Acrylic Arcade

Clients:
ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image),
Science Gallery Melbourne,
Freeplay Independent Games Festival, SXSW

Designed and built for Freeplay Independent Games Festival, the Acrylic Arcade invited visitors to engage with original independent games through custom-built machines within exhibition environments.

The cabinets, constructed from clear acrylic, showcase an infinite combination of software and decorations. From living plants to reactive LEDs, the internal cavity of the machines is just as much a platform as the high-bright screens, and the easy replacement of control plates allows for further aesthetic customisation and unique inputs.

The Acrylic Arcade has been showcased in cultural events and institutions across Australia such as Freeplays Parallels showcase, ACMI and SXSW Sydney. As part of DISTRACTION, Science Gallery Melbourne's major exhibition exploring attention, technology and digital culture, an interactive arcade was developed in partnership with Freeplay to celebrate experimental Australian game design. 

The project has been featured by Science Gallery Melbourne, the University of Melbourne and broader media covering contemporary art, technology and museum experiences, reinforcing the role of games as an engaging medium for education and cultural participation.

Featured In

  • "Beautiful Bespoke Arcade Machines"

    MAGPIE Games Research Melbourne Connect

  • "...designed thoughtfully and provided an accessible option for gameplay for people of all ages and player ability."

    Luella Moore, SXSW Sydney

  • "As the cabinets offer new games in a retro and familiar game platform, they were able to appeal to a broad audience and become a standout exhibition feature."

    Luella Moore, SXSW Sydney

  • "The bespoke arcade cabinets were a crowd favourite in the exhibition - played by over 52,000 people over the show run."

    Bern Hall, Distraction Curator, Science Gallery Melbourne

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