Welcome to Location Watch, a regular series of posts that curates news about recent arcade business openings from around the world, into one place. Our last Location Watch is from August. Thanks to our various readers out there for sharing information on some of these new arcades, along with other news sites like RePlay Magazine and InterGame Online.
Turbulent business conditions appear to continue for many venues out there, where some have been reporting earnings being down and some places even closing. Amidst the turmoil however, new places still forge ahead and we hope that this highlight can give a small boost out there. If one of these venues has opened up near you, then be sure to pay them a visit.
North America
Hometown Arcade NJ (Bloomfield, NJ)
Whether or not you call Bloomfield your original stomping grounds, this new retro arcade has that “home town” feel to it. Aside from a small lounge for console gaming, the floor as you can see is packed with classic staples: Asteroids, Donkey Kong, Dig Dug, Final Lap, Frogger, the Pac-Man family of games, Q*Bert, Space Invaders, and more; then there are some games from the 90s like NBA Jam, NFL Blitz, Revolution X, Tekken 3, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, and some others.
There is also a selection of pinball tables, although this is where it is not in the classic realm, sporting new titles like Godfather, John Wick, Stranger Things, and a couple of others. Note that this is the second location for the company, with the first having been set up in Norwood, MA. Visit Hometown Arcade’s website here; thanks to S1ckH4nds on the AH Discord server for originally pointing this place out. He helpfully went and gave it a visit, plus shared some photos from there.
Fun Spot Arcade (Trumbull, CT)
Normally, a new opening by Chuck E Cheese would go into the FEC links and other brief location updates – but not this time. CEC Entertainment are breaking with convention and introducing this new concept, although it does make things a little confusing given the existence of FunSpot up in New Hampshire (which used to be the world’s largest arcade, but is now #2). Still, this idea that is more game focused does bring CEC back to the 80s when most of those locations were more of a “pure arcade”.
Pixel Palace Arcade and Bar (Round Rock, TX)
The retro bar arcades just keep on coming, as this one in Texas that opened a couple weeks back really drives home its 1980s angle, with a pretty heavy focus on video games and pinballs from that decade including OutRun, Punch-Out, Track & Field, Turbo, Karate Champ, Tapper, Gauntlet, Galaxian and Galaga (although there are a few exceptions, such as Street Fighter II both in video and pinball form). Check them out on Facebook here too.
Time Rift Arcade (Bedford, TX)
Thanks to YouTube retro gaming personality The 8-Bit Guy, this suburb of Dallas now has a retro free play arcade. This would fall into a bar/arcade of a sort, given they do serve alcohol, although from the video below it isn’t set up like a typical bar. The game selection covers both old and new, with the likes of a newer Golden Tee sitting right next to an Atari Assault and Sega Zaxxon. This tour provides the best look, but you can also visit them online.
Clarksville Corner Arcade (Clarksville, TX)
Connected to an independent pizza restaurant that has been open since May of last year, Clarksville Corner Arcade is bringing some arcade action to the third Texan location in a row. This one opened very recently and there isn’t much more detail out there on it, but this photo sourced from the article just linked shows that they have a single Dirty Drivin’ (which is a lot less common these days) and Super Bikes 2 cabinet each, for starters:
Offworld Arcade (Detroit, MI)
This arcade has recently moved from a different spot in Detroit and opened up a very nice looking location, merging both classic video games and pinball machines together in the same venue. They note on their website that they are “not a museum”, but they also function as a kind of art gallery – of course, I think you can argue that each arcade machine is an interactive sculpture. Some locations like this one do a better job at honing in on that idea however.
Fun Unlimited Arcade (Ogden, UT)
This one was a bit surreal for me – as many of you know, from October 2020 to December 2022, I operated a second location in Ogden, UT at a place called the Newgate Mall. I ended up closing it down for various reasons, but this past September, I was in the area and stopped by the mall to see how things had changed. To my surprise, the game store neighbor known as Fun Unlimited, was sold to a new owner, who decided to move his store over to my old location, then where their previous store was at, converted it over to an arcade. I’m not exactly sure why they just didn’t use my old space as such a spot, although they do have a boxing machine and a pin at the front of said space. The party room I’d built was being used as storage, but I suppose a game store doesn’t have much of a use for a party room.
