The Heart Of Gaming & Playnation Games Arcade Tour

In this video we take a trip down to The Heart Of Gaming in Croydon, South London. 

I last went to The Heart Of Gaming a few years ago at their old site in Acton, and it was great to finally check out the new venue.  The arcade has an awesome selection of machines, including some survivors from London’s Trocadero.  It was fantastic seeing Alien 3: The Gun and Prop Cycle, two great games from the nineties which I haven’t played in years and every bit as good as I remember.  The eight player Daytona USA set up was an incredible sight, and we had some great races.  My personal highlight was The Lost World: Jurassic Park DLX cabinet.  There is a bit of a story behind this one.  On a cold, bleak January day back in 2019, I went to have a look at this machine along with a couple of others at Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach. 

The machines were stored in an outbuilding probably less than twenty meters from the sea. 

Routing around in near darkness, I also saw Final Furlong 2, GTI Club, Star Wars Racer Arcade DLX and Time Crisis II.  I had no doubt dropped coins into these at some point in the past, and it was sad seeing them in this sorry, neglected state.   

They were all big machines and too much for me to take on, and I contacted The Heart Of Gaming to see if they would be interested.  Fortunately they managed to save The Lost World, and it’s undergone a full restoration.  It was great seeing it again in an arcade, in all its glory for people to enjoy.  Best of all though it was Pizza Arcade Gamer Boy’s favourite game of the day, he loves dinosaurs and couldn’t stop playing it!