________ ________ ________
2018-04-30 / \/ \/ / \
/ __/ /_ _/
So, the 80s exhibit at LCM+L got me / _/ / /
reminiscing about Forgotten Worlds and \_______/_\___/____/\___/____/_
circling back on daydreams about setting up / \/ \/ / \
my own retro den/arcade. / _/ /_ _/
/- / _/ /
The biggest problem I have right now \________/\________/\___/____/
that's stopping me doing anything at all is
a lack of space, we live in an apartment that's hardly much bigger than an RV
with no yard at all, I also rent so can't really do anything drastic to what
little space I do have.
For a little while I thought about trying to rope some friends into a
shared workshop space or something, a blank canvas that we could turn into a
communal "den" but it never eventuated. A couple friends were kinda half
interest but the we started talking about how much something like that would
cost, even though it was really fuck all if we split it evenly, interest
pretty quickly waned.
True of many friends I've made online I guess, a lot of people are all
gung-ho about ideas but when it comes down to making proper plans and putting
shoulder to wheel everyone's suddenly no longer interested. But whatever, I'm
not writing this file to bitch about that hahaha.
Completely unrelated to that, for a while I've also wanted a reason to buy
a shipping container. I dunno, they just seem like really neat things to have
around and I like their shape, and while I was thinking back over my home
arcade the other shoe finally dropped and it occurred to me; what if I build
my home arcade inside a shipping container? I'd have to pay to store it
somewhere in the short term but that will be cheaper than paying for any kind
of workshop or warehouse myself and then when I finally move and have space to
put it, even if that move is interstate or international, all I've got to do
is make sure everything is strapped down and then ship the whole cube to
wherever. Genius.
I had a look around to see if anyone had done anything similar and found a
couple "container arcades" that other people had made but they were little
more than someone's storage space that just happened to have a machine or two
in it that they plugged in and switched on, they weren't planned spaces. I can
try to do better, let me paint you a picture, gophernauts.
On the outside, it just looks like a plain old 20' container. I thought
about decorating it but it seems more fun to leave to leave it as-is. The only
give-away that there's anything unusual inside is a power cord and small air
conditioner attached to the back of the box.
Once you crack the doors, there's a pair of light-blocking curtains so you
can leave the container door open without letting much light in.
Through the curtains and into the arcade, the floor is dark green carpet
tiles, not all matching but close enough. Along the wall to your left are
handful of arcade cabinets, the wall behind them and the ceiling above are
dark, smoky mirrors. The wall opposite, to your right, is wood paneling and
sports a shallow, chest-high bench and a couple of barstools. The top foot or
so of that wall has been left bare and a line of neon tubes trace a glowing
sunset over the corrugation of the container wall.
On the far end of the machines, a narrow partition wall separates the
arcade from the bar proper.
Around the partition is a payphone in a small woodgrain enclosure,
plastered with stickers and scribbles, with a ratty phone book in the bottom.
Opposite it is a worn old sofa and in the far left corner of the container is
the "bar" - barely larger than the glass-fronted bar fridge beneath it, and a
single bar stool. Above the bar, in the top corner of the container is mounted
a blurry old CRT television and VCR combo. Behind the bar, the back wall of
the container, is divided in half; directly behind the bar is a pin board,
covered in a bizarre jumble of papers, posters, stickers, buttons and knick-
knacks and on the right hand side, to the right of the sofa is a high scores
and tournament chalk board, lit by a black-light tube.
Cozy and welcoming, I want to create a space that makes up with heart what
it lacks in space.
EOF