If you’re on the UK’s south coast and have a passion for retro gaming, Portsmouth should be your destination from next week.
On Saturday, 5th February the Retro Gaming centre opens at 58D Cosham High Street, offering a big selection of video games and classic board games.
It’s the brainchild of local man Ben Snook, whose mum Jo Barrett will be helping him run the operation. Ben is autistic, and his main passions are video gaming and dinosaurs. Ben’s mum told the local paper that “He is part of a board gaming network; they get together and play dungeons and dragons and other strategy games.”
Made possible due to an inheritance, the Retro Gaming centre was envisaged as a place for people to socialise and “unplug from the internet.” The site features a board game room, too, for getting away from screens, featuring games like Jenga and Hungry Hippos.
But the key feature of Retro Gaming is the consoles room, which features Atari consoles, PlayStation, Sega Mega Drive, Wii, Nintendo 64, Xbox, and more.
Visiting costs £5 per session on week days, £7 on a weekend. Discounts are available for groups and families. The centre also offers community groups and home-schooling groups special offers.
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Christian Cawley is a writer and editor who covers consumer electronics, IT, and entertainment media. He has written for publications such as Computer Weekly, Linux Format, MakeUseOf.com, and Tech Radar.
He also produces podcasts, has a cigar box guitar, and of course, loves retro gaming.