A Trip Back in Time to Insanity Retro Gaming Arcade and Shop, Poole, Dorset

Have you ever wanted to go back in time? If I close my eyes, I can still vividly remember that unique soundtrack of the arcades from the late ‘70’s and early ‘80’s; a hypnotic mix of classic games such as Space Invaders, Asteroids, Pac Man and Defender. Over time those arcades, once a hub of excitement and adventure, have morphed into sterile and soulless imitations, with mindless high-profit ‘coin-pusher’ and ‘crane-grabber’ machines now taking the space that used to be filled by those wonderful video games that defined a generation. So I was delighted to discover a new local arcade, specifically focussed on retro-gaming.

Insanity Retro Arcade and Shop in Poole, Dorset, is run by Matt and Holly Macdonald and their friend and business partner Dave Freer, and offers great value, charging just £15 for a three-hour unlimited free-play session. I found it easily, situated on an industrial estate with easy access and free-parking. The arcade opened on July 3rd, a new expansion to the retro-games shop that Matt and Holly have run since September 2020. Upon entry you are greeted with a great selection of classic machines, along with (if you are of a certain age) a real nostalgia hit.

The arcade consists of around fifty games laid out across two floors and every preference is catered for. For true retro-lovers you can play the original Space Invaders (still fabulous in its simplicity and brutally hard), Wonder Boy, Mario Bros and R-Type Leo. A shooter fan can take their choice from the likes of Virtua Cop 2, Time Crisis 3, Aliens Exterminated, Lethal Enforcers 1 and 2, Operation Wolf 3 or House of the Dead 2. Drivers will enjoy two-player versions of Sega Rally Championship 2 and Nascar, along with Cruis’n USA, Fast and Furious, Need for Speed Underground and Crazy Taxi. Side-scrolling beat-em-up fans will get their kicks from Double Dragon 2 and Altered Beast, and to complement these there are many others, such as Golden Tee Golf, Street Fighter 2, Dancing Stage Euromix 2, Guitar Hero and two great Star Wars sit-in games: Battle Pod and Pod Racer. Machines have been sourced from all over the UK and even from the USA. A nice touch is an additional area with a selection of home consoles, all neatly set up and ready to play multiplayer classics like Mario Kart, Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Bomberman and Super Smash Bros.

There is a seating area and a licensed bar and grill, perfect for parents to relax while their children experience the delights of retro-gaming for the first time. There are gaming magazines available to read and the retro-games shop onsite is also well worth a visit. The arcade is open six days a week and has so far been very well received, being sold out throughout the summer holidays and at weekends, with a steady and increasing weekday custom. The different packages available, coupled with the food and drink availability and 11pm closing have made it very popular with customers of all ages.

Along with the standard three-hour entry option there are group and party deals on offer, while monthly and three-monthly unlimited-access discount tickets can also be purchased. Once you have paid your entry fee you can use any machine for free. In my three hour session I played about a third of the games, but kept returning to Space Invaders (with the gamer in me desperately wanting to beat the high score and, I am ashamed to admit, failing to get anywhere near it) and Wonder Boy (which is a fabulous 1986 platformer that brought back happy memories of mastering it the first time around). We have all played many of the games before; I own a ‘modded’ original Xbox containing hundreds of classic games enabling me to enjoy them at home, but it is a completely different experience to tackle them again in a proper arcade atmosphere and one that will delight every true gamer. Entry numbers are limited, so it doesn't feel too busy and I never had to wait to play a game.

There are plans to keep expanding, to add more machines and eek out the maximum from every inch of the available space. If they could find a few more of those early ‘golden-age’ classics such as Asteroids, Defender, Pac Man, Galaxian, Donkey Kong and Scramble, they would have created my gaming Nirvana. That is not intended as any kind of criticicm, I am just indulging myself in a game of 'fantasy arcade'; Insanity already boasts a hugely impressive and diverse collection of games, catering for all ages and tastes.

The only slight negative I would offer (and to be fair this is unavoidable) is that some games do tend to lose their edge when on free-play with multiple ‘continues’ available. Of course, it was great not having to feed the machines with endless coins, but the gaming challenge can be reduced if there is no real penalty for dying. Maybe this is why I found myself gravitating back to those early titles with no ‘continue’ option; those offering a pure test in seeking that elusive high score. This is only a minor niggle, significantly outweighed by the great value of the free-play option and the enormous fun of playing the games again in their original format.

Overall it was a hugely enjoyable experience. The three hours passed in the blink of an eye and I could easily have spent twice my allotted time (and more!) exploring the many delights on offer. Insanity is a proper gamer’s arcade; customer friendly and with a great selection of cabinets and home gaming consoles, run by committed and friendly people who clearly love what they do. Matt, Holly and Dave have done a brilliant job building an awesome gaming oasis in Poole and deserve enormous credit for what they have created. And there wasn’t a crane-grabber in sight. Fabulous.

