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The Heart of Gaming is an amusement arcade due to open on March 4th 2017 in the Whitgift Centre of Croydon, London. It is one of the few remaining video game arcades in London.
History
The Heart of Gaming opened in April 2013 in North Acton, London, founded by arcade game enthusiasts Mark Starkey and Simeon Lansiquot who salvaged and restored a number of arcade machines from other London arcades for use in The Heart of Gaming.
The Heart of Gaming features a different pricing system to most traditional video game arcades: customers pay a flat entry fee enabling them to play on all the machines in the venue until it closes, unlike the classic coin-operated system where entry is free but customers must insert coins into each machine in order to play it. In November 2014 it began to be used as a set for Ginx TV's Videogame Nation on Challenge.
In July 2015 the arcade was robbed, with over £5,000 of equipment stolen. Mark Starkey started a crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe to recoup the losses, which successfully reached its goal of £5,000 in just over 24 hours, making a total of £5,738 by the time the campaign ended.
In November 2016 Mark Starkey started a second crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo to raise money to help The Heart of Gaming move to a new location with more space and better facilities in Shepherd's Bush, the West 12 Shopping Centre. The campaign ended in January 2017, making a total of £3,001.
In February 2017 it was announced via The Heart of Gaming's Facebook page that the arcade's new location had changed to Croydon, London, due to open on March 4th 2017 in the Whitgift Centre.