Back in August, we brought you the sad news that the Halifax, UK-based arcade Blast From The Past would be shutting its doors at the end of the month, due to "rising costs", "a dramatic drop in footfall", and "difficult operating conditions".
However, since then, it seems that there has been a rather exciting new development for fans of the beloved UK arcade, as spotted by the Halifax Courier, with the Halifax small business owner and arcade enthusiast Ryan Pearson (the brain behind the operation) having found a way to temporarily revive his creation by teaming up with the local Halifax comic book store Pages N' Pixels.
The arrangement, according to a new Facebook post by Pearson, will see the arcade, which was previously located in Halifax's Piece Hall, resurrected in the Woolshops shopping center, at Pages N' Pixels' new shop, and reportedly features "limited-time events, gaming sessions, and competitions".
It reopened earlier this month on Friday, October 17th, with the arcade set to be open only on weekends.
Tickets are available to book online for next weekend now, with £15 granting players two hours of play across the arcade's various arcade machines, its collection of 9 historic pinball machines (dating from 1947-1980), and its group of consoles (including the Atari 2600, NES, Master System, Mega Drive, and SNES).
The 1980s-style living room from the original Piece Hall location, which featured consoles, board games, toys, and memorabilia, has also been recreated in the new space, and will be joined by a separate retro living room with cartoons on the TV, books, and "even a whole dining table to play games at". This is possible thanks to the location being much larger than its previous home.
Joking about the arrangement on Facebook, Pearson wrote, "Gone are the days of being crammed nuts to butts in the sardine tin that was my old room," before going on to list some of the new features of the arcade, such as a new reception area, an '80s movie cabinet with displays on Aliens and Back to the Future, and an easily accessible board games section stocked with 60+ classic board games.
"Blast from the Past is truly a magical experience to just walk through and take in the huge collection of toys, displays on gaming history," said Pearson. "Or see super rare items ranging from Atari cartridges out of the E.T. burial site to the fantastic Nintendo Power Glove.
"If you've ever visited me at Blast from the Past, you'll know how difficult it is to explain or show in photos just how incredible and fun it really is here, and now it's even better!!! It's somewhere you have to visit to understand how absolutely awesome this place is and what a unique experience it is to come here!
"I can't wait to welcome you all back to the arcade!! I know just how much this place means to so many of you, and I really think you're just going to absolutely love this new setup. It's better than it's ever been!"