists==

<!-- Unsourced image removed: right|thumb|350px|Some of the main cast from Penny Arcade -->
===John "Gabe" Gabriel===
SNK on his back.<ref name="PA 2001-11-05"></ref> He almost always wears a yellow Tribes'' but soon grew out of it. He also has an obsession with his own homosexual tendencies.<ref></ref><ref></ref><ref name="PA 2006-02-10"></ref><ref></ref> This theory can be supported by a recent recurrence of Gabriel's 'personal' interest in actor Patrick Swayze.<ref></ref> As a contrast to Tycho's expansive vocabulary, Gabe usually speaks using only simple, common words. Krahulik named his son "Gabriel" in honor of the character.<ref></ref>

===Tycho Erasmus Brahe===
astronomer RPGs, large words and deflating Gabe's ego.  According to himself, he erodes the very soul of humanity as a hobby.<ref></ref> He is a rabid fan of 20-sided die). Though extremely intelligent, he has on several occasions made reference to his scarring childhood in which his mother physically abused him<ref></ref> and blamed him for his father's leaving due to his body "swelling with evil"<ref></ref> (in fact, puberty), as well as his parents taking him on a family road trip to such places as Idaho's largest "shitfarm".<ref></ref> It has been mentioned that one of his aunts, believing him to be gay, constantly sends him homo-erotic material.<ref></ref>  Tycho also has a drinking problem.<ref></ref>  After a dream, Tycho is seen to be host to an evil spirit, signified by his eyes glowing red when it comes to the fore;<ref></ref> this theme is repeated over the course of the strip. Recent strips have also revealed that he may have an unhealthy sexual obsession with long animal necks: at one point, he believes that his wife has found giraffe pornography on his computer, and he calls their necks "slender."<ref></ref>  A more recent comic, a commentary on alleged spyware in ''Battlefield 2142'', depicts players being shown ads relevant to the content of their computers.  Gabe's ad is for a Martha Stewart product (which he explains as the result of his wife using his computer), while Tycho's is for badboysbigbirds.com - "Big Heads in Deep Holes" - and depicts an ostrich with its head buried in a hole.<ref></ref>  Tycho is also the host of "Too Damn Late with Tycho Brahe," a parody of the Tonight Show.<ref></ref> Though originally co-hosted by Gabe, "Too Damn Late" appears to have been reworked because of Gabe's difficulty controlling his body near guests.<ref></ref><ref></ref>

==Podcast==
Krahulik and Holkins began to record and release audio content on March 20, 2006, titled ''Downloadable Content.'' The podcasts specifically capture the creative process that goes into the creation of a Penny Arcade comic, usually starting with a perusal of recent gaming news, with conversational tangents and digressions to follow. As well as being a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of Penny Arcade, Krahulik and Holkins  discuss possible subjects for the comic. 

The format of the show is mostly "fly-on-the-wall" style, in that the hosts rarely acknowledge the existence of the microphone. There is no theme music (not even the aforementioned "Penny Arcade Theme"), intro, or outro. The podcasts are of varying lengths, beginning abruptly and ending with the idea for the current comic.

Although the shows were initially published weekly, Holkins stated in a May 2006 blog post<ref></ref> that they have found difficulties when trying to produce the podcasts on a regular basis. The duo planned to keep recording podcasts occasionally.

The podcast for the comic of October 20, 2006 featured Scott Kurtz and Kristofer Straub, authors of the rival comics PvP and Starslip Crisis, who were visiting Seattle.

After a nearly 6-month long hiatus, Penny Arcade Downloadable Content returned briefly in May, and again in September 2007, then took a 3 month break, and has been releasing podcasts semi-regularly in 2008.

==Video games==

''episodic video game based on the strip. The first episode was released worldwide on May 21 2008. It is developed by Hothead Games, and is built on a version of the Torque Game Engine. The game is self-published via Xbox Live as well as the Greenhouse service created by Penny Arcade to distribute independent games.<ref>[http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3153149 Penny Arcade: Now a videogame] from 1UP.com</ref>

