Welcome to the latest edition of Location Watch, a regular series here on Arcade Heroes that covers the news of brand new arcade locations which have opened from all over the planet. That has the caveat of only being locations that we hear about, but thanks to various readers, and other arcade news sites like RePlay Magazine and InterGame Online, we do our best at keeping this comprehensive.
If you missed the news on our previous Location Watch posts from this year:
- Location Watch Japan Special
- Location Watch February
- Location Watch March
- Location Watch May
- Location Watch July
North America
Barcade #10 (FiDi, Manhattan, NY)
The Barcade (as in, the owners of the trademark and the chain), have now opened up their tenth location, and per S1ckH4nds’ tour here, it’s one of their best venues to date. One thing that was already making some waves online is their setup for Midway’s The Grid, a game that always grabs a lot of attention in the rare instances where its found. You can read more about this location on this Facebook post.
Arcade Time #5 (Orlando, FL)
For another location that is turning into a chain, Arcade Time has this new location in Orlando, which includes customized game cabinets for all of their retro pieces (in quite an extensive section on the second floor), while also sporting a big selection of what you would expect to find at an FEC right at the front. The “retro” area might be a misnomer for me to use, as that second floor does have some newer games, including a StepManiaX DX, the latest PIU, and some others. It’s surprising to see a triple F&F Arcade setup (which is on the first floor) instead of a dual or quad. I passed by this place while at IAAPA last year; perhaps I’ll be able to give it and the similarly nearby Arcade Monsters a chance this year. You can also see this video on Facebook and this Instagram reel.
IronBlast’s Game Zone (Washington, PA)
Retro game stores have it tough these days, so what better way to respond to those pressures than to add something that you can’t get at home – an arcade. They have several 1980s and 90s video titles, along with a selection pins that also spans the decades, the oldest appearing to be the first Star Trek and the newest appearing to be The Mandalorian. You can find them on Facebook
Back To The Nineties (Corvallis, OR)
It does feel like the 1980s nostalgia wave has mostly passed now, and so we’re firmly onto the 1990s, to which this arcade/bar is playing up with their game selection and name. It doesn’t appear to have any pinball, but if you’re into video titles from anywhere within the decade, they appear to have many of the bases covered there. They also have various 1990s shows/cartoons playing on projectors across the walls. Visit their website here.
Gatcha #5 (King of Prussia, PA)
At first I thought that this was just another crane arcade, but the locations of emerging Asian barcade chain Gatcha do always happen to have a really nice selection of rhythm games, including DanceRush Stardom, Jubeat, and Pump It Up Phoenix 2024. They also have several other newer video games, albeit hidden behind a sea of the usual prize machines and such.
Shy Guys Coffee-R-Cade (Royersford, PA)
Also in Pennsylvania is this new spot which has a strong retro selection to it, but instead of the bar arcade route, they’re beverage of choice is coffee. They do appear to lean harder into the classics than some of the others we’ve mentioned so far, as the newest game I caught from the pics on their Facebook page is Time Crisis II.
Chuck’s Arcade #10 (Brea, CA)
Last but not least out of this section is the latest widely publicized opening of the “adult version” of Chuck E. Cheeses, Chuck’s Arcade, over in Brea, CA. It appears that this is smaller than people had been expecting, and many eyes in the industry are going to be paying attention to this to see how things pan out with this experiment. Their expansion has certainly been quick with it though, with this being the tenth location to date (although some have been renovations of existing CECs).
Also on the topic of Chuck E. Cheeses, it was posted in our Discord that all CEC locations in Peru have closed, effective today. The closure message doesn’t get into any details, but I am guessing that there must be some kind of unusual political situation that is causing this either internally or externally at the company, as you generally don’t close all locations simultaneously like that in a single country. If we can find out more, we’ll post an update on this story in the next Location Watch.
