Welcome to Location Watch, a series here on Arcade Heroes that endeavors to track and report on new arcade location openings from all around the world. This will be our final look at new locations for 2024, while also giving us a preview of some locations that are new and fresh for 2025. Our last Location Watch was at the end of October; H/T to various users on our Discord server channel (#arcade-locations) and social media pages who share news on these locations, as well as RePlay Magazine and InterGame Online; if you have any new arcades we’ve missed, be sure to let us know and they will be added.
We’ll get into this more in the upcoming end-of-year post, but all in all this year has been a bumpy ride for the industry. Openings were slow in November, only to pick up in December. But that’s then been slightly offset by strife on the indie/fighting game community side of things, where there has sadly been a few high-profile closures just announced this month that players have been reeling from. However, use it or lose it does unfortunately apply, and these posts are all about giving the next generation of locations exposure for a reason. Let’s get fully caught up with all the new arcade openings for late 2024…
New Arcade Finders
Just before we get to those, I want to quickly highlight two new arcade locators that have recently begun operations online. The first is the Insert Coin App, which does work find on a desktop browser. It looks to offer up all arcades out there around the world, but is lacking a lot of venues as it needs user input for all that; the second is more niche with Retro Arcade Hunter. Not sure if they require only retro games and what the cut-off date for “retro” is (everyone seems to have their own arbitrary date in mind), but it’s safe to assume that any place focused on the 80s is a sure bet there.
North America
Varcade PVP Arena (Detroit, MI)
Our friends at No Cash Value LLC have been busy, now opening a venue at the Oakland Mall that features the VARBOX VR system, and a few Blast City cabinets running some older arcade titles, uniting two generations of compact video amusement into one place. I’ve seen the VARBOX at IAAPA a few times, but never have seen a location that has one. Check them out on Facebook or their website.
Max Funland (Brooklyn, NY)
This new opening for Brooklyn has its arcade attached to an adventure playground. This oddly has various Asian imports, with Japanese ones including Chunithm, Ongeki, Wacca, and Initial D Arcade Stage 8 (offline). Their Zenius-i-vanisher.com listing can be found here. Hopefully this can take out some of the sting from the upcoming closure of Brooklyn Games & Arcade (scroll down for more on that).
Party Time (Brooklyn, NY)
Another new Brooklyn opening here, this one being an example of what arcades there can do that others can’t by opening for 24 hours round the clock. Party Time offers a modern mix of what looks to be all Chinese games, mixing prize, redemption, and video games into a bright family environment. The motion version of Deadstorm Pirates and the non-US version of Dinosaur Era are the only games I recognize at a glance though. I’m guessing this is in a Chinatown area of the city, but someone who knows the area this is at will have to fill me in if that’s incorrect.
Mana Pinball (Ontario, Canada)
Starting off as a pinball servicing and rental shop, Mana has switched over to also operating them as an arcade. They operate using a free play model, and sounds like they have a wide selection of games that get rotated out on a regular basis. Find them here.
Gary’s Place #2 (Seattle, WA)
Seattle is getting more arcade love from this company as they have just opened their second location, now in West Seattle. Gary’s Place is dedicated to Gary Cichi, an arcade operator who was a fixture of the scene in the region. This arcade is co-operated by one of Gary’s sons, Matt. If you’re in the area, you’ll find an ecclectic mix of old and new games, from beloved classics (Asteroids, Donkey Kong, Ms. Pac-Man) to a row of pinball machines to newer video stuff – including some exA-Arcadia ARC-32 cabs.
Fun Spot Arcade (Salem, NH)
Fun Spot continues their expansion, now opening a spot at The Mall At Rockingham Park. You can’t see much from the low resolution photo on that linked page, aside from several prize games and what looks to be a Pump It Up… I have to assume that have more video goodness than that to be found inside.
Sip ‘N Flip Arcade (Windsor, CO)
Hopping over to Colorado is a new bar/arcade (includes adult beverages as well as soda), with thirteen pinball machines (a few from the ’90s with several newer Sterns) and a bunch of video classics. Most of those are from the ’80s, however, I notice on their list that they mention the just-released Asteroids Recharged by Alan-1. I did imagine that it would find its way into more retrocades/ arcade bars than your typical modern title. As for pinball, I see more and more arcade bars using these set ups, but I do wonder how it pans out on the cost benefit (i.e., will pinball earn more this way to make it worth the expense?). It certainly makes for an impressive scene:
MallRats (Worcester, MA)
This location references the classic 90s film with both an arcade and a used retro game store. For the arcade, there’s Dig-Dug, Ms. Pac-Man, Donkey Kong Jr., The Simpsons, and Tekken 3, which all came from a previous location opened by one of its owners, as mentioned in this local news report which goes into the location’s backstory. Find them at their official website.
