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Illusionz

dyaballikldyaballikl PAX Main Theatre House & Security Manager • PAX Community CartographerGold Coast QLD AustraliaRegistered User regular
edited March 2007 in PAX Archive
Don't know if many of you have heard, but Issaquah, WA's beloved Illusionz arcade has recently and permanently closed down. I went by after school a few days back, hoping to do a little work with my joker on Gauntlet Dark Legacy, or maybe hit up some DDR, but all I saw were "For Lease" signs and an apology that after 7 glorious years, Illusionz had been shut down. Personally, I blame the people. Sure, consoles and pc games make it a little harder to justify going to an arcade, and the prices could have come down a little, but people just stopped supporting this awesome arcade over the past couple years.

Anyway, the reason I bring this up in the PAX forum is because the music arcade machines for PAX over the past few years have come from Illusionz through a rental agreement. I was wondering if Khoo or anyone else knows if we're going to get to play free music arcade games again this year.

a.k.a. dya
"Riding a mongoose reminds me of having sex with a man, which is something I do frequently because I am gay!" -Gabe
dyaballikl on
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Posts

  • dyaballikldyaballikl PAX Main Theatre House & Security Manager • PAX Community Cartographer Gold Coast QLD AustraliaRegistered User regular
    edited February 2007
    let us gaze upon its beautiful majesty one more time in remembrance:
    izfrontsmallnv9.jpg

    dyaballikl on
    a.k.a. dya
    "Riding a mongoose reminds me of having sex with a man, which is something I do frequently because I am gay!" -Gabe
  • LegacyLegacy Stuck Somewhere In Cyberspace The Grid(Seattle)Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited February 2007
    It only closed down due to the long power outages this winter. Can't make any money if nothing works...

    I'm very surprised they couldn't get some government aid or something. Oh well.

    It would've been better if they serviced their machines more...

    Legacy on
    Can we get the chemicals in. 'Cause anything's better than this.
  • dyaballikldyaballikl PAX Main Theatre House & Security Manager • PAX Community Cartographer Gold Coast QLD AustraliaRegistered User regular
    edited February 2007
    the power outtage was really just icing on the cake, though. anyone who's been there in the past year or two can tell you that business was just rediculously slow there. having been the only gamer in there on many occasions, it doesn't take much math to tell that i wasn't spending enough money to cover employee pay, electricity, game machine costs, maintenance, rent, other building fees, and everything else they gotta pay. that place was huge.

    dyaballikl on
    a.k.a. dya
    "Riding a mongoose reminds me of having sex with a man, which is something I do frequently because I am gay!" -Gabe
  • de4dmeta1de4dmeta1 Registered User regular
    edited February 2007
    Sounds disturbingly similar to what happened to Playdium here in Vancouver. Goes strong for a while, buisiness slows down a bit, then all of a sudden it's a fraggin' HomeSense. Then again, if you cleaned it out you'd have a gorramned warehouse, so it's not wonder they didn't stay afloat.

    de4dmeta1 on
  • ViscountalphaViscountalpha The pen is mightier than the sword http://youtu.be/G_sBOsh-vyIRegistered User regular
    edited February 2007
    Death of an arcade seems to happen more and more. The ones that survive only do so by ticket and prize vending. Even wunderland (nickle arcade in oregon) is up to 3-4-5 nickels so its almost to the point of a standard quarter arcade.

    Arcades are on their way out and unless they get re-invented, Its going to keep heading that way.


    More ontopic, I wonder how much those rentals costed penny-arcade. They might be able to purchase used units from them if they are closing. The question is maintence and storage fees then.

    Sometimes you can't win :/

    Viscountalpha on
  • Moe FwackyMoe Fwacky Right Here, Right Now Drives a BuickModerator mod
    edited February 2007
    I would like to see more pinball machines at PAX, this may be a pipe dream, however...

