Artcade Scores Big With Pinball, Retro Games, And Art

by James Coulter

After a long day of work, there’s nothing that Madison “Maddie” Gibbons loves more than blowing off some steam, either by playing a few rounds of pinball or by working on her newest art piece. Fortunately for her, she can do both at the Artcade in Winter Haven.

Ever since it first opened last year, Maddie has been a regular customer at the Artcade. Often she spends hours trying to get the high score in pinball, her favorite cabinets being Demolition Man and Addams Family.

“What I enjoy most about the Artcade is the peace and relaxation,” she said. “I can come here before work, after work, or during break to wind down. There is always somebody here to talk to, but you can come over here and play games for hours and get lost in it.”

When not playing pinball, Maddie also spends her free time working on her art. Her artwork focuses heavily on bright colors and bold lines, with her biggest artistic influence being Jhonen Vasquez, the creator of “Invader Zim” and “Johnny the Homicidal Maniac.”

Both the lively, electric energy of the Artcade with its pinball machines and retro video games, and the bright, colorful atmosphere with the overall design prove most inspirational for Maddie and her art. Many of her own pieces hang in the bathroom and upon the back wall.

“[I love] the ability to take a break, but not lose the creativity, because if I am worn out and don’t know what to draw, I can just get up and play some Addams or Demolition Man,” she said. “I could play for an hour or two, and then sit down and have a new idea to draw,” she said.

Whether it’s the games, the creative energy, or the camraderie with other customers and the owner, the Artcade provides the perfect haven for Maddie where she can either relax after a long day or energize herself with creativity and artistic inspiration.

“For me to come over here and have a peaceful place to draw or play while also supporting a really cool business is absolutley on point with how I want to spend my free time.”

Located in Bells Alley along First Street in Winter Haven, the Artcade, true to its name, is an arcade that combines art with pinball and retro gaming. When they all collide, they create quite the spectacle, like a silver pinball knocking against colorful bumpers and lights. So think of it like “Painting With A Twist,” only with more gaming and not strictly focused on gaming, owner Jett Carrerou said.

Recently, the Artcade hosted its first monthly Open Art Night, where guests could exercise their creativity and express themselves by working on their own art canvases using their own combinations of paint, glitter, and magic markers.

“Our art is open up for interpetation,” Carrerou said. “We have a bunch of people here bouncing ideas off of each other, kind of like open mic night.”

More than a dozen pinball machines and retro arcade cabinets are provided at the venue for customers to play, with the option to pay and play by the hour for $8 or all-you-can-play (AYCP) for $15 the entire day.

Take a blast from the past with classic pinball machines like Addams Family or Ghostbusters, arcade cabinets like Street Fighter II, or even retro gaming consoles such as the Nintendo 64 and Super Nintendo with a diverse gaming library to select from.

When not trying their hands at playing games, customers can also get into their creative side through various art events, both public and private. The arcade is available to rent out for parties and other special events during or after business hours.

Every month, the Artcade hosts its Monthly Artcade Meetup, an International Flipper Pinball Association (IFPA) sanctioned pinball tournament. Other tournaments and events have included games ranging from Street Fighter II to Dungeons and Dragons. Basically, any game that you love to play, be it video, card, or board, the Artcade can either provide or help facilitate.

For many regular customers like Brittany Hudson, the big draw, of course, are the pinball games. Before first arriving in January, she wasn’t big into pinball; but now she loves it so much that she has joined the women’s pinball leauge, Belles and Chimes, of which Carrerou is the Florida Chapter Director.

“I have been coming here since January,” Hudson said. “I have been really into pinball, and I’ve never been into pinball before…Seems like fun to create art with local people. I love the people that I met through here.”

The Artcade opened in August of last year. Before then, Carrerou had also been running her other business, The Piercing Boutique, across the street for the past 7 years. As a pinball aficionado, Carrerou purchased her own pinball cabinet in 2014.

Her love for pinball and art soon inspired her to open her own arcade and art venue. Since opening last year, her business has boomed with plenty of regular customers, some of whom participate in monthly and three-month memberships.

“We already have regulars who come weekly, who come monthly, and we do monthly memberships and three month memberships,” she said. “Both of them have active memberships, which is very awesome.”

Currently, business has done so well that an expansion next door is planned, not only offering more space, but also more games including air hockey and billiards. Hopefully, if business continues to boom, Carrerou even plans to move to a larger location within a year.

The Artcade is located at 1149 1st Street S, Winter Haven, FL, 33880. For more information, call 863-656-1715. Or visit their social media pages on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/ARTCADEWinterHaven/, or on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/artcade_winterhaven/

Walking Robots And Flying Cars Presented At All-Saints Academy’s Fourth Annual Innovation Studio Exhibition

by James Coulter

Robots that walk on four legs, robot arms that play chess, and pirate ships and cars that fly were some of the countless innovations presented by All-Saints Academy students during their fourth annual Innovation Studio Spotlight Exhibition on Tuesday.

