Save The Arcade!
Telethon Schedule
1 PM Preshow with Andy Wallace’s plotter art
1:30 PM 185668232 Preshow
2 PM Intro LIVE from Wonderville
3 PM Ghosts n Goblins high score run
4 PM Babay Jicks & Ghoul Fiends
5 PM Mutual Benefit
5:40PM Double Dragon speed run
6 PM Alt-Ctrl panel
7 PM Killer Queen developer interview
8 PM Weeping Icon
9 PM Julia Salazar visit
10 PM Video art panel
10:30 PM Black Emperor
11 PM Auction ends
11:30 PM Chippopotamus in the Wonderverse
About
It's now month nine of the COVID pandemic and things are beginning to get worse again. We've seen record numbers of cases across the country, and NYC is starting to increase restrictions for bars and restaurants.
Our base of operations is the bar Wonderville in Bushwick. Prior to our residency here, Death By Audio Arcade had no permanent home. We moved our cabinets from place to place from 2014 - 2018, hosting residencies at various venues and galleries across NYC. (Check out our 2018 Retrospective). In 2019, we launched a Kickstarter campaign for Wonderville, which would become our permanent home. We curate and continue to maintain the gallery space. The bottom line of this fundraiser is: SAVE THE ARCADE!
On Sunday December 20, 2020; DBAA is hosting an online telethon via Twitch to raise $30,000. These funds would be used to sustain Wonderville for 6 months. Donor are encouraged to join WithFriends to obtain member benefits, bid on rare items in an online auction, and to follow Wonderville’s Twitch channel to receive a notification of when the telethon goes live. Confirmed telethon guests include Senator Julia Salazar, bands Mutual Benefit, Weeping Icon, Babay Jicks and the Ghoul Fiends, as well as interviews with game developers. Viewers can also expect video game speedruns, and a tour of The Wonderverse: a theme park hosted in Minecraft.
Brooklyn Beat Syndicate playing live from the backyard wood shop
The renovated backyard of Wonderville
Over the past nine months, DBA Arcade has had to adapt to an ever-changing situation. Our wood shop in Greenpoint closed, and we worked with Wonderville to build an addition into the backyard that would double as a woodshop/DJ Booth. The backyard was also renovated to include more tables at safe distances apart. Despite the lack of indoor seating, Wonderville was able to host small performances over the summer in the backyard, with the performers inside the wood shop. These were also streamed to Twitch for people to watch from home.
Dok Brass Live from the Wonderville Wood Shop Streaming on Twitch
The Minecraft Wonderverse
Despite the pandemic, our nonprofit has kept busy! We created a Discord server where we host monthly playtest nights and game jams. We also built a Minecraft world that we dubbed The Wonderverse, where we’ve held two concerts so far. We started a monthly web series called Remote-CTRL where we interview game developers while playing their games. Our streaming audience has been steadily growing, even without the ability to host IRL events.
Remote Playtest Night on Discord
Remote CTRL Episode 5 with Bumblebear
Even with all of these efforts, Wonderville has struggled to exist. At 25% capacity, sales dropped to 20-30%. With the pandemic relief money all but gone, Wonderville may not have more than a few months before the business is not sustainable. Wonderville has been an amazing home for DBAA and has allowed us to do more than we ever could as nomads. We’re going to fight to keep this space alive and keep our one-of-a-kind games available to the public!
We're trying to raise $30,000 to save our arcade. It costs about $5k per month minimum just for Wonderville to pay rent and utilities. We would love to raise enough money to get them through 6 months of this pandemic.
We’d also like to thank our streaming partner Midheaven for providing the technical expertise to make this event possible!