For more information - check out: https://www.insanityarcade.com/

AG 22/09/2021

Post Script. After writing this article Matt messaged to inform me that they have just purchaced an original Pac Man. I may have to move in...

Featured in Pixel Addict magazine, issue 1.

History of Video Games

The History of Video Games

Visiting Bristol recently I stumbled upon a large retro computer and video games arcade and museum called the History of Video Games, sited slap bang in the middle of a shopping centre. I found a mix of free-play arcade cabinets and home consoles all set up ready to use, along with some displays showing off an impressive collection of gaming hardware sorted by generation; it was a fabulous place to visit. I recently caught up with the founder and owner - Mark Ashmore, to find out more about the project...

Alan - I should start by saying that I loved the whole place, I had a great time. I enjoyed browsing your museum sections and having so many home systems set up ready to play was a brilliant touch. Of course, (for someone of my age!) playing the original cabinets again is always a real buzz. I was left with a real impression that the whole project had been put together by someone who absolutely loves the subject matter. Would I be right?

Mark - I grew up in the 1980s, born in December 1980 and so my pre-teen years were all Stranger Things, and then my teenage years were in the early to mid 90s - which means that the History of Video Games is a huge reflection on these times. I was 15 years old when the internet became available, and we got connected when I was 17!

My first games computer and console was a Spectrum 48k and a SEGA Master System, I remember the Christmas I got them both. I didn't ask for them and they were both second hand - well I think the Spectrum was because it came with loads of unwrapped tapes, including some C90s with games on! The Spectrum never loaded from the tape deck we had, obviously it wasn’t the official one, my Dad marked the volume control at the side with Tip-ex so we knew how to dial it in to load. I thought the problem was with my Spectrum but I learnt years later (thanks to the internet) that this was a common thing. Can you imagine selling that product today - with the Spectrum taking 20 minutes to load a game and a 50/50 chance of it not working?! Most of the love was for the Master System and with its free built in game Hang-On. I had a couple of carts, which we used to loan out and swap with my Dad’s work friends, I remember he came home with Afterburner once, I knew it from the arcades and we could play it at home!

Anyway, this project comes from my gaming memories. I now own my own company - Future Artists, which is part arts collective, part studio and part arts space. The History of Video Games was born out of a need to tell the story of video game culture - our focus is on the games, the characters and the worlds, not just the hardware. The hardware is important - original arcades for example, but it’s also the story of these digital characters.

Alan - One internet site seems to suggest that this is a temporary event. Is that correct? If so it would be a great shame – it seems an enormous amount of effort for something that wouldn’t be permanent?

Mark - We launched in July 2021, so this article marks our first anniversary! We launched post pandemic, then saw off the winter and Omicron, had to cope with the cost of living crisis, and a year later insane hikes in business rates (the council sent us a bill for £10k a month to use the space we are in). To survive through all that we ran the event as seasons. Thankfully we are now in season four and we have partnered with a charity, which is going to take over the space. We have 9,000 square feet and we are going to work inside the space with them. The charity will run video game maker sessions (a computer club) and will help to bring in world class exhibitions.

If you liked the pop-up version, from October 2022, we are doing a slight refurbishment, ready for season five and the next stage in our story telling, offering members the opportunity to build their own games! I am super excited, I want to support the next Atari start up in our space - imagine having a game developed by a young person in one of our classes, we turn it into an arcade machine and then this goes to find itself in all the other retro and pop-up arcades across the UK - maybe global. That’s what our space is all about, and of course a great family day out!

Alan - You have managed to secure a prime site right in the middle of the Galleries Shopping Centre in Bristol – how did that come about?

Mark - I had been doing the History of Video Games for six years, as a pop up in around eight shopping centres, from Edinburgh to London and many stops in-between. The landlord for the Galleries recognised that what we do is super popular and people love it, so offered us the opportunity to do something there post pandemic.

Prior to that we were at Millennium Promenade in Bristol. So we moved venue and our fans came with us. The team at the Galleries are super cool too, and it’s in the dead centre of town with a massive car park and just ten minutes walk from the station. And we have a loading bay and lifts, which is ideal when you’re dealing with arcade machines bigger than three people!

Alan - How has it been received and have you been busy? Has it appealed to all age groups?

Mark - We sell out most weekends! I'm so grateful. Our core audience is the family group and young people who love gaming and are perhaps discovering retro. Our focus is on games culture and the space reflects that, so we have the entire history of console games, which is what we all really played on back in the 1980s and 90s, because the arcades were quite expensive back then (20p could buy you a house in 1987!) It’s fun, and a great day out!