The Tokyo Club (Columbia, MO)
This one has a et up I’ve never heard of before – a cyberpunk-themed pinball venue and comedy club. That’s quite a combo. They are located in a new business area called “The Arcade District”, which is not exclusive to arcade venues (often the word is used for ‘arcade’ as in architecture, however, this particular district does seem to lead into the video arcade as well, as there is another arcade in the area). Tokyo has around 25 machines, mostly newer Sterns, but they have a few classics like The X-Files and Arabian Nights. Find them on Facebook.
Purple Quarters (St Louis, MO)
St Louis gets a bar arcade in the form of Purple Quarters, opened last month. Their simple but effective lineup includes Skeeball, NBA Jam, a few pinballs, a twin Mario Kart Arcade GP DX, foosball, Galaga Assault, and a basketball. Find them on Facebook here.
Castlecade Southridge Mall (Greendale, WI)
Castlecade continues to grow across Wisconsin, opening their latest location at the Southridge Mall. This looks like a similar size to their other locations, then with a game mix that focuses on merchandisers and redemption first, supported by a few video games. Those currently include a Big Buck Hunter Reloaded, an exA-Arcadia running Chaos Code, an Injustice Arcade, a pair of Mario Kart Arcade GP 2’s, a Pac-Man Battle Royale Chompionship, and a Step ManiaX. Find them on Facebook.
In The Game (Las Vegas, NV)
After wallowing in development hell for twenty years (with many different businesses saying to be coming there, only to never materialize), Family Entertainment Group finally decided to turn this location on Fremont Street into an arcade. It looks to be heavy on redemption, although Jdevy noticed a Godzilla Kaiju Wars VR in one of the linked tweets about it.
FEC Openings & Updates
Dave & Busters CEO Resigns; Same Store Sales Fall – Conflicting to hear that even D&B have been seeing a decline in recent months, although given what myself and many other small ops have seen throughout most of 2024, it isn’t much of a surprise. In a strange way, it’s actually relief that it hasn’t just been the little guys experiencing rough waters in the economy over the past year. But perhaps with them it has less to do with the arcade side and more their F&B business… as recently observed by Kevin Williams in the latest edition of his Sound Off podcast, their food does have the reputation it does for a reason.
Dave & Busters Opens A Location In Clarksville, TN – D&B are also still opening new locations, despite their management woes; including a site in India soon.
Round1USA Opens In Mission Viejo, CA
Bowlero Rebrands As Lucky Strike Entertainment
Lucky Strike Entertainment Opens Location In Beverly Hills, CA
Another Lucky Strike Opens In CA, This Time Orange County
Rush Maxx FEC Opens In San Antonio, TX
Henry Dorrbaker’s Pub & Play Opens In Beloit, WI
A New Mr. Gatti’s Pizza Opens In Ft. Worth, TX
Winner’s Circle Opens In Longmont, CO
A Peek At The New GATCHA Arcade Venue In Edison, NJ – H/T to S1ckh4nds for the video
A Denny’s In Alhambra, CA Opens A Game Room
21+ Adult Redemption Arcade Swingers Opens In Las Vegas
810 Billiards Opens A New Venue In Panama City Beach, FL
Gametime Lanes & Entertainment Opens With A Large Arcade In Peabody, MA
New Playdium Store Opens In Toronto
Strike & Spares Opens Sixth Location, This One In KY
Hudz Family Fun Zone Opens In Paxton, IL
CA Arcade Op Storms Homeless Camp Who Raided His Arcade – Sounds like fiction, but this was a crazy, real story
RIP To Brooklyn Games & Arcade – I remember when we reported on them opening back in the Summer of 2021, really sad to hear this.
