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ARCADE CLUB: The UK's best kept gaming secret.

mocoworm

Member
Arcade Club is the best kept secret in the UK gaming scene. I went last month and I have been counting down the days till my next visit, which will be this Saturday!

It's in BURY which is just North of Manchester, and about 30 mins from my house which is how I know about it. It is only open Friday, Saturday and Sundays. Check the site for times.

http://www.arcadeclub.co.uk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCcBRq1pGEk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4j4GaZp859Q

It's a really simple business model.

  • Pay £10
  • Play FREEPLAY for 12 hours
  • Over 250 cabinets
  • XBOX ONE's
  • PS4's
  • Oculus Rift
  • Licensed bar
  • OR take your own booze
  • Food
  • Gaming Merch

That's right, from 11am till 11pm you just pay £10 entrance fee and every machine is set to freeplay. All the machines have a button next to the coin slot, and you press it to add credits. They have engineers walking around fixing and maintaining the machines all day.

They sell loads of gaming merch and the food/drink is ridiculously cheap. ( 3 cans of coke and a bottle of Bud cost me £4)

Here is a list of the cabinets they have:

http://www.arcadeclub.co.uk/games

This documentary ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT5plfWuAwk ) was made and shown on UK TV about the couple that started it. They do no promotion, they just have word of mouth and social media spreading the word and the success of this is clear to see, as in the last 6 months they have moved premises 3 times and now occupy the entire 3rd floor of an old mill building. They were collectors of cabinets that decided to turn their hobby into a business, so they are real genuine gamers and really nice people. They are there all the time.

Anyway, I can't recommend it enough. You can always play on a machine, there are no queues for games. £10 is an unbelievable price for 12 hours gaming.

I couldn't decide what to play at first and was just everywhere playing everything, but after a while I settled down and focused on Wonderboy, Nemesis and Out Run. They have every game you could wish to play. I kept thinking, 'I wonder if they have X game' and then I would find it, just waiting to be played! Plus I got to try VR for the first time. In-between the cabinets, all around are huge LCD's with XONE's and PS4's plugged in. In the rec area the Oculus Rift is available plus a SNES with MarioKart hooked up to a huge TV.

This Saturday is my birthday and I will be in there all day. If you read this, you are invited to join me.

:)

92e3316aa67eb1c25e4ca4d0ee45a27d
 

jeemer

Member
I live on the Fylde coast but work near Chorley. Heard there is a vanilla sfiv cab at this, been meaning to go for ages!
 
I'm about 40 minutes away. It's something we've been meaning to visit for a while but work keeps getting in the way. Looks fantastic though. An absolute steal.
 

boon

Member
Excellent! Looms like a winner. Very similar model to that of the Galloping Ghost Arcade ($15 at the door, free play, 400+ cabs.)
 

teeny

Member
That looks awesome, how long has it been around? Wish I knew about it when I lived in Blackpool.

Happy Birthday OP!
 

SovanJedi

provides useful feedback
That sounds amazing! Wish they had something like that in Southampton.

There's Game Over cafe in Portsmouth which does a similar thing, but for home consoles and handhelds only and not nearly as low a price as that (£10 for 4 hours of gaming), but it's still really cool.

These sorts of places should just be a lot more common!
 
Looks amazing but how busy does it get? If they let so many people in there are queues for popular machines then the £10 quickly erodes.
 

Venfayth

Member
That business model is really appealing to me. I would probably go to something like this if there was such an arcade near me.

Looks like a blast, I'm jealous!
 
Can't believe this is the first I've heard of it!

Would it be easier to get to by train or bus from Manchester City Centre?

Also, have a great birthday!
 
That business model is really appealing to me. I would probably go to something like this if there was such an arcade near me.

Looks like a blast, I'm jealous!

I think there's something like that in West London as well if that's closer. I remember hearing about it a couple of months ago - Heart of Gaming I think
 

mocoworm

Member
Looks amazing but how busy does it get? If they let so many people in there are queues for popular machines then the £10 quickly erodes.

I went on Saturday day, all day and it wasn't packed. No queues for machines. If someone is on a machine you want you just play something else and keep an eye on it. I waited at most, 5 mins for Out Run.
 

danowat

Banned
£10 for 12 hours seems really really cheap.

Would love to know the numbers behind the business model, and the possibility of using the format as a franchise or more locations around the UK.
 
I went on Saturday day, all day and it wasn't packed. No queues for machines. If someone is on a machine you want you just play something else and keep an eye on it. I waited at most, 5 mins for Out Run.
Sounds good. Just had a look at the machines and was impressed with the amount of Outrun they have. Never seen one in the wild.
 

Shane

Member
A few of us are planning to go sometime soon. Not far from where I live. All the lightgun games, please.
 

Alpha_eX

Member
We have something like this in London, can't wait for Heart of Gaming to return, they're changing venues now. I sorely miss the Trocadero but Las Vegas in China Town has a Taiko no Tatsujin machine so I'm happy with that for now..

It's a cool business model, Draughts (Boardgame cafe) operates in a similar way.
 

Robin64

Member
We have something like this in London, can't wait for Heart of Gaming to return, they're changing venues now. I sorely miss the Trocadero but Las Vegas in China Town has a Taiko no Tatsujin machine so I'm happy with that for now..

It's a cool business model, Draughts (Boardgame cafe) operates in a similar way.

What idiot let this die? :(
 

danowat

Banned
The death of it was one of the sorriest things I've seen. At one point it was literally just a DDR machine running Stepmania in one corner.

Was a hive of activity in the 90's, I remember playing (something) in full sized car (MX5?) and having a go on the VR sets they had their.
 
I visited this whilst they were in Haslingden. Great idea, but the location was bonkers. Bury is a vastly better location.

These folks also work with MBA, the Manchester fighting game scene, to allow for proper and regular fighting game events.

This is definitely worth a look.

Also of note in London is the Heart of Gaming.
 

kitsuneyo

Member
I'm glad you posted this OP. I was thinking of making a thread after reading about it a few weeks ago, but I've not actually been yet. Can't wait to go!
 
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