FEC Openings & Updates
Discussing The Challenges That The FEC Market Is Facing In The Near Future
Dave & Busters Opens In Spokane Valley, WA
Main Event Opens In Taylor, MI
Genda’s Kiddleton Looks To Expand Even More
Lucky Strike’s Revenue Grows In Q4 Results
America’s Incredible Pizza St. Louis Closes Its Doors
Claw Factory Opens In Salem, OR – Borderline inclusion being just another clawcade…
Europe
Totton Arcade (Southampton, England)
Much is still being claimed by some news outlets about how arcades are dying – sometimes even suggesting the entire out-of-home entertainment sector is in a ditch – but occasionally they like to hold one random example up as an exception to the rule, and this is what recently happened with Totton Arcade, a new family-ran location in Southampton, UK. They are notably coming into a place with some competition, as the High Score Arcades chain already have a location there (which won out against another place called Nu Game, who we mentioned before), however with them using competitive pricing, perhaps they’re well placed to one-up them. Find their website here.
ML7 (Newcastle, England)
UK urban bowling alley chain Lane7 have been a pretty constant presence in the FEC Openings & Updates links, thanks to them often including arcades, and from them now comes a new concept, ML7. From the sounds of things this places more emphasis on it being a barcade, though they have clearly hedged their bets somewhat by still including a smaller bowling section. Check out a tour of the place here.
High Score #10 (Newport, Wales)
Already mentioned above in relation to Totton Arcade, High Score’s expansion of their brand of freeplay arcades keeps rolling on, now including Wales in their remit. This has their usual mix of games from all three decades of the current century, with pieces as varied as Outnumbered, Dancing Stage Fusion, Hummer, Jet Blaster, Luigi’s Mansion Arcade, and much more. Their prices remain on the steeper side, but are probably what’s needed to break even with being a new freeplay location these days. Find their webpage here.
FEC Openings & Updates
Genda Makes Their First Major UK Arcade Purchase With Inspired Gaming, Operators Of 100 Amusement Arcades & 150 Mini Locations – It was bound to happen eventually, but this really shows how Genda is truly becoming a global operator.
King Pins Opens In Leeds, UK With A Sega Amusements-Stocked Arcade + Free Bowling Promo For Anyone Named “Colin” – One of the stranger campaigns a place like this has done…
Gutterball Opens In Lincoln, UK – Again with plenty of newer Sega games
Non-Profit Spanish Arcade Relocates
Zero Latency VR Comes To Germany
Asia/Middle East/Oceania
Plenty of openings in Australia/New Zealand this season, for some reason…
1UP Arcade (Woolloongabba, Australia)
One thing the media loves to do when an arcade closes down but reopens soon after is completely ignore that last part, or make it less of a focus for those doomscrolling clicks. It is how it is, but here we have one of those cases where a much loved location has managed to come back in a new form. Australia’s 1UP Arcade (one of their most prominent retro locations) made its grand return at the start of August after closing in May, and it sounds like fans are very pleased with the new venue. Find their Facebook here.
Bay Arcade 2536 (Batemans Bay, Australia)
A wholly new Australian arcade this time, with slightly less of a retro focus but still heavily inspired by the ethos with a smattering of Space Invaders-like neon and a few classics like Pac-Man. Check out this local news story about them, which goes into detail on how they got the place up and running.
Timezone (Auckland, NZ)
Timezone’s persistent expansion continues with this new Auckland location for New Zealand, among others. This one is worth special mention though for the nice efforts it makes in being a destination for core players of Taiko no Tatsujin, DDR, and Maximum Tune… although that last one is set up a little weird in this photo below, with two unlinked Asphalt 9 DXs breaking up the two four player setups:
FEC Openings & Updates
The Island Of Naha, Okinawa In Japan Gets A New GiGO
Taito Opens Their Fifth & Sixth Hong Kong Locations
A Whistle Stop Tour Of South Korean Arcades
Another Game Palacio For Delhi, India
Round1 Closes Shanghai Location
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
Round1USA Opens In New Jersey Mall Soon
Timeline Arcade Opening Location #3 In September
Malibu Jack’s Comes To Ownesboro, Kentucky In 2026
FastTrax Opening Large FEC In Florida
Indie Darlings Aiming To Open In San Francisco, CA Next Year
Superbowl UK & Sega Prize Zone For Basingstoke
VR Arcade With 6 Games To Open In Brittany, France
Pop Culture Arcade In Netherlands Opens Sept. 1st
Chuck E. Cheeses Looks To Open In Joondalup (Australia) On September 6th
