Retro arcades in Dublin City Center

Alienigenis · 23-10-2016 2:43pm #1

Hey, all. I've been looking for an arcade in the city that has all the old style arcade machines. None of that Tekken or Dance Dance Revolution, I mean Bubble Bobble, Gauntlet, all of the good stuff before all of the Quirkeys turned into casinos.
I have no idea if Barney's is still around, but last time I was there it had fliuch all left in it.
Anyone know where I can go?

o1s1n · 23-10-2016 4:31pm

Unfortunately they just don't exist anymore.

23-10-2016 4:35pm

Hopefully there will be one soon tho!
with 10/15 pinballs + classic arcades!

Andrew76 · 23-10-2016 4:36pm

BrownFinger wrote: »

Hopefully there will be one soon tho!
with 10/15 pinballs + classic arcades!

Is that just optimism or have you heard something on the grapevine (or whatever the equivalent is these days)?

23-10-2016 4:49pm

Andrew76 wrote: »

Is that just optimism or have you heard something on the grapevine (or whatever the equivalent is these days)?

Yea its happening,
Its a barcade in Smithfield.
Owned by the guy that owns the R.A.G.E
He has bought a ton of games allready .Loads of top pin titles.
think they are waiting on a booze licence.

o1s1n · 23-10-2016 4:53pm

BrownFinger wrote: »

Yea its happening,
Its a barcade in Smithfield.
Owned by the guy that owns the R.A.G.E
He has bought a ton of games allready .Loads of top pin titles.
think they are waiting on a booze licence.

I could have sworn they didn't get planning permission or something?

Really hope that works out, I'll never leave the place!

23-10-2016 4:59pm

I dont know 100% but yea i think there was planning issues,
I'll ask the man himself and report back.

Alienigenis · 23-10-2016 5:40pm

BrownFinger wrote: »

I dont know 100% but yea i think there was planning issues,
I'll ask the man himself and report back.

Really looking forward to hearing about this! I mean, The R.A.G.E is amazing as it is, so if they manage to get a barcade, I can only imagine what it'll be like.

Corholio · 23-10-2016 6:14pm

Alienigenis wrote: »

Really looking forward to hearing about this! I mean, The R.A.G.E is amazing as it is, so if they manage to get a barcade, I can only imagine what it'll be like.

€5 a go on the machines :pac:

23-10-2016 7:10pm

End of Feb.
Don't know what the payment system will be.
Looking forward to it tho.

Optimus Prime · 23-10-2016 8:32pm

cool that's some amount of pins. They bought my old Tetris and mortal kombat 2 cabs. Would be great to have a place like that here.

The Last Bandit · 24-10-2016 8:46am

BrownFinger wrote: »

Yea its happening,
Its a barcade in Smithfield.
Owned by the guy that owns the R.A.G.E
He has bought a ton of games allready .Loads of top pin titles.
think they are waiting on a booze licence.

Cool, just started working in Smithfield

Retr0gamer · 24-10-2016 11:45am

Optimus Prime wrote: »

cool that's some amount of pins. They bought my old Tetris and mortal kombat 2 cabs. Would be great to have a place like that here.

Yuck, get some SNK in there!

ironictoaster · 24-10-2016 6:44pm

Just back from the pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas and got addicted very quickly. Looking forward to this.

Ferrari3600 · 24-10-2016 6:54pm

Personally, I can't wait to roll the dice and max out all my credit cards again

Retr0gamer · 24-10-2016 8:22pm

The pins are a great idea. I'd definitely be visiting often to play some pinball because it's very rare I'd get to play a pinball table let alone a good one.

eddhorse · 24-10-2016 8:26pm

Agreed hopefully be well maintained and some other retro arcade machines.

o1s1n · 25-10-2016 4:14pm

Hopefully they have some decent drinks promotions and it's not just all €20 pints of craft beers

The idea of having a few pints in an arcade is the dream really. BYOB bowling alleys kind of dipped their toes in it here, but with a proper selection of old games it would really be amazing.

Mr.Saturn · 25-10-2016 8:45pm

o1s1n wrote: »

Hopefully they have some decent drinks promotions and it's not just all €20 pints of craft beers

The idea of having a few pints in an arcade is the dream really. BYOB bowling alleys kind of dipped their toes in it here, but with a proper selection of old games it would really be amazing.

Don't want to be the pessimistic one, but, c'mon, consider the crowd we're dealing with here. Still gonna go and all, but, yeah, I fully expect it to be H&M but with beer pumps and games.