    Moe Fwacky on
    E6LkoFK.png

  • DocDoc Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited February 2007
    PAX is right across the street from Gameworks Seattle.

    Doc on
  • Moe FwackyMoe Fwacky Right Here, Right Now Drives a BuickModerator mod
    edited February 2007
    Doc wrote: »
    PAX is right across the street from Gameworks Seattle.

    That place has no fucking idea what's about to happen to them in about 6 months.

    Moe Fwacky on
    E6LkoFK.png

  • DocDoc Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited February 2007
    Also, I do mean that it's literally across the street from one of the convention center's entrances. It's even the closest place to get booze.

    Doc on
  • dyaballikldyaballikl PAX Main Theatre House & Security Manager • PAX Community Cartographer Gold Coast QLD AustraliaRegistered User regular
    edited February 2007
    Viscountalpha wrote: »
    Death of an arcade seems to happen more and more. The ones that survive only do so by ticket and prize vending. Even wunderland (nickle arcade in oregon) is up to 3-4-5 nickels so its almost to the point of a standard quarter arcade.

    Arcades are on their way out and unless they get re-invented, Its going to keep heading that way.


    More ontopic, I wonder how much those rentals costed penny-arcade. They might be able to purchase used units from them if they are closing. The question is maintence and storage fees then.

    Sometimes you can't win :/
    i bet it was next to nothing, if not nothing, because illusionz had their name all over those things.

    dyaballikl on
    a.k.a. dya
    "Riding a mongoose reminds me of having sex with a man, which is something I do frequently because I am gay!" -Gabe
  • dyaballikldyaballikl PAX Main Theatre House & Security Manager • PAX Community Cartographer Gold Coast QLD AustraliaRegistered User regular
    edited February 2007
    Doc wrote: »
    PAX is right across the street from Gameworks Seattle.

    gameworks is the worst damn arcade ever. they rocked when dreamcast came out, but they've hardly gotten anything new since then, and don't seem to have done any maintenance on their machines since then. anybody try playing ddr there? last time i checked, it was still 7th mix, and none of the pads worked for shit. not only that, but the games are all too expensive. it's definitely not a gamer's arcade. sega really pisses me off, keeping that open and running how it is.

    dyaballikl on
    a.k.a. dya
    "Riding a mongoose reminds me of having sex with a man, which is something I do frequently because I am gay!" -Gabe
  • RelativioxRelativiox Halo Nerd Forerunner shield world OnyxRegistered User regular
    edited February 2007
    I don't know the last time you were at a Gameworks. But the one right by my house is really cheap. It seems they finally realized that expensive games just weren't bringing in enough money, so they made everything cheaper.

    Relativiox on
    iris_forumsig.gif
  • DocDoc Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited February 2007
    I have not been to the Gameworks in Seattle for years, so I cannot comment on how good/horrible it is. They have drinks (although overpriced) and they had skeeball last time I was there.

    Doc on
  • de4dmeta1de4dmeta1 Registered User regular
    edited February 2007
    Well, they may be willing to roll some machnes across the street. Or have some sort of PAX pass deal, you never know.

    de4dmeta1 on
  • BigRedBigRed Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    edited February 2007
    de4dmeta1 wrote: »
    PAX pass deal


    That would be a wise idea on their part.

    BigRed on
    <MoeFwacky> besides, BigRed-Worky is right
  • Raiden333Raiden333 Registered User regular
    edited February 2007
    I imagined everybody getting a free $5 gameworks card in their swag bag when they walk in the door. That gets them in and spending more money.

    Raiden333 on
    There was a steam sig here. It's gone now.
  • Mo1sonMo1son Registered User regular
    edited February 2007
    GameWorks Seattle doesn't have many fun games.. and last time I checked.. they have neither Drummania nor Guitar Freaks. This is not condusive to having free music games at PAX!! That is one of the funnest things in my opinion. Help Khoo, save the day! See if you can negotiate some kind of rental from the Narrows Plaza Bowl in Tacoma. They have a Guitar Freaks 11th/Drummania 10th setup (only 4 mixes old) which I have heard is in very good condition!! Good luck.