Alan - Looking through the ‘exhibits’ I loved the fact that it was all organised and displayed by generation. Do you have a favourite generation?

Mark - This is all down to Generation Games and a guy called Samuel, it is his private collection and he has created this amazing story of gaming, looking at the development of each generation. We have laid out the hardware with interactive elements, in both English and Welsh languages as we are so close to the Welsh boarder. This is Sam’s labour of love, he wants to do a Tomb Raider exhibition next and we are 100% behind that.

My favourite generation is split - I love the 16 bit era, and also play modern games with a 16 bit feel. It took me back when the Amiga mini came out, with games like Simon the Sorcerer and Monkey Island. I loved my Amiga, and my Master System used to sit next to it on the computer desk, but the Amiga is where I spent my paper round money! That said, I also enjoy the PlayStation 4 and the cinematic games like Last of Us and The Witcher, it’s not retro, but the story telling is totally immersive in a different way to using your imagination for the 16 bit era, so that’s where my tastes lie.

Alan - How long has it taken to pull everything together? A huge amount of work is in evidence, and I would guess that some of your exhibits don’t come up for sale every day?

Mark - This project has been going for 6 years for me, but the partnership is now with Sam and Generation Games, Chris who runs the Japanese section, and Mark who collects pinball. Between the four of us, I would say - 20 years of collecting. I assembled the team so we could explore different gaming eras and different story worlds, and it really shows, this is more than just an arcade.

Alan - I remember seeing a huge tank controller for the original Xbox on display that originally cost £340 and was only compatible with two games (which is insane!) That must have been a hard item to find? What are the rarest pieces in the collection?

Mark - Sam found that, he is like the Indiana Jones of video games, he will find it!

We have some really rare stuff that we have yet to find a way to display properly. We have a boxed virtual boy in mint condition for example. We are also fixing up a bunch of rare arcade machines, such as a sit down cockpit version Star Wars. In fact 50% of our arcade machines have been restored, all with original parts, and this is down to our lead engineer Mark McCaffer.

Mark once purchased a cabinet with one game in it, which looked like a 4 player Turtles. He discovered it was a Turtles cab worth £3,000 and someone had painted the sides black! Using some paint remover he removed the paint, and found that the original Turtles stickers were still down both sides. We found an original game board from a car boot sale and then touched up the paint, and boom, you have a 4 player Turtles that cost us just £300 and labour! We tell stories like this on our social media channels - this is what our space is about!

Alan - Where have you sourced your exhibits and cabinets from? Is it all from eBay, Gumtree, Facebook Marketplace etc? Or have you had to be more inventive and look further afield?

Mark - People call us now, which is great; we are interested in buying entire collections and also leasing and storing games. At the end of the day, it’s about the game, so if we are looking for a specific game, we will be looking everywhere for it - the amount of barns and garages we have been to is insane!

That said I work with three other talented curators, who approached me when I started doing this in Bristol - it came together quite organically. Sam looks after the exhibition, Mark is in charge of restoration and pinball, and Chris’ knowledge of the Japanese video game scene is fantastic. We have a huge Japanese selection of sit down cabs, dance machines and rhythm games, which are probably more popular that the western retro stuff - arcades are still big in Japan and so this is a big inspiration to us.

Alan - What are your most popular arcade cabinets?

Mark - The Simpsons, Time Crisis, Turtles and Pac-Man - I think people will be playing Pac-Man in 100 years, probably in VR or something! But I think the most popular is Dance Dance Revolution; we have a club that use it, and they compete in competitions – it’s a full body work out! I couldn't do it - I have two left feet!

Alan - The last three editions of Pixel Addict have seen a running feature to crown the greatest classic video game of all time (pre-2000). If you could nominate one game to be the all-time greatest (home or arcade) what would it be?

Mark - For me - Daytona Racing with four players. If you can get four racers who know how to drift and race on that game the adrenaline rush is unreal. The music, graphics and the hardware are like a time machine for me, and as this is a title we leased once I got rather good at it - now when I see it out in the wild I pump a few quid in and off we go!

Alan - Finally, can we offer sincere thanks from all at Pixel Addict (and, I am sure, our readers) for helping to raise awareness of so much classic tech. If people would like to visit, where can they find more information?

Mark - Easy, head to www.historyofvideogames.co.uk, and over the summer (to help with this cost of living stuff) we have 200 buy-one-get-one-free tickets available, on a first come first served basis. Prices start from £10 all day, so this offer will get you in all day for £5. As I said, we are a family and friends gaming space, and of course all the Pixel Addicts are welcome!

AG Sept 2022

Featured in Pixel Addict magazine, issue 06.