Slightly related, but if anyone's keen on beers and games, Retrogaming.ie seem to be running a series of gaming nights at a pub in Phibsborough.
https://www.facebook.com/events/855623281241913/

Retr0gamer · 26-10-2016 12:36am

They're playing the manky SNES PAL version of the game though

Mr.Saturn · 26-10-2016 12:41am

Retr0gamer wrote: »

They're playing the manky SNES PAL version of the game though

Go ahead and tell them, these things have a history of working out for you.

Mr.Saturn · 30-10-2016 1:01am

RAGE released a tiny bit of detail regarding their barcade. It's called Token and it's an arcade/showroom/bar/restaurant thingy that's "opening in a few months."

http://tinyurl.com/RAGEFBLINK

ironictoaster · 30-10-2016 2:14pm

I asked rage about pinball machines. They have 15! This place must be huge. Hopefully medievil madness is there

30-10-2016 9:57pm

I think they do have a mm.
They said 50 games overall!

Retr0gamer · 30-10-2016 11:15pm

Twligiht Zone, that's going to be a whore to maintain. Always wanted to play it though!

30-10-2016 11:34pm

If pinballs aren't working 100% they are ****e.
Unless the broken feature is turned off in the software.
Saying that, casuals will never notice if a switch isn't working etc

80s Synth Pop · 31-10-2016 11:24am

This place it going to be great. I really hope it does well.

All the costs involved though. High rents, insane council rates, insurance, wages, employers prsi, electricity, heating... then I wonder what that annual amusement license fee sticker you see on the side of every machine costs? This will have to be a fairly pricey to be viable and I will be opening my wallet for them.

Jack burton · 31-10-2016 7:15pm

I was onto some of the guys a while ago. They seem to be very keen on getting the pins 100%, I have a full list of games from them knocking around somewhere. I sourced them a new soundboard for that TZ so if they are willing to drop some cash on it I expect they will have everything working perfect!

Cant wait to see it.

Of course I have my garage to tide me over in the mean time! I just need about €900 to finish everything in there, anyone willing to fund me

I'll host a games night and feed everyone if you do!

Skerries · 03-11-2016 11:22am

there are a few pubs around town that have some arcade machines
Kennedys downstairs on the corner of Westland row have some cabs
P.Macs on Stephen St lower have a cab but can't remember what it is
Cassidys on Wetmoreland St have some cabs as well
possibly The Mezz as well

Shapey Fiend · 11-11-2016 8:54pm

If the beer is overpriced to cover the loss leader that is arcade machines that's just fine by me.

I'm hoping they look at having 50 machines as an opportunity to rotate in the ones that are maintained and working well rather than it being a graveyard of malfunctioning screens, squidgy buttons and weak flippers that you have to waste tokens on before you find the right machine.

Relikk · 12-11-2016 11:06am

The only way I'm ever going to visit it is if they have a flat fee upon entry and everything set to free play but, I doubt it. That system also doesn't make much sense if it's a bar.

rubadub · 12-11-2016 1:32pm

Relikk wrote: »

The only way I'm ever going to visit it is if they have a flat fee upon entry and everything set to free play but, I doubt it.

you would need a way to kick people off machines too. Some experts might spend ages on machines too. I wonder if there are other ways ti can work, like give you tokens on entry, 1 for each machine so nobody can even play the same one twice, unless swopping the tokens. But then the difficult games would be lying idle while there are queues for easy ones.

Tchoin · 12-11-2016 6:43pm

Relikk wrote: »

The only way I'm ever going to visit it is if they have a flat fee upon entry and everything set to free play but, I doubt it. That system also doesn't make much sense if it's a bar.

That's a tough one, I love that system but don't know if it'd work for them.

I spent some months in a small town in Arkansas, US in 2013, and I used to go to a fantastic arcade called Arkadia Retrocade, they had dozens of machines which they rotate every now and then, a few home consoles with "retro living rooms" (i.e.: furniture and TVs from the era) and a section for private events/parties, heck they even had the X-Men 6 player arcade cab :eek:

You paid a USD 5 flat fee when entering and could stay all day up until midnight, don't know how they managed to get people flowing.

12-11-2016 9:58pm

I don't think machine hogs would be a major issue.
I think most people will get get board and move on quickly.

The MOST annoying thing I can see with with 15 pins on free play is.

