A Guide to Scarce City, the Immersive Arts x Tech Game Experience You Can’t Miss Out!
There are many things to love about the National Gallery Singapore, the country’s premier art gallery, and for me, one reason is that it hosts all sorts of fun limited-time programs. For example, for the first quarter of 2025, it’s hosting Scarce City, an intriguing experience that combines elements of art and video games!
I checked out Scarce City with my friends last January, and we had a blast. It felt like we were in an escape room because we had to use our resource management skills. Plus, it was fun interacting with the gem-like wall that lit up with our every move.
If you want to experience Scarce City, here’s a guide to prepare you. And you better act fast because it will be gone after March 30, 2025!
Things to Know
Where: National Gallery Singapore, 1 St Andrew’s Rd
When: From January 11 to March 30, 2025
How to Get Here
By Train: Take any of the lines and disembark at the City Hall Station. From there, walk along the Art Connector to get to the National Gallery Singapore. Alternatively, you can alight at Clarke Quay and Raffles Place MRT Stations. It will just take you longer to get to the gallery.
By Bus: Ride any of the following buses: 63, 51, 80, 32, and 851. Then, alight at the bus stop opposite Peninsula Plaza. Walk to the gallery’s Coleman Street entrance, which is just five minutes away.
By Car: There’s a parking lot at the gallery if you prefer to drive. The entrance to the lot is located along Coleman Street.
Ticket Prices
The general admission price for Scarce City is S$35, but if you’re a student, an NSman, or a senior citizen, then you can enjoy the discounted price of S$30.
You’ll get even more discounts if you’re coming with a group of people (at least four people). From S$35, you’ll only be paying S$28.
What to Expect
An Immersive 3D Art Experience
– From: lighttonightsg
Scarce City is what happens when you combine 3D art, theatre arts, and interactive gaming. The result is an immersive experience, one that will make you momentarily forget about reality!
Everything—including the two 10-meter rocky-looking walls—is 3D-printed using over 4,000 pieces of recycled plastic. That must have been such an intricate and labor-intensive creation process!
Aside from the marvelous feat of using recycled plastic to make realistic 3D art, Scarce City is equipped with body-tracking technologies. So, the wall lights up with every movement!
I remember my last visit, I kept hovering my hand over the wall’s surface, fascinated by how the light followed my action.
A Game That Tests Your Resource Management Skills
– From: namicsg
Scarce City is more than just a big, intricate 3D art installation; it’s also like a video game! Essentially, light is your only resource, and you can get that by touching the items inside the room. To win the game, you need as much light as possible, but it’s limited, and you’ll be competing with other people to get it.
It’s a pretty straightforward game, but it’s still challenging in its own way. It definitely tested my skills in strategy and resource management.
Profound Reflection Post-Game
– From: scarce_city.sg
Not to spoil Scarce City for you, but its main theme is the scarcity (see what they did there?) of resources in our current world that’s being ravaged by the climate crisis. When I interacted with the light and competed with the others, I was compelled to ask “how much is enough?” and “what does it mean to have enough?”
I love that Scarce City doesn’t spoonfeed us an answer. Instead, we’re forced to come up with our own.
Visitor Tips
To ensure you’ll have the best time, here are some tips I learned after my first visit to Scarce City:
- Come to Scarce City at least 15 minutes early so that you can store your belongings and still have time to join the pre-experience briefing. Also, when you arrive late, you have to wait until the next slot to play the game.
- Dress comfortably. To be more specific, wear comfortable shoes because you’ll be standing a lot.
- Scarce City will have a lot of flashing lights and loud sounds. Keep that in mind in case you’re sensitive to these special effects.