It’s been more than a month since we looked new arcade locations that are opening their doors out there, so let’s jump into it! I’m going to break this one into small independent locations followed by FECs
The Indies
EightyThree 2.0 (Moore, OK)
Mentioned on the blog and our social media a little while ago, retro arcade EightyThree ran into some trouble with their location and needed to find a new place to operate. That new location has been secured and by the pictures on Facebook, they are about ready to open their doors for business once again. The game mix looks to be the same, with a strong focus on the classics, as pictured below. You can find them on Facebook here.
Outer Orbit (San Francisco, CA)
Opening back in August, Outer Orbit brings a pinball focus to a stylish eatery. I’m not seeing any video games but they do cover a range of eras on the pinball side. These include: Deadpool; Fish Tales; Funhouse; Game of Thrones; Guardians of the Galaxy; Monster Bash; Star Wars (2017); Total Nuclear Annihilation; TRON and more. I think they might rotate some games out, but someone who has been there will have to confirm that for us. Visit their official website here.
VERSUS (Boston, MA)
Big Night Entertainment Group is bringing a new bar/arcade to the area, although so far I have been unable to find details on what games will be available there. It will have an ’80s flare to it, so I imagine they will cover those retro bases. Their official website is here; their social media is mentioning different job fairs, but no grand opening date has been announced at this time.
The FECs
Cinergy Entertainment (Armarillo, TX)
Monday saw the grand opening of a 90,000 sq. ft. FEC in Armarillo, sporting movie screens, food, party rooms, bowling, a rope course, a zip line, VR and an arcade. I’m not finding any information on the game mix for this location, but one can safely assume that you’ll find all of the latest/greatest titles available to play. Much like the next location we’ll get into, the size means that they’ve hired a few hundred employees. You can find out more about this space here.
Andretti’s Indoor Karting & Games (San Antonio, TX)
I visited the Andretti’s in Orlando this past IAAPA and it was impossible to come away without being enormously impressed. While the locations have go-karting as their primary focus, they packed in a very modern arcade, with all of the latest video and redemption games you could think of. They even had some of those expensive professional driving simulators, not something one sees too often.
Now, the 4th Andretti’s location has opened their doors in San Antonio, filling up 100k sq. ft. of space (as of yesterday in fact). Per this article, they have hired around 350 people to help handle those operations. You can read more local details about it here.
Malibu Jack’s Indoor Theme Park (Lexington, KY)
This location held their grand opening back in September. Known as Malibu Jack’s, this is actually a move from a previous location to this bigger one, taking up 120,000 sq. ft. of space for plenty of entertainment. The location offers go-karts, a roller coaster, fair rides, 16 bowling lanes, a playground, laser tag, mini-golf, VR and of course, an arcade. The arcade already enjoys some of the latest titles out of the gate including Halo: Fireteam Raven and tons of redemption titles. They also a sporting attractions you tend to see at events like IAAPA, from Daniel Woodlands animatronic shooting galleries to Trio-Tech’s XD Dark Ride to the Hologate VR attraction.
Read more about it at Kentucky.com.
GameTime (Daytona Beach, FL)
for another large FEC recently opening their doors, GameTime celebrated opening a 5th location in Daytona Beach, FL this past week. This location boasts 35,000sq. ft. of space and is located across from the Daytona International Speedway. Yes, they do have a Daytona Championship USA on hand, joined by “over 100 games” at the location that covers the various bases expected at an FEC. Those titles also include: After Dark, Cruis’n Blast, Dream Raiders, Harley Davidson: King of the Road, Jurassic Park Arcade, Mario & Sonic Rio Olympics, Pac-Man Battle Royale, Super Bikes 2, Target Bravo: Operation Ghost, Terminator Salvation, THe Walking Dead, Tomb Raider, World’s Largest Pac-Man and much more. They even have three pinball machines (Dale Jr., Dialed In! and Medieval Madness). You can find out more about the location here, which has a full list of games (something unusual for chain FEC websites to post).
VR Zone Portal (Washington DC)
We already briefly mentioned this with the big news that Mario Kart VR had finally arrived in the States, but it is worth noting that the location does have other games to enjoy. While that includes Namco’s other VR attractions, they also have added in some real arcade titles, such as World’s Largest Pac-Man.
Round1USA – Erie, PA
Here’s an easy one to share info about:
https://twitter.com/Round1USA/status/1032347014762180608
Are there more new locations that have opened up out there that I haven’t heard about? Certainly! If you know of one we haven’t covered/missed on Arcade Heroes, then by all means let us know about it. If you live near any of these locations mentioned above, then be sure to stop by and give them your support!
