History of video games - Carnaby Street • Gaming • Retro • Eurogamer.net

wobbly_Bob 1 Feb 2018 20:24:04 5,162 posts
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Going to this History of Video games pop up on Sunday. Has over 50 classic arcade machines and also retro systems. Once inside the machines are free. My only disappointment is that there dosen't appear to be any pin ball machines.

Tickets are gone for this weekend but if any of you guys are interested it seems to be on until the 18th but tickets are selling fast. I would book soon if you want it for next weekend. Hopefully it's good. I'm looking forward to it! link

Here's the blurb

"About the event

We are bringing over 50 games to London, a curated selection of the 1980's and 1990's Arcade Classics - Original vintage machines, with game titles like Outrun, Track and Field, After Burner, Joust, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Donkey Kong, Space Invaders, Pac Man and so much more! (see our facebook page for full list)

In addition to the retro pop up arcade, we will also have a curated selection of consoles and games from the 1970s through to the Playstation - Including Atari, NES, Sega Master System SNES, Megadrive, Game Cube, N64, Playstation and more! - with the classics games such as Sonic, Streets of Rage, Mario, Mario Kart, WWF, Golden Axe +we have a huge library of games changing daily!

We will also have a selection of retro handheld games - from the original Game Boy by Nintendo, the Sega Game Gear, Atari Lynx and many more...

The pop up arcade will also be part of a special Youth Archive exhibition on video game culture, with extensive photographs, films and memorabilia to document this important place in youth culture.

The History of Video Games is a family friendly event, and we welcome everybody to join us to have fun and play some of the best video games ever made - we also operate a policy of limiting numbers for each session, to make sure that everyone gets the chance to play, each session is up to the maximum of 40 persons only - so please book a session ticket below (we run 3 sessions a day) we are open 7 days a week (expect weekends to sell out)

All the machines are free to play once inside the event, and so you just pay for entry, and then play as much as you like.. under 5's are also free."

mal 1 Feb 2018 22:31:00 29,326 posts
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Or you could just go to Arcade Club in Bury which has Europe's biggest selection of working games I understand. It's 10 quid per floor, fixed price (5 quid for kids). And you can even get beer and a burger in there. Pinball machines are on the second floor.

Edit: Forgot to include link

Edited by mal at 22:32:13 01-02-2018

FWB 1 Feb 2018 22:34:12 56,369 posts
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Given it costs Ł3000 to get from London to Manchester by train, and even then you might not get there for several days, that's not much of an option.

Tonka 2 Feb 2018 07:35:22 31,979 posts
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mal wrote:
Or you could just go to Arcade Club in Bury which has Europe's biggest selection of working games I understand.

So like ... three?

One_Vurfed_Gwrx 2 Feb 2018 12:07:29 4,467 posts
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mal wrote:
Or you could just go to Arcade Club in Bury which has Europe's biggest selection of working games I understand. It's 10 quid per floor, fixed price (5 quid for kids). And you can even get beer and a burger in there. Pinball machines are on the second floor.

Edit: Forgot to include link

I keep meaning to check this out. What is this price per floor stuff though? Last time I looked I thought there was just an entry charge and that was it.

wobbly_Bob 2 Feb 2018 15:08:38 5,162 posts
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mal wrote:
Or you could just go to Arcade Club in Bury which has Europe's biggest selection of working games I understand. It's 10 quid per floor, fixed price (5 quid for kids). And you can even get beer and a burger in there. Pinball machines are on the second floor.

Edit: Forgot to include link

That does sound awesome but I live in SE London so that's way to far/expensive for me to go to.

Deleted user 2 February 2018 15:10:28

Couldn't you just go on ebay and buy thousands and thousands of pounds worth of games and set them up in your house for a similar experience?

mal 2 Feb 2018 16:14:23 29,326 posts
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One_Vurfed_Gwrx wrote:

mal wrote:
Or you could just go to Arcade Club in Bury which has Europe's biggest selection of working games I understand. It's 10 quid per floor, fixed price (5 quid for kids). And you can even get beer and a burger in there. Pinball machines are on the second floor.

