This week I was able to catch up with Tony Temple, 51, from the United Kingdom. He is the creator of “The Arcade Blogger” website. His blog covers arcade history, arcade locations, arcade machine restoration, and more. You’ll find engaging articles that gather information, pictures, and videos from across the internet, that Tony mixes together to create intriguing articles that are fun and easy to read.
Tony started collecting arcade machines in 2005. He purchased a Missile Command machine, which was his favorite game as a kid. He broke the high score record on the machine multiple times, scoring 4.4 million points in 2010. After this, his interest in the hobby began to evolve.
“I got more interested into restoring classic arcade games. The hobby sort of morphed for me, from setting high scores to buying old arcade machines and restoring them.”
One day when searching the web for information, Tony realized that there was tons of information and history on classic arcade games, but that no one had ever pulled it all together. He found himself having to visit multiple sites to find the information he needed. This motivated him to build his website. His goal was to create a website that anybody could come to and get something out of it.
“I took it upon myself to build the website that I never saw, and just wanted to create something that was accessible. That’s the key thing. There is a lot of history out there but a lot of it can be very technical and nerdy and not presented very well. So I really wanted to pull this information together and write a series of articles related to arcade restoration, arcade history, how people go about finding old arcade games, and some of the stories behind that.
“What I don’t want to do is state the obvious and regurgitate what’s already out there.“
Tony says the most challenging part of running his blog is finding interesting content and expanding on it. He tries to write things that are different and interesting, and he tries to take a different angle when writing. A problem he sees is people making posts on information that is already readily available and easy to find. “What I don’t want to do is state the obvious and regurgitate what’s already out there.”
As for the most rewarding part of running his blog, Tony says it’s when he gets positive feedback from people coming up to him and saying they enjoy his website and his content. He says it’s not about how many people visit his website, and he doesn’t make money from the website. Having people enjoy what he does keeps him motivated and connected, and prevents him from getting bored of running the site.
I asked Tony what advice he has for people trying to maintain a website like his.
“I would say the biggest thing that people need to focus on is to keep producing content. And the one thing I learned is that if you don’t keep updating regularly, people won’t come back, and you won’t build that brand…. I just try to grow organically, and I think the only way you can do that is to keep producing regular content.”
Tony has been to the US multiple times and visited arcades across the country, so I was excited to ask him about any differences he saw between US arcades and UK arcades. I was fascinated to find out the biggest difference he saw was the variety of games we have here in the US. Tony stated there are several games the UK never saw. The visits he takes to the US arcades have allowed him to see and play games he never was able to before.
“The real appeal of visiting the US, which I try to do once a year, is an opportunity to get to see and play some of the rare titles we never got to see over here. It fills the gaps in terms of arcade history.”
“I think there’s a healthy future for classic arcade gaming, because I think there will always be interest.”
I also asked Tony about the future of arcades, and here’s what he had to say:
“I think there’s a healthy future for classic arcade gaming, because I think there will always be interest. When I get out of the hobby, I’m quite sure there will be younger people coming up who will want to be custodians of these machines, either in terms of a commercial arcade or a private collection in their house… But certainly, in terms of classic arcades I think its healthy right now and I think its only gonna get stronger.”
Check out Tony’s blog here:
Ready Up NJ 