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As much of the United Kingdom continues to bathe in dirty flood water after heavy rainstorms followed by blanket snowfall, news has reached us of a little corner of gaming history being ruined by the water damage.
The Retro Computer Museum in Leicestershire posted the bad news on its Facebook page saying, “Unfortunately due to really terrible flooding the museum will be closed this weekend. More news to follow once we can see what damage has actually been caused.
Small update. 4 inches high water damage in the main building, well over double that in the arcade. It really is devastating.
We know it is early days but if anybody wants to help out with replacing some of the items we might need…”
As well as many classic arcade games and consoles the museum is also the home to some Virtuality VR systems which were one of the forerunners to the VR we see today – (as a side note I actually attended the world launch of Virtuality at London’s Trocadero all those years ago and these machines are super rare now).
One of the best things about the Retro Computer Museum is that all the systems are out and available to play by the public, alongside a huge software library. This will hopefully mean that many systems are above the water line, even if the plugs and cables are not.
Arcade machines are not so lucky and water damage to aging wooden cabinets is a huge pain to fix as I know from experience on my own machines.
The museum always has a fundraiser page available for donations but this is currently being used by supporters to offer monetary help – you can check that out via the link.
At a time when retro systems are getting older and more scarce, this setback is terrible news for fans of retro gaming all over the world as the museum is one of the few places where you can see so many systems for yourself.
Hopefully, with the help of the community, the museum can bounce back quickly.
