Factsheet

Location:

The Baker Center in Austin, Texas

2024 Date:

October 26th

Description

FANTASTIC ARCADE: Fun Size Edition! is a one-day event that showcases a curated selection of groundbreaking talks and independent games. This event marks the post-pandemic return of FANTASTIC ARCADE, an annual festival which brings together international and local developers to show off their work, talk about the state of independent gaming via panels, and interact with attendees. FANTASTIC ARCADE: Fun Size Edition! will be held at The Baker Center in Austin, TX. FANTASTIC ARCADE is curated by Games Y’all and produced by The Museum of Human Achievement. Hosting FANTASTIC ARCADE: Fun Size Edition! opens the door to return to Party Size events in the future!

The Museum of Human Achievement is a community-driven space grounded in affordability, inclusivity and access for artists. MoHA’s vision is for an empowered, resilient creative community where each member has the resources to foster well-being, prosperity, and a self-determined future.

Games Y’all is a monthly event held at venues around Austin for indie devs, digital artists, and games fans. Games Y’all celebrates, amplifies, and supports the unique and underrepresented within indie games and beyond. Game submissions are accepted on a rolling basis, with occasional themed calls for specific months.

The Baker Center is located in Hyde Park, a neighborhood in north central Austin, just north of the University of Texas Austin main campus. The building contains a Cafetorium and Black Box Theater.

History

Fantastic Arcade

FANTASTIC ARCADE started in 2010 as part of Alamo Drafthouse’s Fantastic Fest as an initiative to bring video games to the genre film festival. It quickly grew into a beloved annual celebration of experimental and cult video games which featured original games, off-the-beaten-path developer talks, tournaments, and other assorted amazing happenings, originally curated by JUEGOS RANCHEROS. The curation has now been moved to Games Y’all, the spiritual successor. Anti-convention, comfortable, fun, unexpected, not a networking event.

In 2017 FANTASTIC ARCADE split from Fantastic Fest to become a standalone festival. In 2019 FANTASTIC ARCADE became a program of The Museum of Human Achievement, which curated a 10 year Retrospective of the festival. 2024 will be our first year back after a pandemic hiatus.

FANTASTIC ARCADE is an annual festival which celebrates, amplifies, and supports the unique and underrepresented in indie video games and play. FANTASTIC ARCADE operates with Games Y’all as a community year-round monthly physical meetups and other ongoing digital programs

The Museum of Human Achievement

Founded in 2012 by a dedicated group of artists and community leaders, The Museum of Human Achievement (MoHA) is a community-driven art space grounded in principles of affordability, inclusivity, and access. MoHA promotes an empowered, resilient creative community where each member has the resources to foster well-being, prosperity, and a self-determined future. MoHA's $4k 2012 operating budget came from the donated savings of a piano teacher and the exhaustive efforts of seven friends with no loans or institutional support. In ten years, MoHA has grown from an informal DIY collective to a 501(c)3 nonprofit which confronts the displacement of artists, creatives, culture bearers and the working class community upon which Austin has built its identity.

Games Y’all

Founded in 2022, Games Y’all is a monthly meetup hosted by The Museum of Human Achievement for indie devs, digital artists, and games fans. Games Y’all has featured 150+ games, and thrown 20+ Monthly events. We celebrate, amplify, and support the unique and underrepresented within indie games and beyond.

Games Y’all is the spiritual successor of JUEGOS RANCHEROS which was founded in 2011 from an Austin-based community of independent game developers and fans.

The Baker Center

The Baker Center is located in Hyde Park, a neighborhood in north central Austin, just north of the University of Texas Austin main campus. The Baker Center was initially used as an elementary school, and was later used as a middle school, high school, and Austin Independent School District administrative building. The building is now used as the headquarters for Mighty Coconut, Austin Classical Guitar, and other businesses. Among the office spaces, the building contains a Cafetorium and Black Box Theater.

Featured Games

Most up to date list of games available at https://fantasticarcade.com/games/

A Good Night's Rest - Rookery Interactive
no signal - exodrifter
Slot Waste - pickpanpuck
Stick It to the Stickman - Free Lives, Published by Devolver Digital
Terratopia: March of The Demon King - Kodiak Games
Usual June - Finji
Wilmot Works it Out - Hollow Ponds and Richard Hogg
FREEPLAY! featuring: Love Always Runs Away - GameSetBoy; Guardian Frame: Debrief! - mothtown, cavegift, takuma okada, crtgirl; Fishin' for Average Caucasian Boyfriends - Jackie Liu
Unannounced projects from Lauren Schroeder, Ledbetter Games, and Forget Me Not Games

Developer Testimonials

The return of Fantastic Arcade is an occasion for celebration. For nearly a decade, Fantastic Arcade was a new games happening that straddled the spectrum between pop genre and the unclassifiable. This dependably included bizarro experiments and unforgettable talks that broke or forgo all known molds. That torch has been carried through dark times into a world that’s even more productized and predictable than ever before. I’m so excited to now get to experience Fantastic Arcade finally as an attendee and to see old friends and make new ones while we explore the previously unimaginable together.

— Wiley Wiggins, Former Fantastic Arcade Creative Director
For a developer looking to showcase their work and talk with other like-minded developers there’s no place better than Fantastic Arcade. The difference between FA and other festivals or conferences is that its’ joyous relaxed atmosphere is rivaled by no other. You can set your game up and generally just walk away from it or watch from afar while the general public can come in to just enjoy it or come by to chat. Being able to talk with people one on one without the hustle and bustle of a conference like GDC was so incredibly refreshing. FA isn’t a fan convention and it isn’t a business conference. It feels much more like friends just hanging out at a rad bar with some of their favorite works. I plan to try and make it out every year even if a game of mine isn’t featured or mentioned. I love(d) FA.

— Phil Tibitoski, Young Horses Games
Where else can you lead an enthusiastic crowd through a three minute silent computer game about a huge dog, or travel through a splendid cacophony of mouth noises on a Nintendo DS, or listen to a talk about the melancholy of building snowmen at the end of the world, or play the finest in goblet collection simulators, or watch someone eat an entire stick of butter? Fantastic Arcade is a kaleidoscopic temple to the weirdest people in videogames. I love Fantastic Arcade.

— Kyle Reimergartin, Once and Future Developer of Banana Chalice