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All this month (March 2018) you can visit The Gate Arts Centre, on Keppoch Street off City Road in Cardiff to celebrate the local video game culture. Here you will find an exhibition showing off locally created artwork created by passionate local gamers themed around, you guessed it, video games.

This great idea was created in conjunction with The Arcade Vaults, who on the 24th of March will be hosting their new annual “all day festival of videogaming” known as Player Nation at The Gate where there will be several events on which we will go into further detail with in a moment.

If you’ve never heard of The Arcade Vaults, this is a company originally founded in Cardiff in 2016, created with a goal of eventually having their own venue for gamers, with a bar/cafe, video games, arcade machines and classic retro consoles (as well as new ones) but for now they are organising smaller events in existing locations across Cardiff primarily, but I do know they were involved in an event in London during the recent blizzard. The Arcade Vaults may look like a small company now, but they are taking each month in stride, and I won’t be surprised if we see a permanent home for the company soon.

Player Nation at The Gate on 24th March

So with that in mind, on the 24th of March at The Gate, they are putting on these events, with probably more to come:

Rocket League Cardiff Cup – An awesome idea, this is a 1v1 Rocket League tournament on PS4 with a cash prize of £100 for first place or £50 for second place with a £10 entrant fee. The preliminary rounds will take place a week or two before the main event, and all players are welcome. You must register before hand.

An awesome idea, this is a 1v1 Rocket League tournament on PS4 with a cash prize of £100 for first place or £50 for second place with a £10 entrant fee. The preliminary rounds will take place a week or two before the main event, and all players are welcome. You must register before hand. Games Wales sessions and demos – A voluntary service, Games Wales look to champion and promote games development in Wales. There will be talks from leading members of the gaming industry and Welsh developers showing off new and upcoming games. I’m hoping last year’s Tranzfuser winners Mochi Mode make an appearance!

A voluntary service, Games Wales look to champion and promote games development in Wales. There will be talks from leading members of the gaming industry and Welsh developers showing off new and upcoming games. I’m hoping last year’s Tranzfuser winners Mochi Mode make an appearance! Minecraft sessions with Mi Little Pad – This will be a great hit with the younger kids as Mi Little Pad is an afterschool/holiday club dedicated to playing Minecraft via iPad. They started in South Wales but according to their website now host clubs across the UK. They will provide special unique Minecraft sessions for the little ones.

This will be a great hit with the younger kids as Mi Little Pad is an afterschool/holiday club dedicated to playing Minecraft via iPad. They started in South Wales but according to their website now host clubs across the UK. They will provide special unique Minecraft sessions for the little ones. Rules of Play – Rules of Play are dedicated to tabletop gaming, involving board games, card games, miniatures and any other type of non video gaming you can think of. They own a shop in the Castle Arcade and for this event will have their own space in The Gate to inspire new, old and everyone in between board game enthusiasts.

As well as these events, The Arcade Vaults will have their variety of consoles and merchandise set up, from retro Megadrive consoles on old fashioned TVs to the latest in gaming technology such as Nintendo Switch and VR gaming based on what I’ve seen at previous events. You will get lost if you join in on the fun on the day, but make sure you get down there before the 24th to see art created by local artists as that would be an interesting activity in itself.

Player Nation at the Gate Tickets and Prices

If this all sounds interesting to you, feel free to purchase tickets before hand as well.

There are two types of tickets available, for a day ticket or an evening ticket, which will run seperate events to each other.

An adult day ticket will cost £6.00 and for under 16s its £4.00 and this is from 11am til 4pm

For the evening event, there is one set price at £5.00 and this is from 6pm til 10pm.

There is also a booking fee of £1.50 per booking.

This is a unique event, and worth the travel if you have any interest in video games, which you must if you are reading this right now. I look forward to seeing you there!