Within the halls of The Baldwin Center for Innovation and Collaboration, more than four dozen students showcased to the public their unique and creative science projects that they had designed, created, and tested through their school’s Innovation Studios program that year.

A small four-legged robot that could crawl along the floor was one such project showcased that evening. Created by Zomgxi Hun, 19, the robot had four legs, each controlled by four servos and two motors.

Programming each leg to move properly proved most challenging, Hun said. If one leg rose up too high, the robot could end up tilting to the side and fall over; so making sure each leg was properly coordinated with one another through their coding was most crucial, he said.

“That was the biggest challenge because you had to coordinate all four legs,” he said. “Watching the results, that would be my favorite part of all this.”

Lauren Paffrath, 18, for her project, created a six-rotational axis 3d-printed robotic arm that was programmed to play chess. Its arm contained an electromagnet at the end that could lift up the magnetic chess pieces and move them across the chessboard according to its programming.

Creating her chess-playing robotic arm required much trial and error. She had to first build the arm, which she created using 3D printing, then program it to pick up and move the pieces. All of this required a combination of all the skills she had learned through her school career, she said.

“It was more of an exploration of myself,” she said. “I want to advance in robots and design and programming, and this project combines all of that I have been studying.”

While some students focused on innovations with new technologies such as 3D printing, others focused on innovations that focused on aesthetics.

One such project was a flower-shaped park structure. Shaped like a lotus, its lower petals served as hammocks, and its upper petals shade with a garden planted within the center. With a focus on sight and scent, this structure proved just as practical as it was aesthetically-pleasing.

“We wanted a place where people could sit down and just relax…so when you are laying down, you are smelling the flowers that you are sitting in,” explained Alyssa Merriweather, 17, one of the three students who worked upon the prototype.

The event allowed these students to showcase their projects, explain how they created their projects using the skills they learned through the program, and receive feedback from community members, including several local chamber members who were attending that evening’s Multi-Chamber Mixer.

Chamber members attending the mixer were treated to refreshments within the Barnett Learning Commons. They then walked over next door to peruse the many projects and even cast their vote for their favorite through the Chamber’s Choice Award. The winner will be announced during next week’s student assembly on Monday morning.

Innovation Studios is a unique STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) program that allows students to gain skills to think critically and creatively, allowing them to, according to the school’s website, “flex their innovative, creative, and collaborative muscles in an effort to design solutions for real-world problems.”

Through this program, students work on projects throughout the school year, which are then presented at exhibitions within the fall and spring, allowing the local community to observe and offer feedback. Such a focus on creativity showcases the school’s commitment towards combining the sciences with the arts through a holistic approach to science education.

“Our STEAM goal is not only competence and knowledge of these various subjects, but also demonstrated application,” their website states. “Applied knowledge means an increased depth of learning, regardless of the subject matter. Adding The Arts into STEM creates a holistic approach to learning, especially for those students who excel in dance, art, and music.”

Helping facilitate the students with their projects this year was a change of schedule. While their time during the week was shortened, more time was allotted through extra time during the day, explained Rebecca Knowles, Director of Communications and Community Partnerships.

“We changed our schedule a little bit to allow more time for students to delve into their projects, and [so] they had a double block of time this year,” she said. “They had shorter time over the weeks, but longer time each day, so they could delve more deeply into their projects.”

Innovation Studios was developed through their partnership with NuVu Studios in Cambridge, Mass., one of the only other schools to offer the program. The result is a forward-thinking program that equips students with not only “21st Century Skills”, but the critical and creative thinking required to continue adapting in the near future, Knowles explained.

“Technology is always changing, so if you just learn how to do a [certain] program, that will not help you 10 to 20 years from now when you are in the workforce because there will always be new technology and new programs and new things for you to learn,” she explained. “What you need to learn is how to innovate, how to be flexible, and how to work with other people and present your ideas. That is what our program is essentially really teaching our students.”

A Winter Haven man was struck and killed on First St. N after he walked into the path of a vehicle.

On May 1st, 2019 at approximately 2:23 p.m., Winter Haven Police responded to a traffic crash involving a pedestrian at First St. N just south of Ave. O NE in Winter Haven.   Sixty-eight year-old Charles Thornton was attempting to cross First St. N in a westbound direction, not utilizing a crosswalk.

Thornton crossed the northbound lanes of traffic and entered the raised median separating north and southbound lanes of First St. N.  Thornton then walked into the path of a white 2017 Dodge pickup truck traveling south on First St. N. The driver, 69 year-old Larry Payne of Winter Haven immediately stopped and stayed at the scene.

Thornton was transported to Winter Haven Hospital, but succumbed to his injuries. Video from a neighboring business shows Thornton swaying back and forth as he crossed the roadway and while in the median just prior to the impact.

The driver (Payne) did not show signs of impairment. This crash continues to be under investigation pending the results of an autopsy and toxicology results from the driver.