Hello fellow arcade users, it’s time to showcase a number of brand spanking new arcades that are bringing some coin-op gaming goodness to the world. We wish the best of luck to all of these businesses as they jump into the venture, but more than that, if you find yourself near any of them, be sure to stop by and give them real support by playing some games!
Arcade Club Leeds (Leeds, UK)
We’ll kick things off with a new arcade in the UK, the second location for the esteemed Arcade Club. We first mentioned this business when they first opened back in 2014, so now they have expanded to bring their flavor of arcade entertainment to the city of Leeds. For this new location, it’s quite the looker and features three floors of gaming goodness. That is reminiscent of many Japanese arcades that tend to put games across a few or several different floors. For those fans in the UK often asking where the new games are, they are one more place that will have you covered.
For their game mix, you can expect to find many titles from both the East and the West, including: After Burner Deluxe; After Burner Climax (2 units); Asteroids; Berzerk; Dariusburst Another Chronicle EX; Daytona Championship USA; Future Tom Tom; Gun Bullet X; Jubeat; Mach Storm; Manx TT; Mario Kart Arcade GP; Pac-Man Battle Royale JP version; Pengo; Poogie Race; Quick & Crash; Scramble; Sega Rally; Space Harrier; Super Street Fighter II Turbo (and SF3: Third Strike); Super Monaco GP; Tank! Tank! Tank!; Tapper; Tekken 7 Fated Retribution; Time Crisis 4; TRON; and much more. They even have some pinball machines like The Walking Dead and Total Nuclear Annihilation. You can visit their main website here or visit them on Facebook.
Since the other locations don’t have much in the way of media to share, let’s give ACL another with this very impressive Gitadora setup (via Toby):
Player One Arcade Pub Launches Kickstarter
A couple of months ago, we mentioned a new bar/arcade that was working to open in Atlanta by the name of Player One Arcade Pub. Unfortunately due to an accident that one of the owners went through and some other problems, they are about 30% short of the funds that they need to complete the project and open their doors. To attempt and make up the $65,000 difference, they have launched a Kickstarter, which you can find here.
Arcade City #5 (Las Vegas, NV)
I often hear people complain that there aren’t any arcades in malls anymore, but I think that’s just one of those common misconceptions that hangs out in the cultural ether out there. For a tourist in Las Vegas, then you’ll have a new mall arcade location to enjoy if you drop by the Fashion Show Mall on the Las Vegas Strip. Looking at this article, there isn’t much info on the game selection, other than seeing some basketball machines and crane games in the photos. They have a Facebook page here, but it also looks like that covers all of their locations and not specifically the Vegas one.
The Eberson Vintage Arcade(Flint, MI)
A new classic bar/arcade has just opened their doors in Flint, MI, by the name of The Eberson. Named after the architect of the original building that this business calls home, it brings classic arcade gaming goodness to the area inside of a fancy-looking exterior. I only see one photo showing the games at this point, showing just a Centipede and a Ms. Pac-Man, but I’m sure there’s a lot more than that to enjoy. You can find their main website here (H/T Replay Magazine).
Main Event Expanding Into Louisiana
The expansion of FEC’s across the USA is continuing strong with the opening of Main Event’s first Louisiana location taking place “this summer” at the Mall of Louisiana. There isn’t any information about the arcade portion of the facility to share, but they have almost 50,000 sq. ft. to play with, so I imagine that it will be a sizable arcade with a mix/setup similar to other Main Event locations. Via Replay Magazine.
C&C Ice Cream & Arcade Opening In July (Anderson, SC)
Also via Replay is news of a retrocade location opening their doors this July. Called C&C Ice Cream & Arcade (which reminds me of C&C Music Factory 😛 ), this location is bringing together a small number of classic titles (Donkey Kong, Galaga, Frogger, & Ms. Pac-Man are mentioned) while serving up hard-serve ice cream. This article has a little more detail about what they plan to do, but I haven’t found any social media presence for them yet.
VR Zone Portal US Announces Next Pop-Up Location
For those who have been chomping at the bit to play the likes of Mario Kart VR (but don’t forget other unique VR experiences like Argyle Shift), then you can now experience Bandai Namco’s take on virtual reality in Irvine, CA. The location is being setup at the K1Speed facility there, but it is unknown if this is a permanent or temporary installation. Read the announcement here.
G4CE Changes Their Name To Allegiant Non-Stop
I recently heard about Allegiant Airlines swooping into the mega FEC business after their opened their first location in Utah (about 45 minutes north of me), but the name of the location didn’t indicate the Allegiant ownership as it was called “G4CE.” Apparently they weren’t happy with the name or received customer feedback and have changed it to Allegiant Non-Stop. While it sounds better, I think the problem is that no one thinks of entertainment when they think of airlines, so one might still think it’s related to their flight business when they first hear it. I still haven’t had a chance to check the place out, but everyone I’ve talked to who has been there came away impressed.
That’s all I’ve gathered for this post, which was surprisingly light on the media as I couldn’t find good snapshots of the arcades themselves for most of the facilities. Either way, be sure to get out and play!
