Welcome to Location Watch, a series of posts where we take a look at brand new arcade businesses that are opening their doors for the first time. This provides some good news in lieu of the various highly publicized closures that have been taking place lately, including the closure of a beloved arcade in Japan, the Sega Ikebukuro Gigo in Tokyo. Unfortunately, it seems that these Location Watch posts barely gain traction a lot of the time as a single closure can. Regardless, if you don’t want to see your favorite venue close forever, and you have the means to go out and support them, then be sure to do so. Arcades can’t pay their bills on good vibes, hashtags, and likes.
For our most recent Location Watch post, which was a 2-parter, click here. Like the past few Location Watches, there are several places opening in the UK, as arcade growth just continues to explode over there. Also, H/T to both Replay Magazine and Intergame Online for several of the sites below.
Pinball Museum of Corbin (Corbin, KY)
Going off of today’s post, pinball parlors seem to be coming back in style, as we’ll show with the first three entries. This is also in contrast to the highly publicized closure of the Museum of Pinball in Banning, CA.
This museum opened in Kentucky on August 1st, with quite the selection of machines, including Arena, Gorgar, High Speed, The Mandalorian, three Star Wars pins (Data East, 2018 Stern, and Episode I), Stranger Things(Pro), Taxi Driver, Twister, WrestleMania, Willy Wonka, and more. Find their website here.
Rochester Pinball Collective (Rochester, NY)
Here’s another pinball place, but it is only open for two days of the week at present. The RPC features “over 45 machines on free play,” with a $20 entry fee. Their games include newer stuff like Guns ‘N Roses JJP, The Mandalorian, Total Nuclear Annihilation, Batman 66, and older pieces including Black Hole, Diner, Harlem Globetrotters, Meteor, and plenty more. They also offer pinball repair services. Check out their website, which includes a full games list, here.
North Coast Pinball (Nehalem, OR)
On the opposite side of the country, in the small coastal town of Nehalem, fans of pinball also now have a place to call their own. Although it does look like when they are open varies, so you’ll want to call prior to heading over. They have 16 pins to play, including Addams Family, Attack From Mars, FunHouse, The Getaway, Jurassic Park (Stern), Star Trek: TNG, Terminator 2, and more. They also sell/repair kites if you’re interested in that. Find their website here.
Revival Arcade (San Bernadino, CA)
This classic arcade opened about a month ago in a venue that looks to be fairly sizable and packed with games. Some of those include: Arctic Thunder, Arkanoid, Asteroids, Centipede, Contra, Crazy Taxi, Cruis’n USA, World & Exotica; Donkey Kong (in an Atari cabinet?), Missile Command, a few Neo Geo MVS 4-slot cabs, Offroad Challenge, Pac-Man, Super Zaxxon, Tetris, Time Crisis 1 & 3, and more. They also have some pinball machines like Diner, Dr. Dude and His Excellent Ray, Game Show, Hyperball, Pool Sharks, Whirlwind, and more. You can see a shaky-cam video of this place here, or find them on Facebook.
Cedar Fun Center (Cedar City, UT)
Here’s one that’s relatively in my neighborhood (still about a 4~ hour drive depending on the roads), and is in the vicinity of various famous national parks, such as Zions. The building used to be a well-known arcade that has been renovated by the new owners, and it now sports a more up-to-date selection of entertainment, which included an arcade at about 40 games. They also have 4 movie screens, which is the main draw; I can’t find a list of games but from a brief video I saw on Facebook, it looks like standard modern FEC fare, with a lot of redemption and some newer video games, most from Raw Thrills (Jurassic Park, H2Overdrive, Space Invaders Frenzy). Find them online here.
Nu Game Arcade (Southampton, UK)
While I’ve never had the pleasure of visiting the UK, I have noticed that Southampton has been showing up a lot lately when it comes to new venues. Don’t know what that is, but I’m sure locals aren’t complaining. Site friend Toby N. helped with this one, which opened back in the spring of this year. They started out small with titles like Chase HQ2, Mario & Sonic Olympics Arcade 2016, Point Blank 2, Pump It Up Prime, SoulCalibur II, Space Invaders, and a few others, but they are closing for the next couple of weeks as they expand and double their size (and their game selection). You can find them here on Twitter.
NQ64 (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Further north, the fifth location in an arcade/bar chain just opened a few weeks back in Edinburgh by the name of NQ64. The appearance of the venue reminds me of some laser tag venues, with hand-painted UV artwork covering the walls and ceiling, providing a nice cozy spot for the games to be played in. Those games include Bubble Bobble, Crazy Taxi, Dance Stage Euromix, Donkey Kong, Double Dragon, Galaga, Golden Axe, OutRun 2SP, Street Fighter II, Virtua Fighter, Virtua Striker, X-Men, and plenty more. Find them online here.
Four Quarters Arcade Bar #3 (London, UK)
Location #3 (in a place called Elephant Park) is a go for Four Quarters Arcade Bar, an “American-style” bar with plenty of retro games to enjoy. 3,000 sq. ft. of space is dedicated to the space, which hosts around 30 game machines. They even use US quarters in the games, which is a nice touch. Games include Asteroids Deluxe, BurgerTime, Donkey Kong, OutRun, Pac Man, Point Blank, Popeye, R-Type, Sega Rally, The Simpsons, Street Fighter II, The Simpsons, and more. Find this location’s website, here.