    Mo1son on
  • LegacyLegacy Stuck Somewhere In Cyberspace The Grid(Seattle)Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited February 2007
    Moe_Fwacky wrote: »
    Doc wrote: »
    PAX is right across the street from Gameworks Seattle.

    That place has no fucking idea what's about to happen to them in about 6 months.

    Oh, they have some idea.

    But I doubt they'll be prepared in ANY way for it.

    Legacy on
    Can we get the chemicals in. 'Cause anything's better than this.
  • jennygjennyg Registered User regular
    edited February 2007
    Then again, if you cleaned it out you'd have a gorramned warehouse.

    It used to be an Ernst hardware store, so you're not far off.

    As for Gameworks getting slammed -- pffft. I've seen it semi-busy-ish before, but this'll blow everything out of the water.....

    jennyg on
  • LegacyLegacy Stuck Somewhere In Cyberspace The Grid(Seattle)Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited February 2007
    jennyg wrote: »
    Then again, if you cleaned it out you'd have a gorramned warehouse.

    It used to be an Ernst hardware store, so you're not far off.

    As for Gameworks getting slammed -- pffft. I've seen it semi-busy-ish before, but this'll blow everything out of the water.....

    I'm sure they get slammed a bit during Sakuracon.

    But...yeah...poor bastards...

    Legacy on
    Can we get the chemicals in. 'Cause anything's better than this.
  • ViscountalphaViscountalpha The pen is mightier than the sword http://youtu.be/G_sBOsh-vyIRegistered User regular
    edited February 2007
    I am just wondering what that would look like. A few thousand people raiding that near by gameworks.

    Viscountalpha on
  • uc4lifeuc4life Registered User regular
    edited February 2007
    Legacy wrote: »
    jennyg wrote: »
    Then again, if you cleaned it out you'd have a gorramned warehouse.

    It used to be an Ernst hardware store, so you're not far off.

    As for Gameworks getting slammed -- pffft. I've seen it semi-busy-ish before, but this'll blow everything out of the water.....

    I'm sure they get slammed a bit during Sakuracon.

    But...yeah...poor bastards...

    All i am imagining is everyone lined up at their 3 working machines.

    I actually haven't been there for awhile, but im assuming it hasn't improved

    uc4life on
  • ctishmanctishman Registered User regular
    edited February 2007
    Oh come now. 3 working machines?






















    Isn't that a bit generous?

    ctishman on
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  • ShadeShade Registered User regular
    edited February 2007
    Mo1son wrote: »
    GameWorks Seattle doesn't have many fun games.. and last time I checked.. they have neither Drummania nor Guitar Freaks. This is not condusive to having free music games at PAX!! That is one of the funnest things in my opinion. Help Khoo, save the day! See if you can negotiate some kind of rental from the Narrows Plaza Bowl in Tacoma. They have a Guitar Freaks 11th/Drummania 10th setup (only 4 mixes old) which I have heard is in very good condition!! Good luck.

    I forgot about narrows, I used to drop $50 every Saturday there on DDR. When I was last there(over 2 years ago) they had 6 DDR machines and a pump it up.

    Shade on
  • ViscountalphaViscountalpha The pen is mightier than the sword http://youtu.be/G_sBOsh-vyIRegistered User regular
    edited February 2007
    ctishman wrote: »
    Oh come now. 3 working machines

    Isn't that a bit generous?

    Wow, That bad? I mean I've heard bad things but that bad? It really is sad so many arcades let their machines go to crap so much. Arcades are dying because OP's( arcade machine operators) just don't care. If they care, It shows.

    www.groundkontrol.com is a good example. They care and it does show.

    Viscountalpha on
  • PikaPuffPikaPuff Registered User regular
    edited February 2007
    Low maintenance is just one reason why arcades are going belly up.

