David Lyne doesn't brag about being one of Britain's top arcade players, but he's still a world record holder and a top scorer on many games.
In 2016, after 18 months of practice, Ryan scored more than 2 million points in the shooter game Galaxian, setting a world record. "I never thought about breaking the world record." Ryan said, staring at donkey Kong, which he was playing, "I chose Little Bee because it was the first game I came into contact with, when I was 9 years old. ”
tradition
Gaming has always been an important part of Ryan's life. As a child, his family often took him to Blackpool for summer vacations and also went to the arcade. As he grew older, Ryan himself often went there to play. "Sometimes the cost of the bus – the last 10p – is spent in the arcade hall and then walked home in the rain."
Player David Lane at arcade Club
Today, Ryan, who is in his 40s, is still passionate about gaming. Once a week, we visit the local Arcade Club arcade, where you practice your skills. "I played Little Bee for several months in a row, and once I got about 600,000 points, so I thought, I'm already very good at playing this game, the score is enough to enter the top three, submit it." Lane recalled, "But Arcade Club owner Andy Palmer told me: 'No, it's not enough, you can take first place.' ’”
Lane and Palmer met in 2014, when Palmer had started running arcade Club. Palmer is an avid player and game collector who runs a four-store computer repair chain in Rosendale, Lancashire, where the Arcade Club is located behind the repair shop and houses some 30 pinball machines and arcade machines from Palmer's collection. Palmer charges players a £10 refreshment fee and can play there for 4 hours.
Today, 6 years later, Palmer has moved the arcade hall to Bury, on the outskirts of Manchester, on a 3-storey site of an old tannery. With over 1500 pinball machines and arcade machines, arcade club is considered by many players to be the largest arcade in Europe. "It gave me a new lease of life." Palmer said, "When I was in my 40s, there was not much business in repair shops as iPads and smartphones became more and more popular. Opening this arcade gave me the motivation to keep going. At first everyone said, it wouldn't work. Now people's thinking has changed completely: 'Oh my God, this is incredible.' ’”
Palmer, the owner
Inside the Arcade Club arcade
Inside the Arcade Club, you can see many video game characters on the walls of the stairwell, shining under the illumination of ultraviolet lights. The store's ground floor is home to a large number of arcade cabinets, Xbox consoles and computers, including a £25,000 Mission Impossible arcade cabinet (only two in England), while the second floor offers a number of Japanese rhythm games, fighting games and pinball machines.
Walk up to the third floor and you'll see rows of arcade games such as Comet Blaster, Miss Pac-Man, and Star Wars, most of which were born in the 1980s and are the proudest of Palmer. "Can you smell it?" It was ozone in the air, electricity from cathode ray tubes, and no one was making arcades like that now. ”
Sega's new Mission Impossible is a very cool light gun game that can be played by 4 people
reality
England's arcade industry has become completely different from what it used to be. While about 30% of the population still visits arcades every year, the number of arcade players in England is decreasing year by year. John White, chief executive of Bacta, a trade organisation for the UK's entertainment and amusement equipment industry, said: "There are many reasons for this phenomenon, such as the lack of investment in seaside towns – even before the outbreak, the number of tourists going to the seaside for sightseeing holidays was decreasing. ”
Of course, the pandemic has dealt a devastating blow to the UK arcade industry. "Throughout the epidemic, the arcade has no revenue, no government support, and it is a miracle that no more companies have collapsed."
A sense of ambience in the arcade
On the other hand, with the collapse of a large number of traditional arcades, there have been a number of new arcades on the market that employ new technologies and hybrid experiences, and Gravity in London's Wandsworth district is one of them. Gravity offers console games like Mario Racing and several musical rhythm games, but other rides like electronic go-karts, bowling alleys, crazy golf courses and Electric Gameboxes in that store are more appealing to customers. Players can deposit money into a top-up card (£1 for 10 points) and can also save up for prize tickets.
"Our arcades have traditional experiential elements, but by partnering with companies like Amazon and incorporating ways like online redemption, they're able to bring richer gameplay." Michael Harrison, CEO of Gravity Leisure, said. Harrison grew up playing games in the waterfront arcade run by his parents, and he can understand the unique charm of traditional arcades. "They still have a market. I've worked in traditional arcades for over 30 years, and as new technologies emerge, so does the customer experience and psychological expectations. We have found that most customers, young and old, are willing to embrace these new technologies. ”
According to Palmer, traditional arcades are also suitable for players of all ages — many of arcade Club's customers are in their sixties and seventies. "They called and asked if I had Space Invaders, weren't interested in new games, and just wanted to play old games I played in my twenties." Palmer said, "Some people haven't walked into the arcade for many years, and they walk around the store with tears in their eyes..."
Palmer, nostalgic for playing arcades with his older brother Paul as a teenager, believes that when some older players play games, they might see their childhood selves on screen. Lane also recalls, "I remember the first time I walked into an arcade, Little Bee was the first game that touched me. I haven't played it in about 20 years, and it's wonderful to see each other again. Except for me, I'm afraid no one can play Little Bee for a year straight. ”
At arcade Club, Palmer employs more than 50 people. Every Monday to Wednesday, the store is closed for maintenance to ensure that all machines are functioning properly. The workshop inside the old tannery is piled high with parts, including arcade cabinets imported from Japan, piles of monitors shipped back from Luton, and machines waiting to be repaired.
The Arcade Club's storeroom is also stocked with old objects
Tracy Greif has been in love with video games since she was 5 years old, and her first exposure to games was playing Pac-Man on her father's BBC Microcomputer. Currently, she is a volunteer tester at Arcade Club. "I test all the machines in this room every week." "I have 4 days of free time anyway, so a manager asks me if I want to do testing," Griff said. I feel great about being able to contribute to myself. Because she often had to go to the arcade to test the machine, she also bought herself a pair of fingerless anti-arthritis gloves.
During the pandemic, Griff was reluctant to use arcade Club membership cards for discounts, instead insisting on paying the full price to help the business through tough times. Palmer refused to accept outside investment in order to ensure that arcade gamers were always served at a good price.
For Lane, the purpose of visiting the arcade is not to challenge the world record or nostalgia, but to meet friends such as Palmer and Griff. "People from all walks of life can go shopping in the arcade. Here you can throw all the troubles out the door and enjoy the happy time brought by the game. ”
This article is compiled from: vice.com
原文标题：《Meet the Arcade Lovers Keeping Retro Gaming Alive in the UK》
Original author: Nana Baah