Arcade Barn

I recently enjoyed a top weekend in Devon at the Arcade Barn in Woodbury, just outside Exeter.

Essentially it's this fella's collection of old arcade machines, It was situated on an old farm that had been turned into some industrial units just outside Exeter. There were about 30-40 machines in various states of repair, and a repair section full of hardware being worked on. In the working section the only lighting came from the machines themselves, so when we emerged into the evening light after 7 hours on the machines it was a real shock.

Most of the people who came along were arcade collectors. I was only there for the games but the collectors were constatnly talking about PCBs, JAMMA cabs, various versions of games etc - it was all a bit over my head but facinating stuff.

Once all the machines were turned on the place really came alive. All the sounds and colours of a classic arcade were there - it brought back memories of playing in arcade in the 80s and 90s. It was a bit warm and got a bit sweaty, it needed a bit of ventilation. Generally though the atmosphere was great.

Games I played:

Daytona USA - sadly this was one-player only as the 3D hardware was all scrambled on the other screen, but it was still great to take this for a spin. I don't remember the pop-in being that bad (mountains would just appear 20 feet infront of you), stiil, really smooth, fast and fun.

Hyper Olympics/Hyper Sports - I well remember playing these in the mid-80s. You may remember them as the ones where you have to bash two buttons realy fast to make your little man run. I played Hyper Olympics to death this weekend.

Starblade - superb cockpit space shooter from 1991 that used flat-shaded polygons. It was brilliant fun, especially since the vibrating seat wasn't quite right so every time a missile hit your ship it felt like someone was repeatedly punching you in the back; you'd thing this was a bad thing but no, in this case it felt great!

Pacman - it's been played to death down the years but actually playing real Pacman on a real machine just feels great. The classic sounds, the classic graphics. It was a very popular machine.

Outrunners - this was the twin seat version but one screen had the blue missing, but it was still very playable. Very hard though. Classic sunny SEGA goodness.

Rage Racer - the monitor was a bit wonky but it played really well. Lovely smooth racing, big drifts, proper arcade thrills.

Marble Madness - used to play this in Taunton Dean services on the M5 in the 80s. I was determined to get through level 3 but despite my best efforts couldn't manage it.

Chase HQ - proper arcade driving excellence from the late-80s. Fast, slick, chunky graphics, driving music. Exciting and brilliant.

Also played Robotron, Puzzle Bobble, Gunbird and a couple of others. Some games I didn't manage to play were Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles which broke down, Afterburner (the hydraulics on the cab were a bit wonky and it had to be turned off), Star Wars (really wanted to play this but a cog in the joystick was knackered, apparently), and a few more which needed to be "credited up" ie having a poke about in the coin box.

After checking in at the hotel we got a cab and had a nice evening in a country pub including a meal (scampi for me). The four of us who were in the hotel stayed on with this fella Bruce, a massive arcade hardware afficionado. He was coming up with some great stories about finding rare games, the main people on the scene, all sorts. He even bought me a drink! Top fella.

All in all a very interesting weekend. 7 straight hours of playing the games was a little much for me, although that's probably down to my withering attention span more than anything else. I met a decent bunch of people and came away feeling their enthusiasm for arcade machines, although there's no way I'll be able to get into all that.