Novelty Automation – London, England - Atlas Obscura
Places near me Random place

AO Edited

Novelty Automation

London, England

A tongue-in-cheek arcade where the games are based on everyday life. 

View all photos
Exterior of Novelty Automation, a 17th century building. hunkin (Atlas Obscura User)
Exterior of Novelty Automation, a 17th century building. hunkin (Atlas Obscura User)
How long do you dare put your hand in the mad dog's cage? hunkin (Atlas Obscura User)
Treat yourself to a full frisk with Autofrisk. hunkin (Atlas Obscura User)
"Pet or Meat." Spin the wheel to settle the lamb's fate. hunkin (Atlas Obscura User)
721
3788
Top Places in London
The Difference Engine #2 at London Science Museum
Difference Engine #2
London, England
Shoreditch Town Hall
London, England
Two Princes Staircase
London, England
 See All

An offshoot of Cabaret Mechanical Theatre, Novelty Automation is a funhouse filled with homemade retro arcade games, most of them satirical in nature.

Buy your tokens and you can live out dozens of adventures, though not the sort found in traditional arcade games like in Pac-Man or Asteroids. You can practice money laundering. Try to buy a house before you get too old. Fly a drone and snoop on the stars. Operate a nuclear reactor. Go on an all inclusive three minute holiday. Win a Nobel prize. Get divorced. All for £27.

These irreverent penny games are based on historic British automata. While French and German automation tended toward the artistic, British automata were decidedly silly, sometimes even vulgar. Inventor Tim Hunkin based his games on British clockwork automata of the 18th and 19th centuries, which had names like “The Miser’s Dream” and “The Drunk In The Graveyard.”

Novelty Automation carries on this tradition of pier amusements, where for just a penny the machinery comes to life to entertain you.

Know Before You Go

Buy tokens to play the machines. It costs £27 for 34 tokens, enough to play them all. It's easy to get to, just five minutes walk from Holborn underground Station.

automata arcades machines retro-tech games
Nearby
Honey & Co. Bloomsbury
0.17 miles
Sir John Soane's Museum
0.20 miles
Cittie of Yorke
0.22 miles
Want to see fewer ads? Become a Member.
Near This Place
Brunch-friendly favorites.
London, England

Honey & Co. Bloomsbury

Feast on Middle Eastern mezze from an Israeli expat duo.
London, England

Sir John Soane's Museum

A cluttered and astounding collection of antiquities and curiosities.
London, England

Cittie of Yorke

This pub has roots dating back to 1430.
Outside the Great Ormond Street Hospital.
London, England

Great Ormond Street Hospital

Children's hospital in London that operates on royalties received from Peter Pan, which J.M. Barrie signed over in 1929.
Related Places
Krakow, Poland

Muzeum Gier Wideo (Krakow Arcade Museum)

Where visitors can play more than 150 retro arcade games.
Welcome to the Under the Pier Show.
Southwold, England

Under the Pier Show

A chaotic collection of coin-operated slot machines designed to delight and disturb in equal measure.
Add-A-Ball Arcade's basement location.
Seattle, Washington

Add-a-Ball Bar and Arcade

A (slightly) grownup take on the classic retro arcade.
Vintage D. Gottlieb & Co. game
Asheville, North Carolina

Asheville Pinball Museum

This North Carolina museum is keeping the pinball craze alive, with a little Space Invaders on the side.
In partnership with KAYAK

Plan Your Trip

From Around the Web