It’s time to highlight a number of recently opened arcades, with this exciting edition of Location Watch. If you put “location watch” into the search bar, you’ll find a bunch of such posts covering these grand openings over the years, and hopefully, these will get some well-deserved traction. If you find yourself near any of the locations mentioned below, be sure to go and give them your support! Check out the most recent Location Watch post (if you missed it), here.
We’ll start with a few venues in the UK, which continue to see strong growth in arcades over the past year.
Freeplay City – North London, UK
I didn’t realize that this was one was “new-new” when I first saw it, but reader Toby N. corrected me on that. Here’s another new arcade to enjoy within the vicinity of London, but as the name denotes, it uses a free play model for all of the games. Toby has been involved with arcade, meaning that they’ve got a strong selection of import games, including a large number of rhythm games. Some of the overall selection includes: Crazy Taxi, DJ Max Technika 3, Elevator Action Returns, Groove Coaster Arcade, Jubeat, MaiMai Finale, Ongeki R.E.D., Sports Jam, Street Fighter III 3rd Strike, Time Crisis 4, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: All-Star Carnival, WACCA Lily, and plenty more. They also have a console gaming area. They are on various social media sites, including Facebook and Twitter.
Flashback Arcade (Bradford, UK)
Classic & modern gaming is the focus for this venue which was opened by a UK industry veteran (Mo Patel) recently in Bradford, with games spanning the ages such as Space Invaders to the more recent Atari PONG table. Like Freeplay above, they appear to have a sizable venue, which also includes games like Chase H.Q., Chunithm, Dance Rush, Ghost Squad, Killer Instinct 1 & 2, Lost Land Adventure, MaiMai, Pac-Man Battle Royale, Point Blank, Strike Force (obscure sequel to Defender), Sunset Riders, Tekken 7 Fated Retribution Round 2, and also much more. Find them on their official website or Facebook.
Superbowl UK (Barnsley, UK)
A new FEC under the Superbowl UK brand has opened its doors, bringing plenty of new amusement attractions – and a Sega Prize Zone arcade – to this area of the UK. Some of the Sega Amusements-heavy games they have include Daytona Championship USA, Luigi’s Mansion Arcade and Transformers: Shadows Rising, along with an assortment of redemption & billiards pieces. Find the chain’s website here.
Funstation (Sheffield, UK)
Since we’re talking UK locations, I’ll put this reopening sent in by Ted here instead of at the bottom. News just came out that Funstation is reopening a space in Meadowhall, Sheffield which had previously hosted the first ever Namco arcade in Europe, but was forcibly shuttered in 2006 as the shopping mall’s landlords apparently wanted “more catering facilities” (i.e. food and drink). This was despite the Meadowhall location holding up as one of Namco UK’s best performing arcades for over 10 years, and it being a testing hotspot for numerous big games, as an old post from Toby shows. Well, looks like someone came to their senses, and the location will be back as a Funstation arcade next month, touting Hologate VR as a part of their selection. Find the location here (this page has been directing me to one for their now-closed Shepherd’s Bush branch, though).
Thriller Social Club (San Francisco, CA)
Headed back to the other side of the planet, arcades have had a really tough time in California since last year, with the state being in lockdown for a bit longer than most places, and certain restrictions affecting both arcades and bars more so than other types of venues. The Thriller Social Club is looking to help things bounce back, by revitalizing a space that had been operating as an arcade prior to the pandemic. It’s in a fairly large space, with two floors of gaming and three bars. They only seem to be on Instagram at the moment, where there is little info on the games, although this article in the SF Eater mentions “Pac-Man, Mortal Kombat, and Street Fighter”. Also mentions Skee-Ball a few times, with a very nice setup of that to play in the venue. Thanks to Joey Mucha for the tip on this one.
Arcademie (Evansville, IN)
Speaking of bar/arcades, this place just opened its doors over in Indiana, with older games like Star Wars (Atari, cockpit), X-Men 6-player, and newer ones such as Killer Queen Arcade. They also have plenty of pins, although I can’t find a list, nor other pics than the one below; You can also check out their website or Facebook page.
Main Street Deli Arcade Bar (Findlay, OH)
This one was mentioned on the last Location Watch, and they opened their doors back on the 22nd. They’ve got games such as Area51/Maximum Force, Galaga, Mario Bros., Ms. Pac-man, Smash TV, and X-Men, with a row of pins bringing Game of Thrones, The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Stranger Things, and more to the mix. Find them on Facebook here.