    PikaPuff on
    jCyyTSo.png
  • DruhimDruhim Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited February 2007
    I remember going to Illusionz about a year or two ago to supposedly chill with some forumers. Due to some miscommunication, no one else showed up but I checked it out by myself. I spent a couple of hours there trying to work up some enthusiasm since I used to fucking love arcades but by the time I left, I knew the age of the video arcade was over. Let it rest in peace.

    Druhim on
    belruelotterav-1.jpg
  • dyaballikldyaballikl PAX Main Theatre House & Security Manager • PAX Community Cartographer Gold Coast QLD AustraliaRegistered User regular
    edited February 2007
    de4dmeta1 wrote: »
    Well, they may be willing to roll some machnes across the street. Or have some sort of PAX pass deal, you never know.

    they'd better fucking do some maintenance on those machines first, then. i don't want some broken down half-working pieces of shit over there.

    dyaballikl on
    a.k.a. dya
    "Riding a mongoose reminds me of having sex with a man, which is something I do frequently because I am gay!" -Gabe
  • dyaballikldyaballikl PAX Main Theatre House & Security Manager • PAX Community Cartographer Gold Coast QLD AustraliaRegistered User regular
    edited February 2007
    Viscountalpha wrote: »
    ctishman wrote: »
    Oh come now. 3 working machines

    Isn't that a bit generous?

    Wow, That bad? I mean I've heard bad things but that bad? It really is sad so many arcades let their machines go to crap so much. Arcades are dying because OP's just don't care. If they care, It shows.

    www.groundkontrol.com is a good example. They care and it does show.
    well, the worst part is that sega started and owns all gameworks, but not even they will put any effort into the arcades. i almost feel like i should get a job there and try to work my way up in the ranks to turn things around. just like in any business, you put a little into the business, you get a lot back.

    dyaballikl on
    a.k.a. dya
    "Riding a mongoose reminds me of having sex with a man, which is something I do frequently because I am gay!" -Gabe
  • DruhimDruhim Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited February 2007
    Doc wrote: »
    I have not been to the Gameworks in Seattle for years, so I cannot comment on how good/horrible it is. They have drinks (although overpriced) and they had skeeball last time I was there.

    For drinking there are much better places to go that aren't much further. The games just aren't worth the higher price of the drinks. I love the 5 Point as a great place to get good, inexpensive drinks among a diverse, unpretentious crowd with a great jukebox and no bullshit. There are certainly plenty of other options though depending on what people want. I just can't see how any rational person would prefer going to Gameworks.

    Druhim on
    belruelotterav-1.jpg
  • DocDoc Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited February 2007
    Druhim wrote: »
    Doc wrote: »
    I have not been to the Gameworks in Seattle for years, so I cannot comment on how good/horrible it is. They have drinks (although overpriced) and they had skeeball last time I was there.

    For drinking there are much better places to go that aren't much further. The games just aren't worth the higher price of the drinks. I love the 5 Point as a great place to get good, inexpensive drinks among a diverse, unpretentious crowd with a great jukebox and no bullshit. There are certainly plenty of other options though depending on what people want. I just can't see how any rational person would prefer going to Gameworks.

    Did you miss the part where I mentioned Skeeball?

    Doc on
  • QuickSnapQuickSnap Professional Beard Grower Registered User regular
    edited February 2007
    I don't know about the rest of you, But I think it would be really cool to have the Illusionz laser tag set up at PAX. It could be in one of the ballrooms or something.

    Gabe, Tycho, if eather of you guys are listining, here's a huge hint. and their email
    [email protected]

    QuickSnap on
    6rceun58332p.png
  • DruhimDruhim Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited February 2007
    Doc wrote: »
    Druhim wrote: »
    Doc wrote: »
    I have not been to the Gameworks in Seattle for years, so I cannot comment on how good/horrible it is. They have drinks (although overpriced) and they had skeeball last time I was there.

