Arcade Archive: A New UK Arcade Museum

Those idiots only went and gave me the keys. Arcade Archive is a new arcade museum being built in the UK by Alex from Arcade Archive together with Rich and Neil from RMC, and before it was finished I got an exclusive behind-the-scenes look around. This video was supported by PCBWay.

The foyer: where it all started

The tour starts with a 1969 Sega Gun Fight, an electromechanical game that shares a lot of its history with pinball tables. It’s in pretty lacklustre condition, but it’s going to polish up really well. Next to it is the game it inspired, which has the honour of being the first arcade game to feature a CPU. It isn’t working yet, but it will be.

1969 Sega Gun Fight electromechanical arcade machine at the Arcade Archive museum in the UK — Sega Gun Fight from 1969 in the foyer

A chronology of arcade history

Beyond the foyer door it’s dark, with an almost reverential atmosphere. I wasn’t allowed to switch the machines on, but once the lights went up the idea was clear: machines from the golden era, laid out as a chronology of arcade history, with deliberate gaps between cabinets so you can see the side art.

Rows of classic arcade cabinets lit up inside the Arcade Archive museum — Lights up on the Arcade Archive

Some were before my time (and I’m pretty old), but plenty hit the nostalgia button. Sprint 2 took me straight back to rainy Butlins holidays and the back room of a bingo bar. There’s Sky Skipper, which was never released to the public, so this is one of the few places in the world you’ll be able to play it. There’s Nintendo’s Sheriff, with a control I can only describe as the knob off your nan’s cooker, plus Missile Command with its trackball, Williams Defender, and Stern’s Berserk complete with screen burn, which I think adds to the story.

Atari Tempest vector display arcade cabinet at the Arcade Archive museum — Atari Tempest with its colour vector display

Then arcade royalty: Atari Tempest with its colour vector display, Q*bert, Star Wars, Ghosts ‘n Goblins, Root Beer Tapper and Robotron 2084. Space Invaders was the one that did get switched on, and the first thing that struck me was how loud it is. Alex told me it was the machine you could hear over all the others, and I believe it. There are chip-shop style cabinets with swappable games, Double Dragon, and Operation Wolf, which swallowed a lot of my 50p pieces. And there’s room for more machines that are on their way.

My favourite: BurgerTime

Donkey Kong is a cracking game, but its next-door neighbour is much more my speed. BurgerTime is my all-time favourite arcade game of any era. I’m not great at it, but stacking the burgers and trapping enemies under the ingredients just gets me (and who can argue with an angry red sausage?).

BurgerTime arcade cabinet next to Donkey Kong at the Arcade Archive museum — BurgerTime, my favourite arcade game ever

Can you visit?

It wasn’t open when I visited, but even unfinished it’s amazing, and the curation tells the story of video games right up to where the RMC Cave and the home ports take over. I can’t wait to see every machine running at once. Thanks to Alex and Neil for letting me in early. For progress updates, subscribe to Alex’s Arcade Archive channel, and do try to visit when it’s ready.

More from the RMC crowd: my Amstrad 6128 video from Retro Man Cave, and another big cabinet project, building a 55 inch light gun arcade from e-waste.