Europe
England’s entries come courtesy of UK-based AH co-contributor Ted, who notes that the last three of them are all oddly around the West Midlands – not that long away from him, but also not very near either…
Gravity Arcade (Dartford & Reading, England)
Having previously opened Funbox arcades as part of their larger Gravity MAX centers, Gravity now seem to be on the warpath with opening arcades where their smaller trampoline park-focused UK locations are too. One in Dartford’s Bluewater shopping center has just opened as a standalone venue nearby its trampoline park, and another is being directly co-joined with the company’s existing Reading venue. Owing to their association with Sega Amusements, both have a lot of their recent big releases (Mission: Impossible Arcade, Apex Rebels).
Lucky Claw (Birmingham, England)
The Asian-inspired crane arcade concept is spreading, with locations such as the USA’s Gatcha and Australia’s Paradigm Zone mentioned in recent LWs, and this looks to be the first of the bunch to land in the UK. While those ‘new wave’ neon cranes are largely the order of the day here, there is also some multigame cabinets, and one thing in particular that makes this location stand out from others… an imported Taiko No Tatsujin (albeit also a poorer quality unofficial Chinese one). Interesting that they would jump the gun on a possible European release…
The Retro Realm (Walsall, England)
The Retro Realm in Walsall flies the flag for freeplay retro arcades here. They purport to be the only one of those in Midlands, although Ted disputes that (The Arcade Warehouse in Lincoln can lay claim there). What’s for sure is that as suggested by their name, the game selection here couldn’t be more different than Lucky Claw, offering arcade-goers in and around Birmingham more choice as it is not too far. Highlights among their lineup from the looks of some photos include Sega Race TV, Dariusburst EX, and a rare twin deluxe After Burner Climax setup.
Star Pins (Coventry, England)
Making what Ted says is a West Midlands hat-trick, this new location also recently opened in Coventry there. Coming from the same company that opened the King Pins locations that have been mentioned before in these posts, this one justifies the name change with different games – where those had a selection of retro cabinets, Star Pins goes for more standard FEC fare, though there’s a healthy smattering of recent video releases too. It hasn’t been announced anywhere as of yet but it’s likely Sega Amusements also furnished this location – a lot of their titles seen at the Gravity locations mentioned above are here too, including a couple you don’t see as often (Drone Racing Genesis, Men In Black).
Level Up (Rodez, France)
Not the most original name for this new French bar arcade, but it can serve for some representation outside of the UK here. There’s no photos of this one out there yet besides one of the exterior added by the location to their Google profile though, so what games they are mostly a mystery. At the very least InterGame reports that they have a few obvious classics in Mortal Kombat, Pac-Man and Street Fighter 2, as well as some quiz-themed rooms.
FEC Openings & Updates
Hollywood Bowl Reports Record Revenue – Ted compared these to the “D&B of the UK” in the AH Discord, in that they have locations all across the country and some very redemption/Raw Thrills-heavy arcades
Bandai Namco Amusement Europe Installs A Game Room At Topgolf Watford (UK) – Sounds like they’re open to StepManiaX tournaments
Archie’s Atomic (A UK Burger Brand) Opens A Roller Rink FEC In Manchester, UK – Yet another new location stocked by Sega Amusements
Arcade Club UK Celebrates 10 Years
Immersive Baseball Concept For London
Nikito Domus, Rosny-sous-Bois, France
Italy’s Biggest Game Museum Has Cabs
Kooglana Opens 3rd Location In Croatia
Gamestate Acquires Legendary Arcade Venue Circus Zandvoort In The Netherlands – It will close down in April, then re-open Summer 2025
Asia/Oceania/Middle East
Whilst growth is broadly strong across Asia, it’s hard not to ignore the impending loss of the famous Kyoto fighting game mecca A-Cho this time. That location has been much loved by fighting gamers both in Japan and overseas, particularly for their early adoption of using the Internet to send out videos of their titles (many over here got their first look at various obscure Japanese fighters in action this way). Sadder still is how there aren’t really any new openings of its type to replace it – just more established chains expanding further with largely crane-focused locations, despite some interesting new developments with their concepts here and there. Hopefully things change in Japan someday though…
GiGO Tateishi (Tokyo, Japan)
Over a year ago now, GiGO had to make another unfortunate closure of one of the old Sega locations, High-Tech Land Sega Tateishi. This one was not business-related as it was forced on them by council redevelopment plans; it has taken some time to do so, but they have now finally opened a new center in that area to take its place. All the charming colorful décor it had (you can see some of it in these photos by Arcade Tokyo) sadly hasn’t made it over, but those thinking this brings only UFO Catchers with it would be wrong, as its upper floor houses all the major Japanese rhythm, racing and network games, as well as a few Taito NESiCAXLive2 and Sega APM3 cabinets (no exA though…).
