For fans of indie videogames, the hottest new spot in the five boroughs of New York City this year has no doubt been the Babycastles indie arcade on 42nd Street in Manhattan. Opened in early October, the space has quickly become the de facto center of indie game culture on the east coast, decked out every two weeks with new games, art and custom-painted arcade cabinets from developers and artists around the globe, as well as performances from chiptune acts like Nullsleep and George & Jonathan (You can see highlights from the last event, curated by Matt ‘Fort90’ Hawkins and Attract Mode’s Adam Robezzoli here).
This Thursday marks the opening of Babycastles’ Independent Games Festival exhibit, which will feature a new arcade selection of IGF-nominated games, including Monaco, Super Meat Boy, Envirobear2000 and more, curated by the festival’s chairman, Brandon Boyer. The opening ceremony, which happens this Thursday, Nov 18th, will have musical performances from 000000Swan and Minusbaby, while the closing ceremony on Nov 27th will feature music by Neil Voss (composer of Tetrisphere), Knife City (solo project of Luke Silas of Anamanaguchi) and oft-mentioned OSV chip music favorite Starscream.
Both events are absolutely free, and Babycastles is planning a new indie game lineup and concert every two weeks from now till the end of the year. Make sure to keep an eye on their Facebook page for the latest updates, and peek below to see some photo highlights from the previous event.
