[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
When it comes to saving arcade companies across the US, I never would have thought that a gum company would be spearheading an effort to save them. So I am quite surprised and pleased to see this effort that STRIDE gum is taking to save one of four arcades by running a contest where you can play an online game they are hosting and contribute your score to an overall tally that is tracked for each of the four arcade companies. You pick the arcade you want to support and your score is added to the tally. I have to say that in this age of big business bailouts it’s great to see one business coming to the aide of smaller businesses like this (especially where it doesn’t require taxpayer dollars to accomplish).
Two of the arcades that are on the list are ones we have featured here on Arcade Heroes in the past (ArcadeUFO and Game Galaxy) and I am surprised to see them on the list as struggling and I hope that all of the arcades on the list will weather the storm of the tough economy whether they win this Stride contest or not. At the time of this writing ArcadeUFO (which is in Austin, TX) is leading the pack with over 41 million points; the three other arcades in the running are Game Galaxy (Nashville, TN), StarBase Arcade (San Rafael, CA) and Star Worlds Arcade (DeKalb, IL). Naturally if you live close to any of these businesses, be sure to drop in and give them your support by buying some credits and playing some games. Don’t forget to get some Stride gum next time you have a chance to as well.
You can support your favorite arcade via Stride by going to this page and playing Zapataur.
[Help Save The Arcades With Stride] [Some press related to this – Kotaku / Gamewit] [Discuss on the forums]
didn’t arcade UFO just open last year, man thats not good even though I don’t live in america. hopefully its just a teething problem. It’s like cancer in a way, they just need to figure out what to do to tackle it and find a cure only in this case they either need to buy new games, host competitions and offers, advertise more, try relocate to a cheaper location and work within their buget what they can afford while still providing great games and making a good profit.
I thought that they were doing good but who knows, the first year is tough for any business. They have some pretty cool games there although some are quite expensive like they added DJ Max Technika which is $10k+ (unless they got a sweet deal) and it’s hard to get machines like that if they don’t make up for it with a lot of plays.
they should make special offers for when its peak time everyones at work like what namco arcades do, e.g. 2 credits for the price of 1 and £7.50 for 2 or 3 hours of unlimited credits on all games or like what you did shaggy when you locked the door at the game grid and people could play unlimited games as long as they stayed inside the arcade.
Pretty neat idea.
The promotion title is misleading. Arcades in general are disappearing, not necessarily the 4 arcades featured in this campaign. I doubt that Arcade UFO is having much difficulty when the owner is taking trips to Japan to compete in game competitions.