Over at the actual arcade space, they have games both old & new, and a pair of Skeeballs, which I really do need to get for my space at some point. Due to the narrow space of the store, the layout felt a little bit cramped due to the size of the newer games. Unfortunately, quite a few were broken down, which I can sympathize with. There was no attendant there however… perhaps that was my mistake in always having an attendant around. Having a Halo and a Dark Escape in the same space is cool though:
Yume Arcade (Ontario, Canada)
Not to be confused with YuMe World in the UK (which is a different proposition altogether, though was planned to be Japanese-themed), Yume Arcade claims to be Ontario’s first ever import location. It has a ton of rhythm games that you usually see at arcades of its ilk, but also some titles that are rarely ever seen out West like Sega’s Kancolle Arcade. That alone gives it some added novelty, and the place seems to be very popular off the bat:
FEC Openings & Updates
Dave & Busters Open In Lombard, IL
D&B Revamps Daytona, FL Location
Another Former Round1 Becomes A Tilted 10 In Peoria, IL
Genda Closes Sale On NEN, Plans New Arcades
Betson Installs At Cloud Peak Lanes, Sheridan, WY
Betson Also Reopens Pizza Ranch FunZone In Iowa
New Andretti’s For Fort Worth, TX
Palmeras Entertainment Opens In East Brunswick, NJ
FunQuest Lynchburg, VA Reopens After Renovations
California Urban Air Park Soft Opens With A Mini Arcade
Europe
NQ64 (Leeds, UK)
Post-pandemic, a few arcade companies in the UK really started picking up pace. One of the biggest of these has been NQ64, their nationwide retro barcade chain. Granted, that has slowed down slightly over the past year, with them focusing more on repeat engagement with events and new additions such as laser tag, but they have had a new location in Leeds to their name since late August. This one is jostling for attention between a couple of other pre-existing places there, including Arcade Club.
Sega Prize Zone (Aldershot, UK)
Sega Amusements and Superbowl UK’s expansion continues, as they have made quick work in opening this latest Sega Prize Zone location in Aldershot near London after announcing it just a couple months ago. For the Sega games, this one has Mission Impossible and Daytona.
Electric Social (Berlin, Germany)
Competitive socialization is really booming in Europe right now, and driving a lot of out-of-home entertainment openings there with a heavy emphasis on new arcades and bars. For an instance of that, here is what has been dubbed Berlin’s biggest arcade, marking another of their new generation locations after Germany’s restrictions became less intensive. Find a tour here.
Levels (Prague, Czech Republic)
Another example of the ‘social-tainment’ center trend is Levels in the Czech Republic, a country that doesn’t get mentioned often here on AH. It also has a bit more than just the arcade area and selection of themed bars, as it features billiards, karaoke and mini golf too.
FEC Openings & Updates
Bandai Namco Amusement Europe Furnishes Swingers London With Specially Branded Carnival Games
Elsewhere In Camden, London, Lane7 Open Their UK Flagship Location With Another Pump It Up Phoenix
Hollywood Bowl Reopens Tunbridge Wells, UK Location
Butlins Starts New PlayXperience Centers With Simulators
Fire & Ice, A Club With A Barcade Area, Opens In Newport, Wales
Genda Opens Genda Europe In The UK For Future Expansion…
Planet Play Malta Gets A Sennox Management System
Asia/Middle East/Oceania
GiGO Main Store Dotonbori (Osaka, Japan)
Back in September 2023, GiGO made waves with a huge new flagship location in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, to fully replace the big old Sega one that famously closed in 2021. One year on from that they have now got another main store in Dotonbori, Osaka, which is apparently around where a Club Sega used to be until the late 2000s. The first two floors are all about those cranes, but the top one is at least devoted to a decent amount of rhythm games, racers, battlers and more, including a big display for their own Breaking Down punching machines we covered earlier this year.
GiGO have also recently opened new arcades in Sannomiya Kitaguchi and Hiroshima Alpark with a healthy amount of games other than cranes too.
TimeZone (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)
A number of companies have set their sights on opening new arcades in Vietnam of late; GiGO is one of them, as has been mentioned in a previous LW, but another is TimeZone. They have most recently opened two more locations there in Ho Chi Minh City, including their largest so far in Parc Mall District 8:
Paradigm Zone (Adelaide, Australia)
A new name here is Paradigm Zone, who have recently opened their first location in Adelaide, South Australia. Remarkably, this business has been started up by a mere 19 year old entrepreneur, and is modelled on the futuristic ‘new wave crane’-heavy facility concept that has emerged from China. There is a lot more to it than just that though, with rhythm gaming action provided by several cabinets from Konami and Sega, as well as karaoke, photo booths, VR simulators, and a big light matrix game room.
FEC Openings & Updates
Bandai Namco Amusement Merges With Pleasure Cast – What this might change is uncertain, though it sounds positive
Namco Also Still Using Their Old Brand For Locations – Pretty much the last new arcades you’ll ever find it in nowadays
Maruhan Runs Limited Time MeTokyo Crane Center
Round1JP Trials 20 Yen Play Zone Concept
Taito Opening Their Second Hong Kong Location
Another New Masti Zone Opens For Faridabad, India
WB Land Movie World Opens Action Zone Arcade
Are any of these new arcades near you? Then be sure to go out and visit them! Doors can’t stay open on the basis of likes and hashtags.
Coming Soon
Another Round1 To Downey, California…
R1USA Also Opening In San Francisco
Winner’s Circle Coming To Colorado
Swingers To Open In Vegas With Carnival And Arcade Games
New Select Start Barcade Opening Soon For Winnipeg, Canada
Continue Arcades #2 For Taunton, UK
King Pins #3 Planned For Bristol, UK
Blackpool’s Coral Island Plans Their First New Location In Weston Super Mare
Another Superbowl UK And Sega Prize Zone For Basingstoke, Hampshire
