Location Watch October 2022: New Arcade Businesses Open In North & South America, Europe, New Zealand

Welcome to Location Watch, a series of posts here at Arcade Heroes which spreads word of brand new arcade locations that have recently opened their doors to the world. I strive to inform you about everyone who opens up no matter where they are on Planet Earth, so if you hear about one I’ve missed from a previous LW post, please let me know. For the most recent LW post, click here.

H/T to sites like Replay Magazine and Intergame Online but also to everyone who has sent me a link, particularly Michael L this time. For newcomers, the term “FEC” stands for Family Entertainment Center, a place that generally has an arcade but several other attractions.

North America

The ARCADE (Bally’s/Horseshoe Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV)

We’ll start with one that has been sent to me the most – a hotel/casino in Vegas which just revamped their location with an 80+ game arcade. I’ve never visited this particular hotel but as the video below explains, they remodeled their sportsbook area into this arcade. It features 7,000 sq. ft. of space to house the modern game mix, which includes titles like Asphalt 9 Legends Arcade, ATV Slam, Cruis’n Blast, Golden Tee PGA Tour, Halo: Fireteam Raven DX, King Kong Of Skull Island, Mario Kart Arcade GP DX, Minecraft Dungeons Arcade, Mission: Impossible Arcade SDX, Nitro Trucks, Super Bikes 3, Wild Wild West Shootout and more. You can also read about the reasoning behind the change, here – which includes the line “arcades make money.”

Speaking of Las Vegas, the GameWorks location that closed last year will live on with a different name, Velocity eSports. This still boasts a ton of space (36,000 sq. ft) and looks like they’ve kept some of the games as well as retained some of the location’s former employees. Their grand opening is this Friday; They have a Facebook page here.

Emporium Arcade Bar #7 (New Orleans, LA)

Emporium continues their nationwide expansion, this time bringing their take on the bar/arcade concept to New Orleans. Some of the games they have on hand include Alien Vs. Predator, Centipede, Joust, Popeye, Q*Bert, Super Contra, Tekken 5, Time Crisis 4, Toobin’, TMNT, Vs. Excitebike and plenty of pinball. The page for this location can be found here.

The Gamer’s Garage Arcade (Marseilles, IL)

This location takes their name seriously as the business is housed inside of a building with garage – and it’s right next door to city hall. They are a retro arcade that uses the free play model, with admissions at $15/per person. Some of their selection includes: Area 51: Site 4, Big Buck Hunter Pro, Defender, FnF Super Bikes, Joust, Ms. Pac-Man, PlayChoice-10, Silent Scope 2, Star Trek Voyager, The Fast & The Furious, Virtua Cop 2, Zaxxon and more. Find them on Facebook, here.

Pinballz Kingdom (Buda, TX)

This is a third location for the popular Pinballz location which originally opened up in Austin, TX 12 years ago. It’s the same idea as the other two locales, which offers an FEC with multiple attractions (including something a little unusual here, an outdoor laser tag arena; From this article, sounds like that is a unique aspect compared to the other locations). I can’t find a list of games and most photos are focused on live music events but they do have a lot of pinball machines (old & new) along with a wide selection of new & old video titles. Visit their official web page, here.

Gamehaus (Long Island City, NY)

Here’s a 5,000 sq. ft. arcade opening in the Queens area of New York, boasting food & adult beverages with games, although best I can tell, most of that space is for the restaurant. They only appear to have three game cabinets: a Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga, The Simpsons and something in a 90s Midway cabinet. Their website is here.

Das Flipperhaus (Rocklin, CA)

It looks like using German words in business names is now trendy, although I’m not sure why. Anyways, this mobile arcade business is now putting some roots down in Rocklin, CA (centralish California) with this pinball-centric bar/arcade. A quick story mentions that they have 22 pins; Their Instagram account shows that these include: Godzilla, Guardians of the Galaxy, Iron Maiden, Jurassic Park Stern, Mandalorian, Munsters, Star Trek, Star Wars Stern, Stranger Things, and a few others. Apparently they’re storing or selling their video games.

Arcade-O-Mania (Fairmont, WV)

I don’t know what it is about West Virginia lately but this is the 3rd LW in a row where there’s a new arcade to talk about opening up in that state, whereas previously I almost never mentioned the state. I’m not complaining 🙂 . This location currently features 22 games although at the moment, they are all Arcade 1up machines instead of full-sized originals. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen an arcade use A1ups, although I don’t think I’ve seen one that exclusively used them before and I don’t know what the legal side of operating them commercially looks like. They certainly won’t hold up like originals will. Their Facebook page is here.

