REASONS TO BUY
Stable at speed
Tall stack height improves carving
REASONS TO AVOID
Heavy
Too stiff to be playful
Rossignol Arcade 88 Review
This ski is incredibly stiff and stable, and is best suited to high-speed carves on firm, early-morning groomers
The Arcade 88 is more comfortable skiing firm, early-morning groomed runs than it is skiing off-piste.
Credit: Marc Rotse
By Bobby Garrett ⋅ Review Editor ⋅ November 14, 2025
Our Verdict
The new Arcade family from Rossignol is marketed as a dependable ski that can ski all conditions. Unfortunately, the Arcade 88 we tested felt impossibly stiff and taxing to control due to its weight, which is the heaviest in our lineup this season. This ultimately defined our overall experience with this ski; we spent abnormal amounts of extra energy trying to tame it. At only 88 mm underfoot, it's much more of a frontside carver than an all-mountain ski. Its taller-than-most stand height gave our testers more than enough leverage to tip it over on edge and bite into firm snow. However, the inconsistency with which the tips would engage and the tendency for the tails to break loose too early made the Arcade 88 difficult to manage in anything but the smoothest snow conditions.
Our Analysis and Test Results
Rossignol bakes ten different technologies into the Arcade 88. Unfortunately, these features did little to bolster its performance as a versatile all-mountain ski. One positive attribute of its design is the thickness, which affects a skier's stand height. For edge grip and stability, experienced skiers can leverage a higher stand height for higher edge angles while carving. As one of the stiffest and heaviest skis we've tested, we needed all the extra leverage we could find to bend the Arcade 88.
The Arcade 88 is easy to tip onto high edge angles, but tough to ski off-piste.
Credit: Marc Rotse
Stability at Speed
This is where the Arcade 88 stands tall. Rossignol's V-A-S technology is designed to dampen ski vibrations, and a thick layer of titanal promotes power at high speeds. This design likely affects this ski's ability to hold an edge, which inspires confidence at speed. Our testers commented on just how quiet the Arcade 88 sounded at high speed.
Although the vibration-dampening positively affects off-piste skiing, this ski is best suited for groomed runs.
Credit: Marc Rotse
Carving Ability
The 88 millimeter waist width, the tall stand height, and the slight tip and tail rocker combine to help this ski feel quick and intuitive edge to edge. But testing its carving ability is where our testers first felt the Arcade 88's impossibly stiff flex profile adversely affected its performance. Part of the enjoyment of carving comes from flexing a ski and harnessing the rebound energy from one turn into the next. Even the heaviest testers on our team were unable to flex this ski consistently. Other lightweight testers noticed that, due to the ski's stiffness, the tail would break loose too early, disrupting their carve and forcing them into a skidded turn.
Even for a certified ski instructor, it's difficult to lay down two clean, carved lines with this ski.
Credit: Bobby Garrett
Powder Performance
The Arcade 88's stiff and abrupt flex profile, narrow 88-millimeter waist width, and heavy weight all undermine this ski's performance in powder – our testers noted that this ski tended to sink unpredictably. One interesting point about the design is the extra-wide 135 millimeter tip, which is wider than the top powder performers in our lineup. This at least helped us feel a few moments of joy in shallow pockets of powder.
This ski sinks and is difficult to control in powder despite a wide tip width.
Credit: Marc Rotse
Crud Performance
In divoted, suncupped, or crusty snow, the Arcade 88 struggles to stay on the snow surface. Despite weighing nearly 5 pounds per ski, even expert skiers struggled to keep this ski from bouncing around on variable snow surfaces. It didn't matter how fast or slow we went – we just couldn't get the Arcade 88 to ski predictably in unpredictable snow conditions.
In variable snow, this ski is easiest to control when airborne, which speaks to its limited performance in this metric.
Credit: Marc Rotse
Terrain Playfulness
Rossignol tried to boost the Arcade 88's maneuverability with its Air Tip technology. This design concentrates the mass towards the center of the ski, yet it doesn't center the pivot point over the center. Off-piste, the heavy front made it difficult to make the quick adjustments necessary to ski confidently through gullies and glades.
With some serious effort, there were glimmers of fun to be had off-piste.
Credit: Bobby Garrett
Bumps
We suggest avoiding moguls on the Rossignol Arcade 88. Despite its narrow waist width, the stiffness of this ski, in particular, caused our testers to bail from bump lines early. The weight of the Arcade 88 only adds a tax to the already effort-intensive endeavor of mogul skiing.
Skiing moguls on the Arcade 88 was brutal.
Credit: Marc Rotse
Should You Buy the Rossignol Arcade 88?
The Arcade 88 offers a stable platform for heavier skiers, which is a solid selling point in itself. Folks with a racing background will particularly enjoy the higher stand height, which makes this ski easier to tip on edge. This is a very reasonable pick if you primarily stick to groomed runs and often ski in firm conditions.
What Other Skis Should You Consider?
The Armada Declivity 92 Ti is just as stable at speed but is so much more fun to carve. The Head Kore 94 Ti is a similarly stiff ski, but is much more confident as an all-mountain ski, whereas the Arcade 88 should really stick to frontside groomers.
Side-by-Side Comparison
Compare Rossignol Arcade 88 versus top competing products:
—Bobby Garrett
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