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Retro arcade games and pinball arcade opening in Newbury, Berkshire

*paulb*

*paulb*

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Apparently this place is opening in my home town of Newbury, with retro arcade games and potentially 8 pinball machines:
https://www.highscorenewbury.co.uk/pinball-paradise

All games on freeplay, £10 for an hour. Opening 5th December with limited entry numbers to start with (due to the current environment) - no food or drink either. I will definitely be giving it a look and wish them well, but Newbury is a small town for such a venue. Also, I notice a "*" next to some games and all the pinballs, with no explanation of what that means on the web-site.

Looks like they will also have some kind of "Hall of Fame" table on the website as well.
 
Yeah seems a strange proposition for that town. According to @Solar Sailer who knows most everything about beer, we're getting a new Brewdog in Basingstoke soon. Hopefully that will have a nice pinball or two like the others local, @Matt Vince ?
 
astyy said:
Yeah seems a strange proposition for that town. According to @Solar Sailer who knows most everything about beer, we're getting a new Brewdog in Basingstoke soon. Hopefully that will have a nice pinball or two like the others local, @Matt Vince ?
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Yep Brewdog rocking up next year in Amazingstoke.

Newbury footfall is not great for retail but there is a promise of a new shopping environment for Newbury.
Hopefully they got a good deal on the premise lease so they can grow there business model out a bit.
 
I suspect its partially a way of storing/promoting/testing games as looks like they're part of a well established arcade supplier, based in Newbury.

Good luck to them, somewhere for families to take the kids through the winter
 
Sounds like a copy of "ArCains" in Liverpool (I've never been though)
But £10 an hour? When you are good enough to make credits last 2 hours, it sure isn't good value to some people!
 
*paulb* said:
I will definitely be giving it a look and wish them well, but Newbury is a small town for such a venue
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Cool.. it's about the only thing worth visiting Newbs for... will at least give me something to do when visiting offices up there for me :)
 
After the bold claim of "being the best in the UK" I ended up shooting an email over to them discussing such any evidence to back up claims (bit snarky looking back), which lead to a quite nice and polite conversation on the phone for 30 mins discussing his plans, my thoughts and ideas to help and ended up with a free entry woo!

What I learned was they are leaning less towards the retro scene and more towards the newer machines and for the casual family market for kids and parents, with constant brand new games on rotation. Also helped that the Director of the business who I was speaking to worked for SEGA amusements for over 20 years so its someone with a background with contacts all over, his goal is kind of like a namco fun escape but free play, what I heard they have ideas for an all-day entry but due to covid and current climate they are only offering 1-hour slots which is understandable

The machines which they have on-site they also hire out for businesses and corporate events so I'll see if I can blag my work to get a few games on-site once covid allows us back in

Oh the * is only meant for the mame type arcade games to show they arn't the genuine article and it was a mistake for the pinball machines to have an asterisk.

On a pinball-related topic, If my memory serves me right he said that the bloke who's supplying and helping out pinballs is Oliver Parish of Pinball Paradise, not that Pinball Paradise which we all know about I don't think????
 
benjamin lawrence said:
After the bold claim of "being the best in the UK" I ended up shooting an email over to them discussing such any evidence to back up claims (bit snarky looking back), which lead to a quite nice and polite conversation on the phone for 30 mins discussing his plans, my thoughts and ideas to help and ended up with a free entry woo!

What I learned was they are leaning less towards the retro scene and more towards the newer machines and for the casual family market for kids and parents, with constant brand new games on rotation. Also helped that the Director of the business who I was speaking to worked for SEGA amusements for over 20 years so its someone with a background with contacts all over, his goal is kind of like a namco fun escape but free play, what I heard they have ideas for an all-day entry but due to covid and current climate they are only offering 1-hour slots which is understandable

The machines which they have on-site they also hire out for businesses and corporate events so I'll see if I can blag my work to get a few games on-site once covid allows us back in

Oh the * is only meant for the mame type arcade games to show they arn't the genuine article and it was a mistake for the pinball machines to have an asterisk.

On a pinball-related topic, If my memory serves me right he said that the bloke who's supplying and helping out pinballs is Oliver Parish of Pinball Paradise, not that Pinball Paradise which we all know about I don't think????
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Fair play for reaching out to them. Being local i might drop in at some point.
 
Less than 45 mins from me but £10 per hour is a bit rich to be honest.
 
You know what - £10 for an hour is brilliant value for me being a crap player who just likes pinball/arcade gaming solely for fun!

Plus 'down south' everything tends to be a bit more costly.

Yeah - good luck to them. Starting up a business like this in the currently climate takes balls the size of a double decker bus.
 
some cracking videos. Mario Kart is on our hitlist as is Guitar Hero (which have ALL vanished!)
 
The newer arcades seem to be ticket focussed as that brings the kids in, so it is nice to see something focussed on the gaming.
 
Deffo gonna be a much needed day out for me and the kids when we are allowed :)
 
For the casual market I think £10 an hour is excellent, somebody mentioned Namco Funscape (who I currently work for) and honestly the amount of money parents throw at their kids for 10 minutes worth of gaming blows my mind. I very often see people putting quid after quid in a redemption machine that offers next to no enjoyment (gameplay wise at least) to try and win more tickets for their child. So if people are willing to spend like that at an arcade £10 for an hour is an excellent deal. Goodluck to them!
 
I live in Newbury and walked past it today. I was shocked to see pinball machines in there and will probably try to check it out at some point since they have some of my favourites in there. I had been joking about selling them my LOTR but I realise they just lease the games. With only 6 people being allowed in at a time £10pp seems reasonable to me but I never get the opportunity to travel to Flip Out!
 
Heart of Gaming in Croydon is at £12 for the whole day, then again everything we have is retro repairs, but it's become a nice home for my slowly growing pin collection.

*unashamed plug* Lockdown has been a curse and a boon, it's crippled business but has given us a LOT of time to completely renovate the place.
 
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