Jason Savio

Welcome to pixel paradise!

The video game industry is settling itself into the comfortable confines of Worcester and giving the area a new reputation as a hub for gaming. From arcade-themed bars and esports teams, to college courses that teach the development and foster the creativity behind video games, there is no reason to leave town if you’re an avid gamer or aspiring creator.

It can be system overload if you don’t know where to begin, so here is a beginner’s manual to what is happening in town, with input from some of the players involved.

Arcade Bars and Nostalgia
You don’t have to look hard to see how gaming overlaps into other forms of entertainment. Recent movies like “Sonic the Hedgehog” and vinyl soundtracks to games are now the norm.

The food and hospitality industry are also getting in on the action. Bars that are decked out with video games to play are popping up everywhere. These arcade bars often feature full-sized arcade cabinets in an effort to bring back the true old school experience for those who grew up spending all their quarters on Saturdays. It’s a formula that feeds off of retro love and nostalgic nirvana.

Savepoint Tavern
Worcester recently got its very own version of an arcade bar—the first of its kind in town—known as Savepoint Tavern, located on Highland Street.
Savepoint Tavern opened last October and has since become a hit.

“Once you get them in the door, they’re just mind blown, (saying) ‘this is exactly what Worcester needs. Worcester needs a positive place like this,’” says Savepoint Tavern owner Brian Huff about his customers’ reaction.

The twist with Savepoint Tavern is that instead of having the full-sized arcade cabinets, there are television monitors set up throughout the bar and restaurant area with consoles plugged into them; think of a coffee shop with Wi-Fi hotspots that has beer and Nintendo instead.

“Our setup is very relaxed and very comfortable,” Huff says. “We have couches and tables and chairs and it’s very chill. Come as you are. Game and enjoy.”

There are 30 monitors in total to play on with different consoles hooked up to each of them. Classic systems like Nintendo and the games that go with them are available, as well as brand new titles for Playstation 4 and Xbox One. Savepoint Tavern is the only place in town where you can play Super Mario one minute, then turn around and jump into a Playstation virtual reality game the next.

A $5 cover charge gets you into Savepoint Tavern and on the classic consoles. For newer systems—ones with wireless controllers—there is an additional one-time $5 fee. After that, you can play on however many different consoles your heart desires.

Savepoint Tavern features a full bar and food to fuel the fun, Huff says. It is family-friendly up until 9 p.m. and then it becomes adults only.

Pixels and Pints
Over on Grafton Street is an establishment that promises to live up to the arcade and bar concept: Pixels and Pints.

Scheduled to open at the end of March, Pixels and Pints will have 35 arcade cabinets and pinball machines, and projectors will be used for playing classic consoles on a larger scale, says owner Jason Eastty, who used to own Escape Games on Grove Street.

“A lot of the design choices I made with Pixels & Pints was based on my disappointment with other arcade bars that I had visited that were so basic & plain,” Eastty says. “I took a lot of what I learned from owning Escape Games and applied it to the design and concept of Pixels.”

Eastty says he sold Escape Games with the goal of opening another entertainment venue in Worcester.

“It was either going to be an axe throwing bar or an arcade bar, which are two things I love,” he says. “The city politely helped me choose between the two and Pixels was born.”

There will be no cover charge to enter Pixels and Pints, but you’ll have to be at least 21 years old to get in. All ages will be welcome on Saturdays and Sundays from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. or 7 p.m. only, Eastty says.

“It just has a great, fun vibe,” he says.

Free Play Bar & Arcade
Another place that looks like fun and is coming soon to downtown Worcester is Free Play Bar & Arcade. Currently Free Play has a location in Providence, Rhode Island with another currently in the works for Worcester.

According to Free Play, you must 21 years old to enter and there is “unlimited free play on all games.” There is a $5 cover charge during the week and a $10 charge on Friday and Saturday.

Providence’s Free Play has a long list of games available to play—the highly sought 6-player X-Men among them—as well as pinball machines and skee-ball. What Worcester’s Free Play will have up its sleeve remains to be seen.

All Systems Go
All Systems Go, expected to open on Shrewsbury Street in late spring of this year, is going to offer a whole different type of experience in the arcade bar world. Identifying itself as an esports bar, All Systems Go will host competitive game tournaments while simultaneously serving drinks
and food.

“We are a daily operational esports entertainment space,” says owners Devin LaPlume and Amber Beck. “We feel that we will not only provide an industry leading experience in esports, but a fresh take on entertainment and nightlife that Worcester has yet to see.”

Gamers will be able to secure their spot in tournaments through All Systems Go’s website, where other information, including fees to enter, will be posted once it opens. Cash and equipment will be among the prizes given out, depending on the scale of each event, according to LaPlume and Beck.

“All Systems Go looks to accommodate those who are fans or players within the esports space, but, equally so, expose newcomers to the thrill and entertainment esports offers,” LaPlume and Beck say.

