Welcome to another weekend, and with that, another newsbytes. Here are the few things I’ve curated for you to watch or muse over:
Bay Tek Introduces The Skee-Ball Carnival
If you’ve been to a carnival or theme park midway, chances are that they have a bank of alley bowling games, particularly of the Skee-Ball brand. The game is the perfect fit for such venues, which often will put them into trailers as the carnival travels around the country.
One issue that has popped up however is age. Just like arcades that get as much mileage as they can out of cabinets released in the 1990’s or even the 80’s, some carnivals have not updated their set in a very long time. To address this, Bay Tek has created a new carnival model of their iconic Skee-Ball game, sporting a durable, elements resistant construction, color LED display, interactive rail LEDs and more. You can read more about it here.Â
Scarygirl Mission Maybee Announced For LBE VR
“LBE” isnt a phrase we use every day here, although I suppose it should be more common. It’s been concocted as the replacement for “coin-op,” given that you have more options to pay for games than just coins these days; it stands for “Location Based Entertainment.” Rolls off the tongue better than “Out-of-home entertainment” (OOHE, which sounds like something a prospector might yell instead of “eureka!”).
In terms of LBE VR, a new project from a Toronto-based company called Dark Slope has landed as a “massive free-roam multiplayer” installation in Toronto. Called Scarygirl Mission Maybee, up to four players can don a VR headset and tackle the gothic-themed levels as a team. This is the company’s first project, something that has already secured seed funding to the tune of $1.5 million. Here’s a snippet from the press release that details what it is, followed by a trailer:
Developed from the ground up for large-scale multiplayer free-roam VR environments, Scarygirl Mission Maybee embodies Dark Slope’s goal to design content that brings people of all ages together. Scarygirl Mission Maybee, based on the cult hit graphic novel and designer toy brand Scarygirl from acclaimed artist Nathan Jurevicius, is a first-person action game that brings up to eight players together to save the world from Dr. Maybee and his diabolical experiments. Players must work closely together to suck up infectious hazardous goo, purify it and blast it back at the hordes of creatures infesting the world.
You can also visit the main website for the game by clicking here.
Exploring The Sega Hall In Fukushima
The explorers of “The Unbeaten Path” are back in Fukushima and are checking out some of the abandoned amusement locations there such as The Sega Hall. Check it out, and thanks to Arcade Belgium for highlighting this:
Golden Age History
H/T Prince Arcades on this one. I’m pretty sure we haven’t shared this one before, but I could be wrong (the video upload date is from 2008). If you love arcade history, particularly from the beloved year of 1982, then this video is for you. It’s a Chicago-area news report that covers 10 minutes of the arcade craze from back in the day, including footage from factory production floors of games being put together. Whoever it is that is in charge of the hairstyles on The Goldbergs TV show really should study this video (as they just don’t get it right on most episodes I’ve seen 😛 ) Enjoy:
Speaking of arcade history, if you’re a fan of Funspot up in New Hampshire, then this new article highlighting the location is worth a read.
Street Fighter II Continue Cosplay
Self-explanatory fun
https://twitter.com/zakoshisyoh/status/1095401219126788097
500th Tournament For Eight On the Break
Many arcades get a lot of mileage out of running tournaments, and that is especially true for Eight on the Break in New Jersey. They are celebrating their 500th weekly tournament this coming Tuesday. Congrats!
https://twitter.com/8otb/status/1096595382635843584
American Changer Acquires Rowe
This is something that is more of interest to arcade operators than anyone else. Change machine manufacturer American Changer has acquired Rowe, another company that has been known for their change machines. I believe that Rowe has been around longer than AC, but I had no idea that Rowe was still around. You’ll see AC at trade show events, but I can’t recall ever seeing a Rowe booth. Maybe I just wasn’t paying attention 😛 Via Replay Magazine.
That’s all I found for today, have a great weekend!
Wow, all those abandoned arcade games. I’m guessing no one pinched anything due to the risk of being contaminated with radioactive dust. Just imagine what all that stuff would fetch up in the western world. What a waste.