Bay Arcade 2536: Dwayne Houghton opening new retro gaming venue in Batemans Bay

A Batemans Bay father chose to go against conventional wisdom and rather than buying a house, poured his life savings – and tokens – into opening the town’s first retro arcade. Game on.

This Batemans Bay dad is living every child’s wildest dream – owning his very own arcade.

For Dwayne Houghton and partner, Bianca Caldwell, they chose to go against conventional wisdom and rather than buy a house, poured their life savings – and tokens – into opening the town’s first retro arcade, Bay Arcade 2536.

The venue, which features everything from Pac-Man, skee-ball, darts, punching bags, racing games and more, opens this weekend and Mr Houghton says the venue should alleviate boredom as “there’s nothing to do here for kids”.

“If you want to do something, like have a party somewhere, it’s really lacking here, you have to go to Canberra,” he said.

“Our kids love fishing, but apart from that, there’s not a lot for them to do.”

Dwayne Houghton in his upcoming 'Bay Arcade 2536'. Picture: Tom McGann

So, the pair decided to act.

“We thought, let’s just do it,” Mr Houghton said.

“It was buy a house, or open something like this. So we said, let’s do it.”

They fully self-funded the venture, sourcing machines from Orange, Western Australia, and overseas.

Bay Arcade 2536 has arcade machines from Pac-Man to Skee-ball, darts, punching bags, racing games, and more. Picture: Tom McGann

“I knew nothing about arcades or how the machines worked, so there’s been a lot of YouTube videos and a lot of playing around,” he said.

“We had our kids come in yesterday to test the machines and give us feedback, but they just kept playing everything, so I think that’s a good sign.”

The machines were sourced from around Australia and overseas. Picture: Tom McGann

But what sets Bay Arcade 2536 apart from Ulladulla’s Funland, or chains like Timezone is its token-and-ticket system.

“We wanted to go back to basics, for it to be really retro,” Mr Houghton said.

Instead of tap cards, players use physical coin tokens bought at the counter. Games then spit out real tickets, which are traded in for prizes.

“We’ve tried to make the prizes obtainable, so they’re not super expensive ticket wise,” Mr Houghton said.

“We don’t want kids coming up and seeing these cool prizes that they have no chance in getting.

Bay Arcade 2536 will use physical tokens to run the machines, and prize tickets. Picture: Tom McGann

“That’s just not fun.”

Bay Arcade 2536 opens Saturday, with birthday parties and events already booked.

“We’re really excited for everyone to see what we’ve been working on for the last few months,” Mr Houghton said.

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