Edit: Forgot to include link
I keep meaning to check this out. What is this price per floor stuff though? Last time I looked I thought there was just an entry charge and that was it.

I think they added a second floor since I last checked, so they kind of kept the 10 quid to get in (to the ground floor) bit, but just added another floor for another tenner (or half that for your kids). I've not been since they opened up the second floor, so I don't really understand what happens if you want to be able to wander between both. But yeah, once you've paid to get in all the games are on free play (even the pinball) - but you might still need some spending money if you want booze and grub as well.

Anyway, back to the main topic. I guess the carnaby street show will weave a history around some of the games, while the only real theme in the Bury arcade is 'here's all the machines we could get working thus far'. If you wanted to provide some backdrop for your kids as they amble around, you're going to need to know your chops yourself.

Deleted user 2 February 2018 16:20:47

Place in Bury is excellent. They've even got a 3rd floor now where you can get sucked off by Ms. Pacman for Ł7.75

Phattso 2 Feb 2018 16:23:38 27,426 posts
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Think I might head over for this - should be a fun few hours. Carnaby Street! Just around the corner from Polpo. Any excuse to go there.

Zomoniac 2 Feb 2018 16:23:53 10,628 posts
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I've been a few times, the last time I went they were just finishing up the downstairs (new) floor, it wasn't officially open but I was able to go in for a look and a play. Downstairs seems to be the more 'modern' wing. They had lots of big sofas and massive TVs, a PC LAN area and the bigger cabs that wouldn't fit upstairs like DDR, Taiko no Tatsujin (which was all in Japanese and set to very easy and I couldn't work out how to change it so that was pretty dull) and the like, as well as newer cabs like Tekken 7, Walking Dead Arcade and whatnot.

THFourteen 2 Feb 2018 17:07:53 54,987 posts
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Or you could just buy a Raspberry pi

One_Vurfed_Gwrx 2 Feb 2018 19:17:56 4,467 posts
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DukeSilver wrote:
Couldn't you just go on ebay and buy thousands and thousands of pounds worth of games and set them up in your house for a similar experience?

Looks at the barely used cabs and pinball tables that he really needs to sell... Tis a slippery slope...

DangerousDave_87 2 Feb 2018 19:37:02 7,074 posts
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@Phattso The way I see it, you're paying money to play some games. I think it should count as 1 of your 10!

Phattso 2 Feb 2018 20:03:58 27,426 posts
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@DangerousDave_87 maybe I’m just going to rub myself against the cabinets. YOU DON’T KNOW!

DangerousDave_87 2 Feb 2018 20:40:35 7,074 posts
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Ok. We'll say nothing more about that!

wobbly_Bob 4 Feb 2018 16:59:50 5,162 posts
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Well that was a bit rubbish. They said 50 but it was more like 17 and 2 of them not working. A selection of handhelds (3) and a couple of consoles. The history part non existent.

minky-kong 4 Feb 2018 20:16:37 14,787 posts
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Yeah I went a couple of weeks ago and it was a bit underwhelming. Fun to play the old TMNT arcade game again, and a few other arcade classics, but a lot of them I could have just played at home.

wobbly_Bob 4 Feb 2018 20:22:35 5,162 posts
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They had the sound turned down on almost all the machines too. The sound and music of an arcade is so important. Yeah I have a JXD I could have just played this stuff at home.

mal 4 Feb 2018 22:37:00 29,326 posts
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That's a shame. Even the Game On exhibition at the Barbican about 15 years ago had Donkey Kong, a Space War cabinet, a working Vectrex and 10-way Saturn Bomberman. What more do you really need?

Ror 4 Feb 2018 23:17:09 20,336 posts
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That sounds like a load of old bollocks, Bob. Did you at least have a nice burger somewhere?

FWB 4 Feb 2018 23:20:53 56,369 posts
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Good to know. Will avoid it.