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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 gaming. 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 games and even more so, anyone should be able to make them and understand how they are made.
CHRISTMAS OPENING TIMES
We've got a hugely busy festive period ahead! So, with that in mind please plan accordingly - we will be open or partially open where possible, and then we plan to take a short break in January to refresh and update both ourselves and the venue! Our opening times over the next month are as follows:
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Wed December 8thCLOSED (All day)
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Sat December 11thPARTIAL CLOSE (All day)
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UPPER ARCADE & COMMUNITY ROOMS ONLY
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Thu December 16thPARTIAL CLOSE (12pm-9pm)
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COMMUNITY ROOMS ONLY
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Tue December 28th - Fri December 31stOPEN (12pm - 5pm only)
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Sat January 1st - Mon January 10thCLOSED (All day)
COVID-19 NOTICE
There are no longer legal restrictions in Wales due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, we will still operate our Bar/Cafe area, the Arcade and The Community Rooms are operating under some COVID safe guidelines. These include:
- tables, chairs in the bar and cafe areas and the keyboards/mice/controllers in the new PC suite will be cleaned regularly.
- hand sanitiser points throughout the venue.
- the recommendation that you wear masks throughout the venue unless you are eating/drinking or have a valid reason not to wear a mask.
- alcohol based anti-bacterial wipes for you to clean controllers (which we will be regularly doing throughout the day).
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, tailored 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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Global Game Jam 2022
Fri | 28 January 2022 | 16:00 to Sun | 30 January 2022 | 18:00Fri | 28 January 2022 | 16:00 to Sun | 30 January 2022 | 18:00Are you a creative games designer, artist, programmer or audio designer up for a challenge? If so, come and be part of the Global Game Jam. You will have the weekend to conceive and build a game.
Join up with countries all over the world in a 48-hour mad dash to create something!
Doors will be open from 4pm on Friday evening for everyone to meet. The themes will be announced by Global Game Jam so that the fun can begin and ending at 5pm on Sunday.
Do not come to the Jam with a team (this is GGJ policy!). Everyone will have some time to think and pitch an idea. Use this as a chance to collaborate with new friends or peers you don't know.
It doesn’t matter what tech/tools you use to develop your projects - GameMaker, Unity, Unreal, HTML5, Cardboard and cutlery, you can use whatever you want... and any type of game (including non-digital games like board, party, card games etc).
Participants will need to bring your own equipment - we will have free WiFi and ethernet connections if needed. This year however, there are a limited number of PCs available to use throughout the weekend.
Games will be submitted to the Global Game Jam website on Sunday before the 3pm deadline. Teams will then have the opportunity to present their game to everyone.
Why the charge?
We do have to cover our staffing and running costs for the weekend. However, the ticket price grants access to Levels 2 and 3 of The Arcade Vaults and includes free teas and coffees, plus access to a kitchenette with a fridge and microwave. There will also be a lot of pizza available to all on the Friday night, plus a selection of pastries throughout the weekend! We're located right in the City Centre so you will have access to plenty of other food options for the entire jam.
We will ask jammers to register and join the GGJ site separately on the day - purchasing a ticket will register your details with us so we know you are attending.
Note that this will not be a 24 hour site - access will be limited to 8/9am at the earliest and around 10/11pm at the latest. If you are coming in from outside of Cardiff there are lots of places to stay nearby.
About The Arcade Vaults
The Arcade Vaults, is an unique venue and community in the centre of Cardiff for all things videogaming. Founded in 2016 as an events company, they've gone on to support anyone who makes games, plays games both old and new, wants to learn about games, or would just like to engage with the community in this amazing world of games.
At the heart of The Arcade Vaults and its community are 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.