Skill Shot Pinball Arcade (Syracuse, NY)
If you live in New York state and have a thing for pinball, then this place is for you. Do note that they only open once a week to the general public; Otherwise, they only do parties & event rentals. Still, they have a great selection of pins, such as Attack From Mars, Batman ’66, Dirty Harry, Elvira’s House of Horrors, Godzilla, Metallica, Monopoly, NBA Fastbreak, Space Station, and plenty more. There are also a few video games around, from some classic uprights like Tetris to a semi-newer game like EA NASCAR. The official website is here, with more to see on Facebook.
3 Decade Arcade (Elizabethtown, KY)
A retro arcade has just opened up in central Kentucky, bringing the likes of Area 51, Galaga, Millipede, Mortal Kombat, Pac-Man, Q*Bert, Vs. Super Mario Bros., and more to the area. They also have a Pac-Man’s Pixel Bash, which is a great option for a commercial multicade solution. If you’re into pinball, then they have a nice collection of pinball machines to enjoy, such as Back To The Future, F-14 Tomcat, Godzilla, Hot Wheels, TMNT (Stern), and a few others to play. Check them out at their website or Facebook.
Japan
Everyone loves it when you talk about venues in Japan, even if 99% of the readers don’t live in Japan, but there has been some good news coming out of the country lately, as some venues have been opening up instead of just closing down. That said, it’s still a difficult situation over there and will probably take a while for them to dig out of it, but that said, the death of the Japanese arcade scene has been greatly exaggerated.
Sega Ikebukuro Sunshine Street – This one has received the most attention online since it was opened right across the street from the recently closed and world-famous Sega location there. The odd thing is though, the floor with video games only has one game available, although it’s a lot of them – Bandai Namco’s Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme Vs. 2. That is one of the most popular games on the scene, so it makes sense to have a lot of them on hand, but the only video game? Ok then. Apparently more locations are planned for the area though…
Game Panic (Shinjuku) – This one takes up two floors and reopens the famous Playland Carnival location that closed last year, but I’m not sure what the game selection is there. Looks like it will open next month.
Namco (Nagoya) – This is an interesting one, with what is perhaps the first appearance of Pac-Man’s Pixel Bash in Japan. They also have the likes of the Atari PONG Table, Pac-Man Panic, Pac-Man Battle Royale, World’s Largest Pac-Man, and a new AR ping pong table concept called Pong! Pong! in a special retro-themed area. Got to appreciate the effort here:
Quickies
More locations to discuss, but not many details on game selection to write about, so they get a highlight here.
Arcade1up Game Lounge is opening its first location at the Miami Dolphins stadium
Funland Opens In London – Looks like they’re going to put a strong focus on pinball tournaments
The Main Event opens In Chesterfield, MO
Gamestate (Oberhausen, Germany) – Germany is a rare place to hear about arcade openings, this one will have 45 machines, but I can’t figure out what (newer mix, of course)
Timezone (Sydney, Australia) – 140 arcade machines, bowling, laser tag, and more.
New Location For Bowlero (McLean, VA)
Gravity Trampoline Park Adds An Arcade Room (Kokomo, IN)
Coming Soon
The 3rd Spot – I had thought that this opened already, but apparently not, so we’ll keep it on the back burner for next time.
Round1USA (Pembroke Lakes, FL)
Theme Park to open on an oil rig – Dunno if there will be an arcade there, but just sounds like a crazy (and interesting) project
That’s all for this time! If you have opened your arcade recently and it hasn’t been highlighted on the blog (please check past Location Watch posts, just in case), then please let me know so I can feature it next time!
Hey! Thanks so much for the Freeplay City mention.
I used to work at Namco Wonderpark Sheffield, 2000/01. It closed & was booted out of Meadowhall in 2007, despite Namco wanting to stay on.
Also used to work for Funstation and held an Outrun 2 SP tournament there in 2019. The reason the Funstation page defaults to Shepherds Bush is likely because it’s their main arcade venue. If you click on the drop down, you can find Meadowhall.
Meadowhall’s arcade past goes way back. Before it was a Namco Wonderpark, it was another arcade pre 1995, but the name escapes me.