FAQs

Who's doing this Retro Room thing?

We're Marty Neill and Cathy Curran, a hubby and wife couple from Belfast. We wanted to hang out in an old arcade again and so Marty started Base Arcade in 2020 with the aim of bringing Belfast its first retro barcade. Think Super Bario, Blast Galaxy or NQ64 but in central Belfast. We deserve it don't we?

Marty is also a co-founder of the Oh Yeah Music Centre, The Retro Room's current home base.

The origin story?

Having worked as a trio operating Base Arcade as a mega successful pop up for nearly two years Stephen and Dave, Marty's partners in Base, decided that a permanent setup wasn't for them and Marty spun out the Retro Room while Base moved to East Belfast at Banana Block. Now Belfast has two great pop up arcades! For the next while at least.

Where will the events take place?

Our home is at the Oh Yeah Music Centre but we'll move the machines around from time to time to shake it up and make sure we can hold events if Oh Yeah has a bunch of great bands on, as they often do. We've popped up in Common Market and the Black Box so far, more to come on that.

What will it cost me?

Entry cost is £15 for adults for a three hour session, under 16s are £7 for our events that are all ages friendly. What about the games y'say? No need for coins here! All of our games are set on free to play. Who has coins these days anyway?

Do I need to buy a ticket online?

You can walk in but if we're at capacity we'll have to disappoint you. It's always better to buy a ticket for guaranteed entry!

Explain the sessions to me?

Really it's about capacity. We want everyone to get a chance to enjoy the arcade, consoles and games and so limit the amount of people in sessions to around 100 (150 in bigger venues). It helps us to make the pop up model a viable business too as we work towards a permanent setup.

Can I get a refund or transfer my tickets?

Given the sessions and numbers of people we're dealing with we'd have to say that all ticket sales are final. Sorry, it's a management headache we can't resource to do otherwise at the moment.

Will food and drinks be available?

We have a bar on site with a wide selection of beers, cocktails and spirits and a tuck shop too for the young'uns. For more substantial food we're right in the heart of the Cathedral Quarter and have Common Market on our doorstep with more than seven food trucks of all different types, Bunsen for tip-top burgers, Pizza Punks for amazing pizzas, 2 Taps for choice tapas, Yardbird for ribs and chicken wings and many, many more.

What types of games can I expect?

We have more than 50 vintage arcade games currently in as original as possible cabinets. We're 80s kids so we love the 80s games we remember from the arcades we hung out in but we're partial to a 90s machine or two as well. Expect big shooters a la Point Blank, drivers like Enduro Racer and Sega Rally, stone cold classics like WWF Superstars, Wonderboy, R-Type and others as well as a few curve balls such as a haunted football strength tester (we kid thee not.)

We've a range of consoles too from weird and wacky very early Pong-a-likes to Master Systems, Megadrives, SNES, Dreamcasts, Xboxes and others and we'll always try to do something you can't do at home like our GIGANTIC Guitar Hero taking over the entire stage and PA in the venue. We've a few more ideas up our sleeves too for coming months. Keep an eye on our socials for reveals.

And if you're there with the kids you can entertain yourself with a beer and play a selection of 70s and 80s classics like Operation, Rock Em Sock Em Robots, Battleships and more. If football games are your thing you're in the right place as Marty has a collection of over 100 football board games. Don't get him started on those (he made one too y'know, a remake of the 1986 classic Brian Clough's Football Fortunes)!

There'll no doubt be a tabletop football game or ten kicking around and a Subbuteo table too if he has his way.

Are they really vintage arcade games?

They are, scout's honour. We don't buy Arcade 1Ups from Argos and call them retro machines. We're recreating the arcades of our youth from 1986 not a hipster's garage from 2021!

What's the plan?

A permanent premise in Belfast City Centre is what we're working on. We've various options at present, expect it to be ready in mid 2025 if all goes to plan. Meantime we'll be operating as a pop up arcade much like before, but with a few differences of course.

How can I stay updated with events and news?

Join our mailing list or follow us on social media for timely updates on our events, new games as they arrive, 80s metal, the wonders of kale, football board games (what else) and so much more.