Arcade Game Locations

Warpony

It saddens me that nowadays I can barely find spots with arcade cabinets and even so more than just Miss Pacman in a laundromat. When I was in high school the local videostore expanded a room to turn into an Arcade hangout which included two pool tables to boot. Now I am lucky if I can even see a place specifically for Arcades and with variety. You guys have any spots where you live that include Arcade games?

acidlacedpenguin

Closest thing I've got around here is the ET ZONE at Empire Theatres. It's got two-player Time Crisis 4 and Terminator Salvation, one of the infinite permutations/combinations of DDR, two two-seater street-racing games, air hockey table, and one of those rigged prize machines where after $1000 is fed into the machine it'll unlock the ability to actually win the $100 top prize.
It's always been a dream for me to open up a licensed arcade/lounge type barcades, but I know that would only really fly in larger cities. That and the overhead can be astounding for some of these machines, like, up to $8k to $15k for new DJMAX machines.

Ragnar Dragonfyre

Here in Ontario we don't even have video stores anymore... much less arcades. The only full on arcades I've seen was at a drive-in movie theatre in Markham (they have some OLD units there... like Donkey Kong Jr.), Playdium and Canada's Wonderland.

Arcades are pretty much dead. Hopefully the barcade scene expands and brings it back in a new way.

AaronKI

The local mall had an Aladdin's Castle that I had been going to since I was a kid, but it closed back in 2008. It had a little of everything, including some pinball machines from the 80s and early 90s (Including Twilight Zone). That was pretty much the only "full" arcade in the area. The action/water park in the area used to have a few sit-down cabinets, including Virtual On, but they were taken out in the mid-2000s, too.

If I ever see anything in restaurants, it's usually something I'm not too interested in like Hunting Light Gun games. The one exception is a pizza hut that has a Donkey Kong cabinet, but the screen is heavily burnt in. I usually have to go on a trip if I want to come across a pinball machine, and then I find out its not working quite right after I plunk $1.50 into it.

I can't really say I miss spending $20 on tokens every time I went to the arcade, though. :P

Lindsay Lohan

The only places we have anymore are family entertainment places with games, climbing play areas, laser tag and ticket games like skee ball - like Chuck E Cheese with more stuff for older kids mixed in. I know New Hampshire has the arcade museum that is supposedly great but I haven't made the drive yet even though it's stupidly close and I have no real excuse.

POKÉMON MASTER WT SHERMAN

Dave & Buster's, although I don't go there. There's this place downtown which is...fun, if you have the right group, although limited in selection. I have an MVS 1-slot in my living room that is mostly used for a few hours of Aerofighters 3 a week, and a buddy of mine owns a DDR Extreme.

Arcades are dead. Periodically there's an auction in Harrisburg or Timonium where machines from who-knows-where get sold off for next to nothing, and the company that does those also does auctions in NC and TN. I'd imagine the rest of the country has similar operations sprinkled throughout. If you want an arcade experience look into local sales and try bringing it home, if you have the space for it.

edit: forgot to mention this, which is hugely entertaining if you like pinball.

Gaslight

There used to be a GameWorks in a mall here in Columbus, which is now under different ownership and a new name but I think is otherwise basically the same, though I've never been. Dave & Busters, as already mentioned.

A couple of the movie theaters around here have games like Time Crisis or Fast and Furious, and air hockey and pop-a-shot basketball. A couple wings/bar & grill type places with the same.

That's about it.

Dehumanized

Up here in the pacific northwest, we've got a fair bit of great arcades.

Vegan

In one sense, I'm privileged in that I can go to Little Tokyo or K-town and go to some fully stocked arcades. But in another sense, it's disappointing because those arcades simply do not have any American classics. It's all Japanese cabinets of today and yesterday. Which is great if you like fighting games, bullet hell, and weird rhythm games...

Forbe!

This place opened up not to long ago about half an hour away from where I live. If you're ever in Chicagoland its pretty easy to get to. Lots of classic arcade games, as well as newer ones, huge console game rooms and they're now starting to get more pinball in. I think its $15 for a day pass. All the machines are set to free play.

Fig-D

Dave & Buster's has been moving away from true arcade machines and installing custom housing for iDevices running Infinity Blade, Fruit Ninja, what-have-you.

There is a true arcade in Walnut, CA though, which is about 40 minutes up the freeway from me. Caters to the fighting game crowd, but they've got other machines in there too.

