[Non-Pony] The Arcade Club: A Great Day Out in Northwest England · 9:48pm Mar 4th, 2018
Greetings my good ladies and gentlemen. I the evening finds you well.
My local area leaves a little to be desired in many respects. Manchester, for all it's strong suits, it not noted for its fine weather. And that's when Siberia isn't in the mood for a week long stay in old Blighty.
Still, we aren't completely without cool things. Within a ten minute drive from my house is the largest and greatest retro arcade in Europe, and one of the largest in the world.
From the website:
The Arcade Club started as Andy’s private collection of 30 arcade machines. Originally in the back room of the local computer shop he ran with his family, visitors began to take more and more of an interest in getting a taste of nostalgia – and cup of tea!
It wasn’t long before the decision was made to open the original Arcade Club in a warehouse in Haslingden with about 100 machines. It was in this underground setting the community really began to grow. With more and more positive reviews being shared, we started getting visits from journalists leading to aTV appearance on the BBC’s Inside Out. Then things really took off.
In October 2015 the Arcade Club moved to Ella Mill in Bury with more than twice the space to accommodate more machines than ever. A gaming themed lounge was added for people to gather and try new technologies like VR while enjoying hot food and drinks. Retro game consoles were added to the free-to-play roster including Nintendo 64, PC Engine, PlayStation, Sega Saturn and Xbox. The additional space also allowed the introduction of more modern large cabinets – like our twin sit-down deluxe Outrun 2.
March 2017 saw the opening of Floor 2 – doubling again what the Club has to offer, and with style. Event and tournament focussed, networked PCs, modern consoles and a broadcast stage with a 185" screen invites other gaming communities to make Arcade Club their home. We’re now regularly hosting tournaments with BandaiNamco and Manchester Battle Arena (MBA). Rhythm games, Versus City fighting cabs and a dedicated pinball room all add to the atmosphere, while a fully stocked bar serving an American diner hot menu completes the picture.
And we’re not done yet – always changing to stay ahead and offer the best possible experience. 😉
It is a damn good day out for gaming enthusiasts. Of particular note are it's several hundred fully restored and original retro arcade cabinets; I spent a fun 20 minutes on Donkey Kong, before moving onto Defender (they have at least five original cabinets that I counted, and hold tournaments) via a nice round of Asteroids.
A good time was then had within an original Star Wars (1983) sit in cabinet, before moving to a few lesser known titles like Burger Time and Tapper. Of course, I couldn't ignore Pac-Man and Street Fighter II, either.
After a good few hours with many, many more old classics, and a good number of insane and incomprehensible Japanese shoot em ups, we went to floor two, where lurks a number of old and restored pin ball machines, a full suite of VR kit and a giant projector set up for four player Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. A big cathode ray tube with Mario kart 64 was off in a corner. Those kept me busy for a while, as did their ale selection.
After a brief renewal of my old love affair with Super Monkey Ball, I tried my hand at some imported Japanese dance games, and then had a chat with the owner. It turns out that they plan an expansion, and have imported numerous state of the art cabinets from Japan in order to set up a specialist Japanese arcade.
I may have to make another visit.
At £10 a head for adults and £5 for children (£15 if you want both the retro and the over 18's only modern arcade), and with unlimited plays on all machines, it's worth a look if you should find yourself in the Northwest of England.
The website is here.
Nice. There are a few smaller arcades around here that have vintage games and pinball machines. Nothing quite on that scale as far as I know though.
Am I misunderstanding this phrase? It gives me the impression that in Manchester (or perhaps all of England), one needs to be an adult to play modern arcade games - though apparently children are allowed to play retro arcade games all they like.
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It's less a legal requirement than an attempt to protect the more delicate items; when they were in the family section, the pinball machines were having to be stripped down for repair literally every week.
Also, the bar is in that part of the building.
4810449
I see. Interestingly, video arcades and their successor LAN gaming stores (or cybercafes) have a strong association with teenage delinquency here in Southeast Asia. Under-16s are not permitted during school days. I was wondering at first if the UK had laws anything like that... though I imagine that the occasional roughhousing by an angry teenager might ruin it for all the others who are behaving perfectly well.
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It's more the little kids than the teenagers, really. In the case of the pinball machines, the moving parts were taking a real beating from over-excited school children. Over 16s are allowed in the modern arcade with an adult.
My brother and his friends went there a couple weeks ago. Said it was great, I'll need to check it out myself pronto
Note to self: Consider moving to England if I get the chance.
I am so jealous. I don't think we've got anything even close to that around here anymore.
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It is awesome. Have you checked out the website?
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As someone who practically grew up in local arcades just looking at that site brought back some good memories.