Welcome, Space Cadet

For the 10-year old me, the idea of an arcade where the games are free to play would have been the birthday present to end all presents. The now older me recently received a golden ticket to Arcade Club Bury, a place where where the dreams of no-longer 10-year olds come true.

Stretching over four flours, Arcade Club Bury offers 100s of arcade games covering the (almost) complete history of pixels shifting across screens. On the top floor are the OG CRT cabinets (Space Invaders, Pac Man, Q*Bert, et al.). Other floors house delights like Japanese imports (with gameplay rules impenetrable to the uncultured likes of me), modern games with sensory-busting experiences, and non-graphics card thrills like pinball.

Most of my time was spent at the top, reliving past glories of visits to Blackpool. When visiting the lower floors they always seemed busy, with a heavy flow of gamers weaving between games. My floor though was always more sparse. Some visitors did venture upstairs but there was always plenty of machines free to play.

Take Gauntlet. In its heyday there would be a constant queue of people waiting to feed their coins into the slot. Here it, and Gauntlet II, sat unnoticed. The original Star Wars arcade cabinet did fare better with the occasional parent trying to cajole their kids into having a go, or at least standing by whilst they they took on the Death Star challenge.

There is plenty for fresh and seasoned gamers at Arcade Club, but I think those of us with memories of the earliest arcades will get an extra nostalgic buzz from being there. The downside? The pins and needles I got in my left arm after too long gripping joysticks.