Fun Zone Arcade At the Pizza Ranch (Galesburg, IL)

I had thought that all Pizza Ranch locations had an arcade attached to them but I guess not. This new game room has a strong focus on redemption games but it also has some video pieces like Asphalt 9 Legends Arcade, Jurassic Park Arcade, Nerf Arcade, and Virtual Rabbids VR. Find a story about them here.

Singh’s Arcade (Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QB, Canada)

While billed as a retro arcade in the news article, there are a couple of modern titles here such as the 1st Fast & Furious and Step ManiaX, along with a couple of retro games like Pac-Man and Terminator 2 pinball machine. They also have some arcade sports games and what looks like plenty of space to add more. The website focuses much more on art, apparel, and milkshakes, with the space also operating as an art gallery.

Galaxy Strikes Bowling Center (Warrenton, VA)

This one is mainly a bowling alley but the story mentions a small arcade. Find their main website here.

Monkey Rock Entertainment (El Paso, TX)

Kind of a similar story to Galaxy Strikes, although the arcade for this one looks to be much larger, showing games like Jurassic Park Arcade, Nitro Trucks, and Super Bikes 3 on their main site.

Big Chain Updates

A New Chuck E. Cheeses Opens In Yonkers, NY – No, that’s not William Shatner with Chuck

A New Urban Air Adventure Park Soft Opens In Midland, TX

Europe

Level X (Glasgow, Scotland)

A new FEC has opened in Scotland with a focus on “immersive experiences,” which includes things like VR and bowling, but it also has a “next level arcade.” Unfortunately I am not sure what they have on a per-game basis, but one pic on their Instagram definitely shows a modern arcade (most of the games are blurred and are sports arcade pieces…but I can make out the more recent Sea Wolf there). They also have some pinball machines per a pic on their website; I’ve also been told that they have a DDR A20+. Their site is found here.

Gamestate (Berlin, Germany)

This growing EU chain has now setup shop in Germany’s capital, bringing around 70 modern arcade games to the area. Per InterGame Online, this makes it’s Berlin’s largest arcade. Of course 70 games doesn’t sound like a lot when we often talk about arcades featuring 100+ games, but by my understanding, it’s historically been very difficult to open a space in the country due to regulations and taxes. Like LevelX above, they also have a DDR A20+; In both cases as I’m told, each instance is the first example of that particular game being found in either Scotland or Germany.

8-Bit Micro Arcade Bar (Bolton, UK)

Like Arcade-O-Mania above, this location is also focused entirely on Arcade 1up games for their selection. I know that pricing/inflation has been a nightmare lately but if you keep your eyes peeled, you can find some good deals out there – or even games for free, if you’re willing to fix them up. This location also offers consoles to play.

South America

Chuck E. Cheeses (Suriname)

We don’t often feature SA in these posts and this is the first time Suriname has popped up on the arcade radar. Unfortunately the story doesn’t say where in Suriname this unique-looking and colorful location has opened, so I’ll assume that it’s in the capital, Paramaribo.

Asia/Oceania/Middle East

Archie Bros Cirque Electriq (Christchurch, NZ)

This new circus-themed arcade is replacing a failed city center that had a food court, bringing a number of attractions to the mix, an arcade included. It has modern titles including Daytona Championship USA DX, Mario Kart Arcade GP DX, Space Invaders Frenzy and more; This is also not the first location for the company, with the others located in Australia. Check them out here.

Japan Location Updates

These don’t appear to have video games in them, although it’s hard to tell. They’re out-of-home entertainment, at least.

A New GiGO Shop Opens In Toyama, Tokyo

Capcom Opens MIRAINO Aeon Mall Toki store In Toki City

On another note, I haven’t come across news on more TimeZones opening for this round but I was sent this cool drone video:

Coming Soon

AR’s Entertainment Hub Throwing Down The Gauntlet, Set Top Open Across The Street From A Dave & Busters In Balcones Heights, TX

Level One Bar + Arcade Opening A 2nd Location In Cincinnati 

Glitche’s Arcade In Sherman, TX – Aiming for Nov.

Max Action Arena Coming To Orlando – It might have an arcade but focuses more on VR, Axe throwing

Glitch (Not The Same As Above) Opening In Stockport, UK This December

Arcade Bar & Games Aiming To Launch In Aberdeen, Scotland in 2023

That’s all for this time – thanks again to everyone who has sent in tips! Keep them coming and if you happen to find yourself near any of these locations, be sure to visit them and give them some business!