About Us

We have a real passion for Retro Video Games and the Events Industry, so deciding to merge the two together was a lightbulb moment.

We branched out from hosting Events, and moved on to delivering the Arcade Games to you at your event!

We have not stopped there though, as we continue to develop more exciting ideas that we genuinly cannot wait to share in the coming months!

Our Story: A Retro History

 

  

Our love of Retro Video Games combined with our Event industry knowledge became a winning combination

Having spent a number of years planning and distributing events up and down the country, we decided it was about time that we broke away and put our own stamp on things.

We began by promoting club nights that celebrated all things retro. Each night had its own theme and eventually we amassed a range of Arcade Games, retro decorations and props. This was when we realised that we could provide our clients with all they needed for their own events.

From here we had the premise of what would become R-Cade Hire – the convenient and affordable hire of fun event equipment for both public and private events.

about us at R-Cade Hire smiling worker

Noel Murphy
Head of Maintenace, Croupier
Favourite Retro Game: Bubble Bobble

About Us: Ready Player One?

 

  

We started taking bookings in early 2019 and we haven’t looked back!

It’s been a wild ride – from Weddings to Festivals; Bar Mitzvahs to Awards Nights – we never know what’s coming next! However, wherever we go, our goal is for people to be having fun and to be entertained.

There’s several reasons for that, but mainly because it’s our client’s event – and our client is the boss. Now, listen, you will regularly hear that sort of patter all over the internet – but it’s entirely true for us. We love it when you get in touch and tell us about your event, your plans, your wedding, your surprise, your idea – we love that. We’re motivated by that, we’re events people ourselves after all!

If you have passion; we have passion! It’s not just your event, because when you book us it becomes our event too. We want to smash it out of the park as well! It makes us look good but mostly it makes us feel good.

We want those reviews; we want those mentions but we REALLY want you to have had a great event. That is OUR job satisfaction. And hey, we’re making people happy with Video Games – which makes things fun to begin with. 😆

staff smiling at event about us R-Cade Hire

Level 2: Press Start to Continue!

 

  

A Global Pandemic wasn’t exactly in our plans, but we have much in store for the future

Standing still isn’t all that fun and it certainly isn’t all that great to look back on either. We’ve recently been looking back over the past couple of years, and it can be surprising how far you’ve come.

Those busy weekends delivering events, those hectic weeks building, maintaining and branding our equipment in time for deadlines. Wow – what a rush! but we’re so glad we did it as we want that sort of hundred-miles-per-hour innovation and spontaneity to continue. However, things came to a grinding halt as we all know.

Ultimately, we were glad of the pandemic looking back. It gave us chance to reassess and come back stronger than before. Once the restrictions started to lift things shifted gears dramatically and that was mostly down to the work we, otherwise, wouldn’t have been able to put in without the Covid downtime.

There was certainly some fun to be had during those times, but the uncertainty was daunting and anxiety inducing. Thankfully that’s all in the past and the business and our output has grown immeasurably since – as we go into in more detail below!

About our story and development

A custom job we did for a festival prior to the pandemic

Level 3: A New Challenger Awaits!

 

 

2022 saw us take things to a whole new level – expansion and development.

We grew out of our previous premises on three occasions culminating in our move to Riversway Managed Workshops, Ashton-on-Ribble, Preston at the beginning of July 2022.

We needed the additional size for an office space, workshop, and storage. We were able to improve our service delivery processes due to increased ease of access, improved maintenance facilities and logistics. Not to mention the space and means to work on upcoming products and to revamp our most popular items from our range. This had been a long time coming!

man playing arcade machine outside

Noel testing our Pac-Man Arcade Machine outside our previous premises

Focus on the Casino Arm

During 2021 we started gaining more ground providing Fun Casino Tables. As we entered 2022 the Casino side of things had really taken off. We provided Roulette, Blackjack and Poker tables as part of various different packages at Weddings, Parties and Corporate events.

It was always likely that we would incorporate the fun casino aspect within R-Cade Hire as several of us are well-versed in the industry. In hindsight it was a no-brainer as the glowing reviews and feedback poured in. The fun casino arm of the business was very much our cup-of-tea and we’ve continued to delight guests across the North West week-in and week-out.

Vegas Casino croupier

Dave Bryan
Head of Casino Operations, Croupier
Favourite Retro Game: Gallaga

2023 and Beyond!

We saw a big growth in events last year and this has meant we’ve been able to invest more time and resources into our service delivery and product care. However, it also means we’ve been able invest in product development. We’re hoping to add several new and exciting additions to our line-up this year as well as diversify our range of packages.

So here’s hoping, if you’ve read this entire write-up, that our passion for what we do shines through. I sincerely hope we get the chance to provide our service for your event and we can have a chat and a laugh about how well it went afterwards – that’s truly the best moment!

 

Gary Cartwright

Gary Cartwright

Final Boss

Retro Game Enthusiast, Sega Fanboy, Croupier.
Favourite Retro Game: Mortal Kombat II

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