Save The Arcades 2 by Stride Gum announces contestants, begins tournament

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It took them a while but after asking for your nominations and sifting through them for the past four months, STRIDE Gum is continuing it’s campaign to “Save The Arcades” by running Save The Arcades 2, where this time three US arcades are vying for a chance to win $25,000 for their business. The contestants are: Arcade Infinity (Rowland Heights, CA), Ground Kontrol Classic Arcade (Portland, OR) and Rocky’s Replay (Winter Park, FL) You can read brief profiles on each arcade by clicking here. [Editor’s note: If you click on the link to visit the websites via Stride’s info page it takes you to different arcades from the last competition.]For one of them to win, they need to have the largest number of points earned in a new flash game called Cowbots (it’s an amusing little Robotron clone that has a Jeff Minter-flare to it) donated to their particular arcade.

Apparently you can only donate to an arcade if you live in that State however. I am not in any of the locations that these arcades are in and after the site asked for my State, it said that I’m not eligible to participate in point donations, although I can still play Cowbots. Someone let us know if they have different luck but if that is the case then it looks like they are going to try and make sure that only locals from the areas of those arcades fight for their favorite, which probably helps keep things fair. We wish the best of luck to each of these arcades and we will know who wins on June 16th. Also be sure to thank Stride for their efforts in supporting the arcade scene like this by buying some Stride gum or sending them a thank you e-mail, whichever works for your tastes.

[Play here – Save The Arcades 2 – STRIDE Gum]

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9 comments

igo April 21, 2010 at 12:54 am

I have been waiting to see what arcades were going to be nominated for save the arcades 2. I had no problems donating points even tho I live out of state.

Shaggy April 21, 2010 at 1:11 am

Hmm, I tried again and they say I am not eligible to participate. I wonder why, I don’t read anything in the rules that would disqualify me. Strange.

Phil Arrington April 21, 2010 at 3:41 am

Kind of weird that you’re not nominated.

editor April 21, 2010 at 10:17 am

I agree that it is worrying on their rules – I was not even informed of the opening of the site – they seem to want zero coverage other than through their links? Links that do not include the majority of fan sites or trade sources??

gadgetguy56 April 23, 2010 at 9:47 pm

The Save the Arcades campaign was initiated to bring attention to arcades in general disappearing, not that the participants are necessarily having financial problems. In fact, one of last year’s arcades opened up a second location after the campaign without the money from Stride. At least Cowbots 2010 is based upon a real, classic arcade game, unlike Zapataur. Too bad flash player games are so easy to cheat, especially this one. Stride and their advertising company know this, too. Want to save an arcade? Go to a real arcade and play! You can find many locations at http://www.aurcade.com. The name of the campaign should be “Save AN Arcade, that doesn’t really need saving.” Interesting how there are only three arcades, compared to four last time. At least one is a bar, and while I have nothing against bars or bars with video games, this does not seem like the “classic” arcade that Stride is hyping. There are plenty more true arcades around that could use the publicity and money. Also, why only one winner instead of tiered awards? Seems like anyone wanting to help would do so for as many arcades as they could. Don’t just save the arcades, celebrate the arcades and be social in person.

Clay Cowgill April 25, 2010 at 1:56 am

I’m pretty sure that anyone can donate to any arcade regardless of state– my guess is that you might have typo’d the birthdate? (Unless you actually *are* under 18 yrs old– that’s the minimum to participate.)

I’m actually one of the owners at Ground Kontrol and although we do have alcohol available after 5PM, we’re definitely an arcade that serves beer and not a bar that has games. 😉 Our whole vibe is basically about the classic arcades we grew up with in the 80’s– it’s dark, there’s tons of games and pinballs, and everything’s $0.25 or $0.50 at most. (That commitment is even in our name– “Ground Kontrol Classic Arcade”)

We always try to have at least 20 of the VAPS top 25 most collected videogames on the floor and we flat our refuse to have redemption games or tickets or any of that stuff. 😉 We a nice selection of pins too– ~26 or so.

The Stride promotion is a great opportunity for us and “arcade awareness” in general. We’re pretty excited about it both from the chance to win as well as just spreading the word that, yes, there *are* still arcades in the US!

If you don’t have a favorite arcade to play for yet, we’d be happy to be accept your point donation. 🙂

Thanks,
-Clay

Ground Kontrol Classic Arcade

Shaggy April 25, 2010 at 2:09 am

I’m well above 18 (hmm, kind of hate saying that I guess) but no matter what I’ve tried, they have deemed me ineligible. I can’t figure out why as there is no reason for it so I will probably have to e-mail them directly to find out.

Good luck though, it looks like this is going to be a tight race as all three arcades have traded places in the number 1 spot. Should be exciting to watch it all unfold near the 15th.

gadgetguy56 April 25, 2010 at 2:19 am

Same thing happened last year, Shaggy. Contact them and stay on top of them to get an answer.

Clay Cowgill April 25, 2010 at 2:53 am

Weird! I saw a comment in another forum that someone in Hawaii was ‘declined’ as well. Maybe they’ve got it locked down to continental US only (that is unless you’re in the continental US in which case maybe it’s down to your ISP or something)? Bizarre, whatever’s going on…

I was wrong earlier too– apparently 18+ is only a requirement of Maine… 13 and up for everyone else.

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