Entrepreneur And Game Fan Setting Up ‘Community Arcade’ In Fredericton
FREDERICTON- A Fredericton entrepreneur is hoping to give people blast from their past while helping raise money for a local community centre.
Shawn Smith, the founder and CEO of Don’t dis-my-ability Consultation Services, a company specializing in the emerging field of neurodiversity, is starting a “community arcade” at The Ville Cooperative in Fredericton. Proceeds from the custom vintage machine will go towards supporting programs at the community centre.
Smith has always been a fan of arcade games since he was a teenager but rediscovered his love for them a few years back when he purchased a Wrestlefest machine from Kijiji.
“It was the game to get to at lunchtime in high school. My friends and I would rush over and that’s how we would spend our lunch hour for most of our high school years,” says Smith. “When it came up on Kijiji for $175, I had to have it. It’s a piece of nostalgia. Who has this in their house? This is something I would see on TV shows in rich people’s houses.”
Recently, Smith had an opportunity to purchase another arcade machine.
“I ran into an acquaintance and I invited him over to my house and I showed him my arcade and he was like, ‘I have two arcades and I’m trying to get rid of one. Do you want to buy one?'”
Smith did purchase one $100. It was a MAME arcade, which means it can be programmed to play almost any game. But he didn’t plan to bring it home, instead, he wanted to keep it by his office at The Ville for the public to use.
“My wife wasn’t overly thrilled about the first arcade, so I knew I couldn’t bring the second one home,” says Smith. “I just thought for $100, I could turn this into something that could serve the community by creating a community arcade where the money that would go into the arcade would go to fund programs for people who can’t afford them.”
Since it will be community arcade, Smith says he will be programming the arcade with around five to 10, non-violent games. Classics like Packman, Qubert, Donkey Kong and Super Mario are some of the ones users can expect. The shell of the machine features Pixalted Smith, which was done by Chris Tompkins Design and Joan Lamont.
It will only cost 25 cents for the public to play the machine.
“The idea is that I want people to play it. I’ve gone to arcades where they are charging a dollar and I just can’t to it. To me, it’s criminal. From a business perspective, it comes down to volume. I know that if I keep it at 25 cents, that makes it affordable for everybody.”
The arcade is in the process of being set up, but Smith says it will be up and running at The Ville by the New Year.
“I’m hoping that in the first of the New Year this will be ready to roll, if not sooner,” he says.