Dopes starting 4 player games and then walking away.
It is the bane of the pinball hobby.
When ever I have family over they do this.
Unknown to them of course.

Even worse with some Sega games as they are 6 player.

CathalDublin · 14-11-2016 5:33pm

BrownFinger wrote: »

I don't think machine hogs would be a major issue.
I think most people will get get board and move on quickly.

The MOST annoying thing I can see with with 15 pins on free play is.

Dopes starting 4 player games and then walking away.
It is the bane of the pinball hobby.
When ever I have family over they do this.
Unknown to them of course.

Even worse with some Sega games as they are 6 player.

Ah stop, that's so annoying. Why is my score going down? he's had loads of goes! STOP PRESSING THE F&%$£"$ START BUTTON:mad:
Always wondered had someone made a rom to change the number of players to 1 for any games.
It's even more annoying now in my new house that there is a 50/50 chance turning on/off the pinball will trip the fuseboard.

o1s1n · 14-11-2016 6:04pm

A token system would probably work best. Pay a fiver in, get X amount of tokens complimentary and then you've to pay for them after that.

If they keep the token cost super low (say 10c per token) the customer will feel like they're they're getting great value for money and at the same time it will retain that 'arcade' feeling where you're dedicated to each credit. Credit feeding an arcade machine just ruins the experience of the game.

Optimus Prime · 14-11-2016 6:09pm

CathalDublin wrote: »

It's even more annoying now in my new house that there is a 50/50 chance turning on/off the pinball will trip the fuseboard.

This used to happen to me when it was drawing too much power at once when powered on, i saw something online that said plug it into a power block and plug that power block into another one and it will stop it and it worked!

Stoner · 14-11-2016 6:54pm

Optimus Prime wrote:

This used to happen to me when it was drawing too much power at once when powered on, i saw something online that said plug it into a power block and plug that power block into another one and it will stop it and it worked!

Most likely an inrush current issue. Would be solved by changing the type of switchgear feeding the machine, possibility
This can often happen if there are too many LEDs in an array ,
I've seen similar issues resolved by putting that cct on a different type of RCBO , in my case Type D the response curve is a little more sympathetic to initially high currents but it's not great to subject everything to that lower level of protection. So a separate dedicated cct was our solution (signed off by the lighting supplier)

We put a VIPs meter on it and it was a significant spike but for a very very short time

the groutch · 14-11-2016 7:09pm

o1s1n wrote: »

If they keep the token cost super low (say 10c per token) the customer will feel like they're they're getting great value for money and at the same time it will retain that 'arcade' feeling where you're dedicated to each credit.

do you forget that this is the owners of The Rage that we're talking about?

AL9000 · 14-11-2016 11:18pm

Hi all!

Some great info on here, thanks to all. Really looking forward to 'Token'....been a long time coming! Can't wait!

Am an old-school gamer here (Pierrot Club/Playland/ Eden Quay/ Barneys/ Star in Bray/ and kicked ass in Blackpool 1991!)
Best games were Track+ Field, Hyper Sports, Rygar, Robocop, Bubble Bobble :-)

Anyone got the list of games for Token?

Cheers to you all,

AL

p.s. only my first post so can't post any links. Have some from MARP (MAME Action Replay Page) and another site with me and some famous American gamers. Good ole days :-)

15-11-2016 9:05am

CathalDublin wrote: »

Ah stop, that's so annoying. Why is my score going down? he's had loads of goes! STOP PRESSING THE F&%$£"$ START BUTTON:mad:
Always wondered had someone made a rom to change the number of players to 1 for any games.
It's even more annoying now in my new house that there is a 50/50 chance turning on/off the pinball will trip the fuseboard.

Cathal,
I've had this problem and I think changing the thermistor in the PSU sorted it.
Remind me at the weekend to give you one!(also the defender marquee)

airmax87 · 15-11-2016 1:08pm

no candy cabs no cans no can do

sundodger5 · 22-11-2016 4:47pm

BrownFinger wrote: »

Cathal,
I've had this problem and I think changing the thermistor in the PSU sorted it.
Remind me at the weekend to give you one!(also the defender marquee)

Think a lot of pins do not have a Thermistor hence the problem. Fitting one will solve it. Saw it as a mod on some pinball website a while back. Google may be your friend here.

AL9000 · 22-11-2016 7:49pm

Hey does anyone have the list of games that will be at Token?

Thanks in advance!

AL

Retro arcades in Dublin City Center

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