Competitive Gaming
While arcade bars are places where the casual gamer can go, there are other places in town that cater to those who have a more competitive streak. One such place is The Proving Groundz, an esports collective that puts together game tournaments.

Esports has become a huge industry within the gaming world. Much like traditional sports, esports often pits professional gamers—comparative to pro-athletes–against each other in high-stakes games at arena venues that can result in big cash prizes.

Proving Groundz organizes tournaments on a much smaller scale in Worcester, with weekly competitions at the Domino’s on Grafton Street, and sometimes places like Savepoint Tavern.For a $10 fee, anyone can play, says Proving Groundz co-founder David McGillivray.

“This has been pretty fun,” McGillivray says about Proving Groundz, which usually attracts up to 30 players for a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate competition. “It’s really taken off. There’s a lot of enthusiasm around it.”

Come this spring, McGillivray says Proving Groundz is helping put together the esports Worcester Indie Series, a competition that shines a light on video games developed from local producers, including Petricore Inc. and Shattered Journal Games.

McGillivray says that Proving Groundz will “pivot to be more of a technology company that will be focused on creating content and tools for players, fans and coaches.”

McGillivray and Moody have an idea for a computer plug-in that will make creating highlight reels and replays on game streaming services like Twitch more user-friendly.

“We’re going to automate it through technology so that it’s much simpler and more set-in configuration than producing video,” he says.
For as many competitive players esports events attract, there are even more spectators. McGillivray believes that for esports to grow it has to find ways to engage fans more like traditional sports broadcasts do.

“The same has to be true for video games and there hasn’t been any of that yet. Nobody has been really focused on the fans at this point,” McGillivray says.

To help them get their tech ideas off the ground, McGillivray says that Proving Groundz is working in conjunction with MassDigi and Becker College, the “center of the Worcester esports scene.”

Creating Games in Woo Town
To find the nexus of this blast of gaming creativity in Worcester you need to turn your attention to Becker College.

Becker College’s Bachelor of Arts in Interactive Media Design program–often referred to simply as its game design program–was recently ranked number two in the world by the Princeton Review, according to a statement from the school. Becker’s Master of Fine Arts degree in the same program was ranked number 10.

“The heart of Becker College’s Interactive Media Design degree program is built on the acquisition of demonstrable game-making skills in a true production environment,” says Paul Cotnoir, Ph.D., Associate Dean of Becker’s School of Design & Technology and the Director of its Design program. The program’s “centerpiece” is the GameStudio, a series of courses where all students work together in a real-world studio environment to produce publishable media properties.

In what Cotnoir describes as the “Swiss Army knife degree of the 21st Century,” students choose from five different concentrations: game development and programming; game design; game art; game production and management; and game audio.

Students are currently teamed up with the Worcester County District Attorney’s office on a game called “Journey to Blackwood” that aims to “develop certain life skills which could help kids avoid the perils of opioid abuse,” says Cotnoir. Other students are working with Fidelity Investments to create apps that educate 20-somethings on the benefits of wealth planning.

“Interactive media is all about creating positive user experiences which can lead to social good,” he says. “(It) can make a dull subject entertaining or improve the learning process.”

What separates Becker’s Interactive Media program from other similar programs is its “game ecosystem curriculum,” says Cotnoir. Students get experience in multiple aspects, including business, development, engineering, content management, community development and esports.

Speaking of esports, in addition to Becker’s game design program, the school also offers the country’s first-ever esports Management degree, making it a multifaceted education destination for all types of game related endeavors.

MassDiGi
Massachusetts Digital Games Institute (MassDiGI) is a federally-funded U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration University Center and a member of the Mass Creative Economy Network. It is located at the Colleen C. Barrett Center on Becker’s campus.

MassDiGi is an independently run organization not exclusive to Becker students. It works with “startups and established studios, colleges and universities, faculties and students” from all over, says Timothy Loew, Executive Director of MassDiGi. Loew is also the General Manager of Becker College’s varsity esports program.

“In many ways Becker is our test kitchen,” he says. “Everything that we do we do at Becker first and then we’ll deploy it across the broader range of partners once we get it tuned up to where we think it should be.”

Among MassDiGi’s offerings is the Summer Innovation Program at Becker, in which students take a game from concept to market in 12 weeks, according to MassDiGi’s website.

“It’s a really unique experience,” Loew says about the program that draws students from around the world. Alumni of the Summer Innovation Program have gone on to work at Microsoft, MIT, 2K, Warner Bros., Sony and other companies.

All of this is undoubtedly a lot to take in for the novice gamer. Between laid-back places like Savepoint Tavern, competitive esports tournaments and the opportunities at Becker College, it can be dizzying.

Whether you’re Player One or a spectator in the audience, remember that it is your passion that has made this world come alive in Worcester. So, pull up a seat and hit “start,” because the game is about to begin.