    For drinking there are much better places to go that aren't much further. The games just aren't worth the higher price of the drinks. I love the 5 Point as a great place to get good, inexpensive drinks among a diverse, unpretentious crowd with a great jukebox and no bullshit. There are certainly plenty of other options though depending on what people want. I just can't see how any rational person would prefer going to Gameworks.

    Did you miss the part where I mentioned Skeeball?

    I guess it's cool if you're really into skeeball. That doesn't really matter to me in a drinking establishment. Yeah, it's kind of like bowling I guess but again that just isn't enough to entice me back into the pile o shit (IMO) that Gameworks is.

    Druhim on
    belruelotterav-1.jpg
  • QuickSnapQuickSnap Professional Beard Grower Registered User regular
    edited February 2007
    I just got an email back from the guy who ran Illusionz and everything, from the arcade machines to the air-hocky and pool tables to the magic stuff and laser tag equipment, are all now under bankruptcy controll. It is likely that it will all be sold off at auction. I will get more information for thoes intrested in a guantlet lagacy system for their living room.

    QuickSnap on
    6rceun58332p.png
  • ViscountalphaViscountalpha The pen is mightier than the sword http://youtu.be/G_sBOsh-vyIRegistered User regular
    edited February 2007
    QuickSnap wrote: »
    I just got an email back from the guy who ran Illusionz and everything, from the arcade machines to the air-hocky and pool tables to the magic stuff and laser tag equipment, are all now under bankruptcy controll. It is likely that it will all be sold off at auction. I will get more information for thoes intrested in a guantlet lagacy system for their living room.


    Oh man, I'd love a project but I don't have the space. DAMMIT!

    Viscountalpha on
  • ctishmanctishman Registered User regular
    edited February 2007
    *cough* Omega Prize *cough*

    ctishman on
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  • dyaballikldyaballikl PAX Main Theatre House & Security Manager • PAX Community Cartographer Gold Coast QLD AustraliaRegistered User regular
    edited February 2007
    QuickSnap wrote: »
    I just got an email back from the guy who ran Illusionz and everything, from the arcade machines to the air-hocky and pool tables to the magic stuff and laser tag equipment, are all now under bankruptcy controll. It is likely that it will all be sold off at auction. I will get more information for thoes intrested in a guantlet lagacy system for their living room.

    lmao, i've been in talks with the illusionz guys. i've had my eyes on that dark legacy machine for a while. they're going to let me know as soon as that stuff is ready for auction.

    dyaballikl on
    a.k.a. dya
    "Riding a mongoose reminds me of having sex with a man, which is something I do frequently because I am gay!" -Gabe
  • QuickSnapQuickSnap Professional Beard Grower Registered User regular
    edited February 2007
    I was about to say... "Anybody want to donate to my 'Save the Gauntlet' fund"? I kinda want to get that Marvel VS Capcom machine...or maybe house of the dead.

    Let me know: [email protected]

    QuickSnap on
    6rceun58332p.png
  • dyaballikldyaballikl PAX Main Theatre House & Security Manager • PAX Community Cartographer Gold Coast QLD AustraliaRegistered User regular
    edited February 2007
    QuickSnap wrote: »
    I was about to say... "Anybody want to donate to my 'Save the Gauntlet' fund"? I kinda want to get that Marvel VS Capcom machine...or maybe house of the dead.

    Let me know: [email protected]

    haha, no way. i got like $600 i can put down on that thing. i want it bad.

    dyaballikl on
    a.k.a. dya
    "Riding a mongoose reminds me of having sex with a man, which is something I do frequently because I am gay!" -Gabe
  • QuickSnapQuickSnap Professional Beard Grower Registered User regular
    edited February 2007
    I don't want your guantlet lagacy, I want my Marval VS Capcom.

    QuickSnap on
    6rceun58332p.png
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