Ragnar Dragonfyre

Fig-D wrote: »

Dave & Buster's has been moving away from true arcade machines and installing custom housing for iDevices running Infinity Blade, Fruit Ninja, what-have-you.

There is a true arcade in Walnut, CA though, which is about 40 minutes up the freeway from me. Caters to the fighting game crowd, but they've got other machines in there too.

What? Really? That's interesting...

I wonder what sort of (if any) licensing agreement is needed to do something like that.

LoveIsUnity

Vegan wrote: »

In one sense, I'm privileged in that I can go to Little Tokyo or K-town and go to some fully stocked arcades. But in another sense, it's disappointing because those arcades simply do not have any American classics. It's all Japanese cabinets of today and yesterday. Which is great if you like fighting games, bullet hell, and weird rhythm games...

High five! I was about to say this exact thing.

Fig-D

Ragnar Dragonfyre wrote: »

Fig-D wrote: »

Dave & Buster's has been moving away from true arcade machines and installing custom housing for iDevices running Infinity Blade, Fruit Ninja, what-have-you.

There is a true arcade in Walnut, CA though, which is about 40 minutes up the freeway from me. Caters to the fighting game crowd, but they've got other machines in there too.

What? Really? That's interesting...

I wonder what sort of (if any) licensing agreement is needed to do something like that.

The company that D&B gets these setups from has a deal with the game publishers. I imagine that D&B had to pen a deal with them too, as those games and a couple others are name dropped in their more recent TV ads.

EDIT Found what I was looking for: http://www.joystiq.com/2011/10/13/infinity-blade-fx-brings-the-ios-hit-to-arcades/

Adrenaline Amusements is the company. They make a big ol' 46" touch screen called Touch FX that runs these things.

Ragnar Dragonfyre

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1qk3IIOXlE

Played on a 46" touchscreen? I just... I don't know. It looks unintuitive. Playing Infinity Blade on this would be tiring. as. fuck.

Deadfall

There is a decent barcade in Denver. It gets waaaaay too crowded later at night but we usually go there early to claim the 6 man X-Men cabinet.

LoveIsUnity

I've only been to one Dave & Buster's, but it didn't have any fighting games. Is that normal?

acidlacedpenguin

Ragnar Dragonfyre wrote: »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1qk3IIOXlE

Played on a 46" touchscreen? I just... I don't know. It looks unintuitive. Playing Infinity Blade on this would be tiring. as. fuck.

that looks like there's a half second delay too.

DoctorArch

Dehumanized wrote: »

Up here in the pacific northwest, we've got a fair bit of great arcades.

Agreed. I want to kiss the person responsible for merging pubs and arcades in the Pacific Northwest. In Eugene Level-Up Arcade has become quite the hangout.

POKÉMON MASTER WT SHERMAN

LoveIsUnity wrote: »

I've only been to one Dave & Buster's, but it didn't have any fighting games. Is that normal?

Yes. Typically they have a lot of lightgun games, a Pump It Up, some racing games, and apparently now phone games. I saw a multicab with Street Fighter II in one once but that's it.

Warpony

acidlacedpenguin wrote: »

Ragnar Dragonfyre wrote: »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1qk3IIOXlE

Played on a 46" touchscreen? I just... I don't know. It looks unintuitive. Playing Infinity Blade on this would be tiring. as. fuck.

that looks like there's a half second delay too.

They have that game at a chuckecheeses knockoff called Peter Piper's Pizza, which is a better place than said other being they have a ton of arcade games as well as a bumping car thing and even sell beer. Take that you lousy family friendlier ratplace!

AaronKI

I haven't been in a Showbiz/Chuck E Cheese since I was young enough to belong there, but my girlfriend usually attends her nephew's birthday parties there. She told me that it's almost entirely ticket games now with barely any arcade games. That's a bummer if they're all like that.

When I used to go, I think there was about a 50/50 split and they had a lot of great arcade games. I have fond memories of playing 4-Player TMNT and Simpson's Arcade with three random kids, TRON (with the fancy black light cabinet), Road Blasters (the big sit-down version), Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga, the Jurassic Park Pinball machine, and a lot more.


Heh. There's a laundromat in the city that's actually called "Laundromat & Arcade".. I wonder what games they have.

Shadowfire

Lindsey Lohan wrote: »

I know New Hampshire has the arcade museum that is supposedly great but I haven't made the drive yet even though it's stupidly close and I have no real excuse.

Funspot is amazingly fun. We went there on our anniversary last year, and I'm trying to make something happen again next year, but I wish we could make it more often (even if it's only 1.5ish hours away).