In other Genda GiGO news, they have now integrated their karaoke business with locations proper after hoovering up a company in that side of things a while ago, and made so many announcements of other new acquisitions and how their business is going well that it’s getting hard to keep up 😛
Feedy Diner & Arcade (Osaka, Japan)
‘Eatertainment’ is something that hasn’t really taken hold for arcades in Japan, with no real Dave & Busters equivalent, but that could be about to change. As well as a recent renovation to Namco’s flagship Tokyo location to accommodate more food and drink, and a new nightclub with a crane game zone at the Grand Hammer food and leisure complex in Shinbashi, Aeon Mall (known for their family-focused Molly Fantasy centers) has just launched a new concept in Ibaraki, Osaka – Feedy Diner & Arcade. This fuses a retro American diner with a big arcade, comprising cranes, medal games, and a selection of titles more of interest to AH readers (Maimai DX, Initial D, BEMANI games etc).
If this place and Aeon Mall’s other arcade locations interest you, stay tuned for AH for an upcoming special report focused on them from one of our best overseas contributors…
Namco / Joypolis Sports + Sonic Stadium (Kai Tak Mall, Hong Kong)
Namco and Sega’s rivalry is the stuff of legend, and though it doesn’t quite play out in the same way nowadays it can still happen in places. The latest example of that is two new locations from overseas Hong Kong affiliates (Namco Enterprises Asia and CA Sega Joypolis) opening right next to each other in the very same mall. Namco’s location (pictured below) is more a traditional family-oriented arcade, whilst the Joypolis Sports concept is marking its first location outside of Japan with a flagship ‘sportainment’ offering of a ninja zone (featuring Sega’s interesting Ninja Trainer Arcade), dynamic themed bar, and a Sonic Stadium with a kids play area and Joypolis attractions like Sonic Atheltics.
Space Arcade PH (Pasay City, Philippines)
If you’re in the Philippines and are looking for a gamer’s arcade, this place looks like it has got you covered. With a futuristic, stylish look, they have the biggest and best versions of several brand new video games, along with some Chinese VR systems that I am not super familiar with, besides a couple of them being the VR Agent ripoffs we saw pop up after its release. Some of the video games include 4x Asphalt Moto Blitz DX, Halo: Fireteam Raven 4P, 4x NFS Heat Takedown (Wahlap model), and more. Most interesting of the rest, this “Star Wars” shooter by an unknown Chinese company that we previously saw at the GTI Asia China Expo in September – lawsuit bait of the highest order…
FEC Openings & Updates
Round1JP Abandons Pre-Paid Card Experiments Already – This didn’t last long. Despite attempts, it seems that the concept just won’t take in Japan…
GiGO Arcade Cafe Osaka Adds More Retro Game Offerings – Another one for the ‘GiGO’ and ‘eatertainment’ files. We mentioned this one a few months ago, but all it had in the retro area were several tabletop cabinets. That’s now changed with neat original machine selections (Harley Davidson King of the Road, Punch Out, Lucky & Wild)…
Bandai Namco Unveils Themed Areas For Taiko No Tatsujin & Fishing Spirits At Namco Wonder City Minami-Kumamoto
Saitama Leisureland Omiya Opens With 200 Of The Latest Cranes, 50 Video, Music And Driving Games
Masti Zone FEC Opens In Dwarka, New Delhi, India
Timezone Opens At The Lucky Chinatown Mall With 70+ Games
Timezone Opens A Store At Ayala Malls Vermosa In The Philippines
Timezone Opens At The SM Mall of Asia, Pasay City, Philippines – Space Arcade up above has a little competition to start
Dave & Busters Opening A Location In Bengaluru, India
Funworld Frenzy Opens In Jakarta, Indonesia
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 In 2025
More New D&Bs Planned For California
Quarter Drop Arcade Opening Jan. 25th In Cottage Grove, OR
Downtown Flavortown Coming To Myrtle Beach, SC
Barcade Opening Their 10th Location Spring 2025
Andretti Karting & Games Expanding Across The US Through 2026
