10 Gadgets Dad Needs for Father's Day

iCade iPad Arcade Cabinet
Price: $99

Even a young dad can feel old sometimes. Every time a child shrugs his or her shoulders when dad asks if anybody wants to play Pac Man, a gray hair appears. Each time he plays the Super Mario Brothers game he downloaded onto his kids' Wii and they ask "Where's his kart?" or "Why does Mario look so pointy?", a wrinkle deepens. Want to let him know it's OK? Get him this cabinet for his iPad, buy him some old Atari and Midway games from the App Store and watch the smile reappear. Does it matter that his kids don't know what a Galaga is or that his spouse thinks it's sad that he still gets teary when the Spy Hunter theme starts playing? Absolutely not. It's Father's Day, and if dad wants to hole himself up in the basement with a bag of Skittles, a two-liter of Cherry Coke, the Wedding Singer soundtrack and a pack of games including Tapper and Rampage, it's his right. Just don't let him know his arcade cabinet came with a free portable joystick that he can take to work. The folks in the break room talk.

Verizon Network Extender
Price: $250

What do you do when dad embraces mobile technology after years of clinging to the land line, only to have the signal drop repeatedly at his house in the sticks? If he's on a Verizon(VZ) plan, you basically plant a cellphone tower in the middle of his house and restore communication. That's basically what you're doing with this device. It isn't a router, it isn't a booster: It's basically a full-on, in-house cell tower fueled by dad's Internet connection. He just puts it near a window where GPS satellites can find it and chats away. Now it's on you to call every so often.