It was hard to be a child in the 70's and 80's and not be excited by the pace at which computers, and in particular, video games were evolving. Video games sprung up everywhere but the video arcade, filled with bright lights and the noise of electronic beeps and the bashing of buttons, was the holy grail. It was where you'd excitedly spend every last cent of your pocket money trying to stop endless alien invasions while at the same time trying to imagine what the next big development in games might be.

The Arcade Project is the brainchild of John-Paul Pochin and Chris Mason who have a shared interest in pinball machines and retro arcade games. They hope to create an environment that encourages creativity, experimentation and to blur the boundaries between the fields of art, science and technology based on inspirations from their childhood.

The Arcade looks back to a time when computers and games were far simpler. In doing so we remind ourselves that simple can still be enormous fun and that often through limited resources comes innovative ideas.

The Arcade Project has spawned two exhibitions, The Arcade and the Arcade 2.0. Rather than being static exhibitions, projects have continued to develop throughout. This provides an opportunity to show how ideas and projects evolve and that through collaboration and being open to suggestions we can go on new and interesting paths. It's also an opportunity to show the problems that we face as we go on these journeys and we open ourselves up to the possibility of 'failure', an important and often overlooked part of the design process.

The Arcade Project receives no sponsorship or funding except through the volunteers who generously donate their time, money and resources to the project.

A very big thank you to NMIT who have kindly hosted our last event. Thanks also to Community Art Works for providing support and a home for the The Arcade Project. This has enabled the ongoing development of the project in a creative and collaborative environment where ideas, resources and skills can be shared.