High Score Arcade #3 (Farnborough, UK)
In the last Location Watch, I mentioned High Score Arcade, a new arcade biz in the UK that is rapidly expanding into a chain. Operating on the entry fee/free play model, location #3 brings coin-op goodness to the town of Farnborough. They have a mix of old and new, the latter being a little unusual for free play locations. Some of their games: Aliens: Extermination, Brick People, Dance Stage Fusion 3rd Mix, Daytona Championship USA, GTI Club (newer model), Let’s Go Island, Luigi’s Mansion Arcade, Monster Eye, Outnumbered, OutRun 2, Rambo, Tank! Tank! Tank!, Virtua Striker 3, Virtua Tennis 4 and more. Find the website for this location here.
Fun Box Arcade [part of Gravity Active Entertainment] (Wandsworth, UK)
I haven’t been able to find out much about this one, apart from a pre-rendered location photo and a blurb on this webpage, but Zenius says that it is “mainly redemption games.” The pic does show the likes of Super Bikes 3 and Storm VR, so I would assume a typical FEC arcade setup with a strong lean towards redemption.
Twister Fun Park (Zagreb, Croatia)
An indoor theme park has opened up in Croatia, and as a part of that they have the Twister Arcade. I haven’t found many pics of the arcade area, but from what I gather, it appears to have some UNIS and Wik titles, then some other lesser-known Chinese-made games (like Robot Storm, which was released here in limited quantities a couple of years ago). Their website is here, but if you have trouble loading it, they are also on Facebook.
The Rec Room # 8 (Barrie, ON, Canada)
Cineplex Starburst is getting back to business with the opening of its 8th location. As the facilities are an FEC, you can expect a number of different attractions, but the arcade is stocked with newer titles such as Dark Escape 4D, Injustice, Mario Kart Arcade GP DX, MotoGP, Super Bikes 3, and plenty more, along with plenty of redemption & videmption games. Read more about this one from a local news source, here.
Magic Kass (Jerusalem, Israel)
Just as I hit publish, this one came across my view, a giant indoor amusement park that just opened it’s doors in Jerusalem (not a city I think I’ve ever reported on for new arcades). No clue how big of an arcade it has, but if you’re into rides, they’ve got plenty to enjoy. Read about them here.
The Walrus Bar (Jacksonville, FL)
This one held a soft opening a few weeks ago, with the grand opening taking place this coming Sunday. They have a small selection per this video, however, they have some pretty interesting rarities, including Trog and Avengers Hulk LE. I can’t find a website or Facebook for this one though, but I imagine if you’re in the Jacksonville area, you maybe have heard about it through the grapevine.
Timezone Expands (Chennai, India; Rockhampton, Australia)
I’m not sure how many Timezones are presently in operation, but they are certainly the largest FEC chain out there on the international circuit (I believe they have in the neighborhood of 300 locations, but you can feel free to correct me if you know the exact numberUPDATE: There are around 350 locations with two more opened/opening in Singapore, with one opening tomorrow! India also has about 40 Timezone locations now) This first new location opens up in one place that we don’t hear about too often in Location Watches – India. The location has opened at the Palladium Chennai, a shopping center in the city of Chennai, which is on the southeast coast of the country. From what little I found on their game selection, they have MotoGP, Storm RacerG DX, and Wild West Shootout, but certainly much more than that, including attractions like bowling and plenty of redemption. I wonder if our friends over at Touch Magix, which was originally founded in India, have anything over there too.
For the other one, head to Australia. Given the news I’ve heard out of there this week, I’m a little surprised that this is opening now, although it’s probably in an area where some of the lockdowns and unrest are not taking place. I also don’t have a ton of info on this one and their game selection, apart from having 70 games and this photo, where you can catch the rare Cruis’n Blast motion next to the Mario Kart Arcade GP DX:
Coming Soon/Quickies
The following locations are coming soon, although in some cases I haven’t been able to find out when, since they haven’t all announced it. These will be on upcoming Location Watches when they do open their doors; Unless it’s a quickie, which just means I can’t find out enough info on the place to really report about it.
Barcade #7 (Detroit, MI) – Barcade’s website isn’t working at the moment, but the company that owns the name Barcade continues their expansion, although this location has taken quite some time to open.
Fieldhouse #6 (Aurora, CO) – I tried to get more info on this one, but when I attempt to visit their website, it refuses to work, complaining about a security issue or my computer clock time. Here’s an article about it, where it’s a really nice looking facility, but nothing is said about the arcade really.
A Chuck E. Cheeses in VA is reopening
Free Play Denton (Denton, TX) – The Replay article says it’s supposed to have opened this month, but the website just has a cryptic “until next time” with some random photos on it. This will have over 100 retro games on free play.
DraftCade #3 (Richmond, VA) – A bar/arcade that’s a part of a comedy club.
Main Street Deli Arcade Bar (Findlay, OH) – Opening next month
Scene75 Chicago – Opening this Winter
Mountain Bowling (Tehachapi, CA) – You’ll have to wait for this one, as it’s expected to open next summer
That’s all that I found for this time. As always, if you find yourself near any one of these locations, then be sure to go and check them out and give them some support. Otherwise, if none of these are near you but you still have an arcade near you, it’s still worth giving them a boost when you can.
