ARCADE WATCH
Keeping an eye on the coin-op gaming scene
Over the years we’ve probably spent way too much time fretting about the fate of old coin-ops, imagining them rotting away in leaky old garages, but to be fair we couldn’t reasonably have foreseen the scale of enthusiasm that exists for keeping them alive – and, increasingly, available for everyone to play, rather than squirrelled away in private collections. August saw the opening of two more UK venues where arcade machines can continue their useful lives well into old age.
London’s contribution is the flagship site for the Four Quarters barcade chain – at 3,000 square feet, considerably larger than its two other sites in the UK capital. Located at Elephant Park, the venue (above) hosts games including Asteroids, House Of The Dead
and the unstoppable Sega Rally.
Meanwhile, Lothian Road in Edinburgh is the location for the latest iteration of NQ64 (below), which also operates barcades in Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham. The venue currently hosts over 30 cabs, including Track & Field, Bubble Bobble and OutRun 2.