Arcade games hire for a children's party means two to four machines - cocktail cabinets, dance machines, racing simulators, air hockey or a prize crane - delivered, set up on free play and collected by DB Entertainment, from about £350 per machine for a day. When kids watch streamers and video creators running arcade challenges on camera, they want to do it themselves - which is why a South Yorkshire YouTuber booked us to build an arcade room in 2021. This post covers what's in our arcade games hire range and how a gaming party runs.
The YouTube party that started it
Back in February 2021, mid-lockdown, we took one of our rarer calls: a booking from Morgz, the Sheffield-based YouTube star, who wanted an arcade room built for a video. Our team unpacked and set up the machines on camera - faded out early in the edit, but there if you look - and the finished video passed half a million views within a week. The brief was clear: games that read well on film and had a competitive element. That brief hasn't changed for a normal birthday party either. Kids want head-to-head games with scores they can argue about afterwards.
What's in the arcade range
The Retro Arcade Game is a two-player cocktail cabinet - the coffee-table shape from early-eighties chip shops - running an iCade 60-in-1 board with around sixty classics including Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Space Invaders and Frogger. It's set to free play, so there are no tokens to buy, and it needs only a 4ft x 6ft floor space and a standard 13-amp plug. The Dance Machine Hire from £495 puts two players on separate hard pads with beginner and expert settings and a built-in PA. For driving, the Racing Car Simulator Hire seats two racers side by side in bucket seats with force-feedback wheels, needing a 3m x 3m operating area. The Air Hockey Hire from £350 for 24 hours is a full-size 7ft commercial table with electronic scoring, and rallies last seconds, so a queue of kids clears quickly. And the Prize Crane Arcade Grabber from £475 a day is the claw machine - you fill it with your own prizes, and we set the win rate from "prize every time" upward, which matters at a party where the birthday child's friends all want a go.
How a gaming party runs
We deliver, set up and collect everything ourselves, and most machines just need a standard socket and enough floor space - three or four machines fit comfortably in a function room, a hall or a large marquee. A common layout puts the cocktail cabinet and dance machine against a wall with the air hockey in the middle where spectators can gather, because half the fun for the adults is watching the tournament unfold. One review from a party client who booked a stack of competitive games reads: "We hired a load of games to play our own squid games at a party. DB helped us choose what to hire and it was absolutely perfect" (Skyhi Creative, five stars). Ask us to choose and we will - we run these machines every weekend.
Ages and supervision
The games suit children and adults alike, and mixed-age play is half the point - parents end up on the dance pads. Machines are set to free play so nobody needs change, and an optional trained attendant can run the floor for larger parties, briefing players and keeping the queue moving. For younger children, someone from your side keeping an eye on turn-taking works fine; the machines take a lot of rough handling by design. Every hire carries our £5 million public liability insurance, the machines are PAT tested and risk assessed before they go out, and prizes for the crane are the one thing you supply yourself - plus the cocktail cabinet and driving rigs are indoor machines, so an outdoor party needs a marquee or a covered space.
If you're planning a gaming party in Sheffield, Rotherham, Doncaster or Barnsley - or anywhere in the UK - call 0114 345 0135 with the ages and the head count, and we'll put a package together. Our Arcade Machine Hire in Sheffield page shows the range in one place if you'd rather browse first.
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