The gaming community is pitching together to help out The Heart of Gaming after a break-in. The Heart of Gaming is London’s last dedicated games arcade with a mixture of gaming cabinets and modern consoles, creating a haven for gamers looking for that social connection. On July 22nd owners arrived to find the fire exit had been kicked in and over £5,000 worth of equipment had been stolen.
Stealing current generation consoles, peripherals, games, televisions, a laptop, all the money left in the till and even the brushes used to paint a Satoru Iwata mural. Thankfully no one was around during the break-in, so no one was hurt. Thankfully the arcade machines had not be vandalised either.
While police are naturally investigating the break-in and hopefully the insurance may cover it, it’s a very long and uncertain process. This has happened during the worst possible time of the year with schools out for the summer.
But despite this, the team have re-opened the arcade today with the team bringing in consoles from home, as well as some provided by friends of the arcade. The team also launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise the money to re-buy what was lost and improve the security, so far over £3,627 has been raised out of the £5,000 target.
April Pereira-Finn said "Some of our amazing community members who are skilled tradesmen have come forward to install all the new equipment. If we go over, it will all still go back into the HoG. It's ever growing and the classic equipment needs constant maintenance."