Nostalgia fuels UK boom in vintage video game repairs

The shelves lining Luke Malpass’ home workshop are a gamer’s treasure trove stretching back decades, with components of vintage Game Boys, Sega Mega Drives and Nintendos jostling for space and awaiting repair.

- MARIE HEUCLIN DANIEL MATHEWS

Parcels from gamers seeking help arrive from around the world at RetroSix, Malpass’ Aladdin’s cave. He has turned a lifelong passion for gaming into a full-time job, answering the common question of what to do with old and worn machines and their parts.

“I think it can be partly nostalgic,” said Malpass, 38, as he surveyed the eclectic stacked kits held in the central English city of Stoke-on-Trent.

He said the huge revival in retro games and consoles is not just a passing phase.

“Personally, I think it’s the tactile experience. Getting a box off the shelf, physically inserting a game into the console... it makes you play it more and enjoy it more.”

Electronic devices and accessories, some dating back to the 1980s and the dawn of the gaming revolution, await to be lovingly restored to life.

Malpass has between 50 to 150 consoles needing attention at any one time, at a cost of between £50 (2,150 baht) and several hundred pounds.