==Other works==
thumb|250px|Penny Arcade PresentsUnder the banner of 'Penny Arcade Presents', Krahulik and Holkins are sometimes commissioned to create promotional artwork/comic strips for new video games, with their signature artistic style and humor. They are usually credited simply as 'Penny Arcade' rather than by their actual names. Some of these works have been included with the distribution of the game, and others have appeared on pre-launch official websites, such as:
* ''Brothers in Arms''
:A somewhat toned-down look at a discussion between paratroopers. 
* ''Empire Earth II''
:An amusing example of the different technologies in the game.<ref></ref>
* ''Far Cry''
* ''Heroes of Might and Magic V''
:A brief retelling of the history of Ashan. 
* ''Myst V: End of Ages''
:A recap of the previous story and teaser for ''Myst V''.<ref></ref><ref></ref>
* ''Painkiller''
:A comic strip based on the background story of the game, placed on the game's site in the downloads section.<ref>[http://www.painkillergame.com/pc_site/media/pennystrip/penny1.html Part 1],[http://www.painkillergame.com/pc_site/media/pennystrip/penny2.html Part 2],[http://www.painkillergame.com/pc_site/media/pennystrip/penny3.html Part 3],[http://www.painkillergame.com/pc_site/media/pennystrip/penny4.html Part 4]</ref>
* ''Rainbow Six 3''
:An illustration of a mission in the game.<ref>[http://www.rainbowsix3.com/us/comic.php Rainbow Six 3<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
* ''Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow''
:A comic strip depicting a mission in the game's new multiplayer mode, from both spies and mercenaries points of view. 
* ''Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory''
:A humorous training manual for new operatives, ostensibly a classified document.<ref>[http://splintercell.uk.ubi.com/pennyarcades.php Community | Splinter Cell | Ubisoft<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
* ''World of Warcraft''
:Various humorous illustrations in the official strategy guide, as well as the strategy guide for the ''Burning Crusade'' expansion.<ref>[http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/community/pa-comics.html WoW -> Community -> Comics -> Penny Arcade Comics<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
* ''Wild Arms Alter Code: F''
:Three strips featured in the official strategy guide, including a look at the downsides of turn-based combat.
A partial, official list can be found on the Penny Arcade website.<ref></ref>

On 2005-08-08 Krahulik announced that ''Penny Arcade'', in partnership with Sabertooth Games, would be producing a collectible card game based on the ''Penny Arcade'' franchise<ref> </ref>  The resulting ''Penny Arcade'' "battle box" was released in February 2006 as part of the Universal Fighting System.

There are also a few spinoffs from the main comic that have gained independent existences. The most recent example is ''Epic Legends Of The Hierarchs: The Elemenstor Saga'' (ELOTH:TES), a parody of the written-by-committee fantasy fiction used as back-story for a wide variety of games: originally a one-off gag in the Penny Arcade comic, in late 2005 this was expanded into a complete fantasy universe, documented on a hoax "fan-wiki".<ref>[http://elothtes.pbwiki.com/ ELotH:TES wiki - wiki password: elemenstorsaywha<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> ELOTH:TES first appeared in the webcomic of February 7 2005, and has subsequently been featured in the comics of November 7 2005 and November 30 2005. Several elements of the ELOTH:TES universe are featured on the cover of their second comics collection, Epic Legends of the Magic Sword Kings.

On May 31, 2006 Krahulik announced a new advertising campaign for the Entertainment Software Rating Board.<ref></ref>  According to Krahulik, the ESRB "wanted a campaign that would communicate to gamers why the ESRB is important even if they don't think it directly affects them."  Among the reasons he listed for ''Penny Arcade's'' accepting the job was that he and Holkins are both fathers and are concerned about the games their children might play.  He also stated his belief that the alternative to the ESRB would be governmental regulation of the video games industry.  (The ESRB is a voluntary self-regulatory organization made up of video game publishers and developers.)  The ad campaign will feature one character drawn by Krahulik to represent each of the ESRB ratings.

Krahulik and Holkins created a comic strip which compares the Wired'' magazine.<ref name="Wired comparison"></ref>

==''Penny Arcade'' events==

'''Penny Arcade''' ist ein englischsprachiger Webcomic und Blog, der von Jerry Holkins geschrieben und von Mike Krahulik illustriert wird.

Penny Arcade zählt zu den beliebtesten Webcomics im Netz. Der erste Comic wurde am 18. November 1998 veröffentlicht, was Penny Arcade zu einem der ältesten immer noch regelmäßig aktualisierten Webcomics macht. Neue Comicstrips erscheinen im Moment jeden Montag, Mittwoch und Freitag.

Im Comic geht es um die zwei Alter Egos der Autoren, Tycho Brahe and Jonathan Gabriel („Gabe“). Die zwei Charaktere verbringen viel Zeit damit, Computer- und Videospiele zu konsumieren und zu kommentieren, ein anderes Hauptthema in den Strips sind ihre Streitigkeiten.
Häufig beziehen sich die Strips aber auch auf alltägliche Dinge, wie andere Internetseiten, Familientreffen und dergleichen.

Krahulik und Holkins leben beide von Penny Arcade, was bedeutet, dass sie ihre ganze Zeit in diese Seite investieren. Spenden wurden früher akzeptiert, inzwischen trägt sich die Seite alleine mit Werbung und Verkaufsförderung. Die Website wird täglich von mehreren tausend Leuten besucht, was sie zu einer extrem erfolgreichen Internetpräsenz macht.

Es gibt eine Computerspielserie namens ''Penny Arcade Adventures''. Der erste Teil heißt ''On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode One'' und ist für Linux, Windows und vielleicht auch Spielkonsolen erschienen.