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A place to play...
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Engage with community...
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Make great things...
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Learn about games...
About The Arcade Vaults
We are The Arcade Vaults, an exciting and unique venue and community in the centre of Cardiff for all things videogaming. If you make games, play games both old and new, want to learn about games, or would just like to engage with the community in this amazing world of games, then this is the place for you.
At the heart of The Arcade Vaults and its community is you; the players and the creators. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to play videogames and even more so, anyone should be able to make them and understand how they are made.
COVID-19 NOTICE
As per the current firebreak lockdown rules in Wales, we will be closed until November 11th. Stay safe everyone!
Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic that is affecting the entire world, our Arcade and The Community Rooms are operating under COVID safe guidelines. These include:
a screen at the barhand sanitiser points throughout the venuethe requirement that you wear masks throughout the venue unless you are eating/drinking or have a valid reason not to wear a maskdrinks and food orders will now be taken at tables. If you are paying for the arcade, you may still come up to the bar, but please let us know if you will be ordering and we will come to youalcohol based anti-bacterial wipes for you to clean controllers (which we will be regularly doing throughout the day)alternating of available consoles throughout the venue to ensure social distancing is adhered tomarked points to ensure you can stay socially distanta limit of 6 people per group and that those in the group are all from the same householdstaff will be COVID-safe during your visit
Please note, we are legally required to take a name and contact information for at least one member of your party. We will have a lower limit on our capacity - currently we are not taking bookings, but if you have a group of 5 or 6, please call or email us to let us know your arrival time.
Thanks for understanding and hope to see you soon!
The Stuff We do
- Our arcade is split into two areas - we have a space featuring classic consoles and hundreds of games, with a small free-to-play area where we also serve coffee, tea, drinks and gamer friendly snacks. We are also open on selected evenings for those that like a stronger beverage with their gaming fun!
- The Community Rooms are our co-working and events space, tailerod for anyone interested in making games or being part of a community who do but open to everyone to experience. There are three pricing tiers available to anyone who wants to use the space for work, with high-speed broadband (wired and wireless), tea and coffee, and a kitchen, plus various tech facilities and business support!
- Our Upper Arcade and The Community Rooms are available for hire. We can run events for you with a wide selection of retro and modern gaming consoles, or just provide the spaces on their own to you, with access to our bar.
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We organise events and parties across the UK. And we really do everything, including supplying the gaming gear and screens, promotion of the event, set-up, photography, prizes and so on! We also do educational seminars and networking events for those of you in the community looking to learn something new or meet like-minded people.
Upcoming Events
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AKA The Halloween Quiz
Fri | 30 October 2020 | 18:30 to 20:30Fri | 30 October 2020 | 18:30 to 20:30We're running our "COVID-safe, socially distanced, streamed and played in the store particularly tricky Halloween Videogame Pub Quiz" at the end of this month! (AKA The Halloween Quiz!).
Since the Welsh Government announcement on the firebreak lockdown, we've switched this event to be on Friday 30th and we'll be running it online only!
More info coming!
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The AV Team Plays: Among Us
Sun | 1 November 2020 | 15:00 to 18:00Sun | 1 November 2020 | 15:00 to 18:00The Arcade Vaults' team jump in at the chance to join in the current world craze that is Among Us. Most of the team have never played before so this will be a proper first play through!
Stream available on:
- Twitch: https://twitch.tv/thearcadevaults
- YouTube: https://youtube.com/thearcadevaults
- Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/thearcadevaults/live
- Periscope: https://www.pscp.tv/thearcadevaults
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The AV Team Plays: The Dark Pictures - Little Hope
Mon | 2 November 2020 | 19:30 to 22:00Mon | 2 November 2020 | 19:30 to 22:00Tom and Chris head back to the Dark Pictures anthology to co-op play the next in the series - the brand new "Little Hope". Will Chris continue his trend of killing off all of his characters? Will Tom cope with a scary game?
Stream available on:
- Twitch: https://twitch.tv/thearcadevaults
- YouTube: https://youtube.com/thearcadevaults
- Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/thearcadevaults/live
- Periscope: https://www.pscp.tv/thearcadevaults
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Set a High-Score Day
Sat | 14 November 2020 | 11:00 to 22:00Sat | 14 November 2020 | 11:00 to 22:00Set a high score for one of our listed games, and if you're on the board at the end of the day you'll get FREE ENTRY on your next visit!
Scores to be set so far:
- Sonic the Hedgehog (Megadrive) - Green Hill Zone 1, fastest time
- Duck Hunt (NES) - One duck, highest score
More games to be added soon!
And, you'll even (optionally) get your picture next to your score with a retro polaroid....
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Ramen/Drink/Game
Thu | 19 November 2020 | 18:00 to 22:00Thu | 19 November 2020 | 18:00 to 22:00This month we're doing something different!
The Community Rooms will be turned into a small pop-up restaurant for the first time for our Ramen/Drink/Game night, serving real, cooked in-house Ramen with a selection of meat and vegetarian toppings and a vegan broth! For a mere £10 you'll get a bowl of fresh amazinginess, access to the arcade all evening, and a 20% discount off your drinks ALL NIGHT.
Choose from either a vegan or meat based topping, with a (very slightly spicy) miso broth and a selection of additional fresh veg toppings!
Booking is essential - hit the link for more info.
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Minecraft - play & create session
Sat | 21 November 2020 | 11:00 to 16:00Sat | 21 November 2020 | 11:00 to 16:00This half-term we're welcoming the locked-down kids of Cardiff to our specially tailored Minecraft group play session. If your child is between 8 and 13 we are running a 2 hour, PC based creation session in the same world, with everything run by our friends at PlayFrame. And, if you make multiple bookings we'll throw in a free soft drink from our menu each for your kids!
Please note, as this is based on PC, your child should be proficient at using a mouse and keyboard to move around the Minecraft world.
COVID safety rules: Each child will have their own PC and will be socially distanced from the other players. Parents will be asked to stagger their entry/exit and if waiting on site will need to maintain social distancing throughout the venue. Any child over the age of 11 will need to wear a mask. PCs will be sanitised before and after use.