Location Watch July 2026: New Arcades Open Their Doors Around The World

Welcome to the July edition of Location Watch, the series of posts here on Arcade Heroes that curates all of the new openings in arcades that we can find from across the world. Today’s post keeps up the trend of these only being done bi-monthly so far this year, but the good thing about that is that there is always plenty that has built up to pick and choose from. We couldn’t ever do this all by ourselves, so a hat tip as always to InterGame Online and RePlay Magazine for their rolling updates, as well as our loyal readers for sending in their own submissions, including Pacsonic, Jdevy, and more. If you have any that we may have missed, don’t hesitate to forward it us 🙂

North America

A quick word before we get started

As I’ve been looking at the various arcade locations in this edition and their websites and/or social media, there has been a noticeable uptick in the use of AI when it comes to representing their game selection and facilities. I’m not talking about graphic design for websites or posters to promote deals(related, but separate issue), but AI-generated images showing what should be the arcade itself, instead of what a facility has if you show up.

Instead of saying “don’t do it,” my question is…”why?” If you can’t afford to hire a photographer, just staging a decent photo of your games or party rooms, or front desk area using your phone and family/friends/employees/customers is not difficult to do or to learn how to do. What benefit are your customers getting out of you representing your venue through a caricature over the real thing?

I would argue that a real photo, even staged, is more authentic than an AI representation of the same thing. When I see a business using AI in the place of the game machines or facilities that they have, it feels like I’m being catfished, as they don’t want to show me what they actually have. People are always more drawn to authenticity over a farce. Show your customers your value, not a representation of what that value is, and they’ll respond positively.

As they say in writing fiction, “show, don’t tell.” Be proud of your business and what you’ve built. That will help your business find success over the “fake it til you make it” method.

No, not everyone we’re talking about today does this, but for those that do, or are tempted to, consider that in your marketing.

Anyways, onto the show:

Gatcha Ktown (Manhattan, NY)

Let’s start with a super-sized opening in New York City, where the rising Asian bar arcade chain Gatcha already has some locations – but none as big as this new, five floored flagship one. Once you look past the claw cranes on the first floor, you can find one of the freshest selections of new arcade games out there, with a basement featuring some of the very latest releases, and an upper mezzanine level filled with rhythm games. As well as all the arcade fun, there is also two floors dedicated to an esports arena. As he got to visit its soft opening, the great S1ckH4ndsRBN has had his tour of the place up for a month now, which is well worth a watch if you haven’t seen it already:

Arcade Time Entertainment (Wellington, FL)

Another major chain on the scene right now is Arcade Time, and they threw open the doors on their latest Florida location just over a month ago. This isn’t quite their biggest one, with that honor going to their 24/7 Orlando location that opened late last year, but it is an instance of an existing place finding a much bigger space in the same mall, and moving there. Press release

Level Up Arcade (Fountain, CO)

This place is hardly the first or last to have the name of Level Up Arcade (even in the article you’re reading right now…), but setting that aside, they have have a few classic games from the ’80s & ’90s, and as you can see, newer stuff like Raw Thrills’ Batman, Dirty Drivin’, and Guitar Hero Arcade; they also have a few pins, also hailing from both old and new (newest I can see is Toy Story 4). Find them on Facebook.

Clever Unicorn Pinball (Capitola, CA)

To pinball-focused spots now, and one that’s been open for just a couple weeks can be found in Capitola, California. They tout having “SEVEN DECADES of pinball and some classic video games.” I can’t find an exact number of games for their selection, but I would guess the 30-40 range for pins. As has become common in certain places these days, they are not open every day of the week, but they do have tournaments on Wednesdays. Find them on Instagram.

Vault 66 Pinball (Springfield, IL)

This next new pinball joint is in one of the main American heartlands of arcade gaming, their name being a reference to the popular game Fallout. This location is combined with their neighbor, Dumb Records, where they both feature an entry fee/free play model for fourteen games on the Vault 66 side; eight pins & three video pieces over on the Dumb Records side. They also have old & new, although not quite going back seven decades. From the sounds of it, Dumb Records has been hosting games for a long time, so this is a kind of expansion to that, under its own ownership.

Tilted Cone Arcade (Okeechobee, FL)

It’s not every day you see an arcade with an ice cream parlor open up, but these brave souls have gone there. The story & their website doesn’t say if they section off the food from the games, although the banner at the top of their website implies that there are no restrictions (I’ve had ice cream dropped on my games before, even though I have a strict no food/drink rule that some ignore, which is why I bring it up).

That aside, they have a selection of newer games, four pins, some Raw Thrills titles, a Pac-Man’s Pixel Bash and a few others you can see in the photo, blending the modern arcade setup with ice cream. It looks like they have a good amount of space to expand as well.

Planet Novak Rewind (Spotsylvania, VA)

This one is in fact a sister location to an existing place, which focuses only on claw cranes. Planet Novak Rewind is the yin to the original place’s yang, in the sense that it only has retro games, albeit largely in aftermarket reproduction cabinets. If the name sounds familiar though, that is because it is owned by industry content creator Clint Novak, who alongside his own channel appears on The LBX Collective from time to time, where AH has its own Arcade Corner. Find InterGame’s coverage here.

Boss Battle Games #2 (Ottawa, Canada)

Finishing the NA wing of locations off with a couple of excellent Canadian spots, the first of the two marks an existing arcade’s first expansion into further afield. Boss Battle Games now have an outpost in Ottawa, in addition to their original Indianapolis base. This has actually been franchised out to different ownership, but bears the same name and does appear on the website (with a fun Street Fighter vs Xmen theme). InterGame have some coverage here, and this video takes a tour around the place on its soft opening; the games include the likes of Razing Storm, Initial D Arcade Stage 3, a six player X-Men, a rare Motor Raid, and a ton of pinball:

Pixel Paradise Arcade #2 (Barrie, Canada)

Finally, for our second Canadian opening, this is an example that is particularly pleasing to see as it is one that a reader of ours, Chris, had been working on for a little while. Again marking the expansion of another independent arcade (their first was in Angus), Pixel Paradise is a real labor of love, which is easily borne out in its game selection that runs the full gamut from redemption and present day games, to varied classics like Crazy Taxi, Time Crisis II, and a big eight player San Francisco Rush 2048 setup, plus some older rhythm games that you don’t see every day. Their official channel has a video tour here, and local media has also covered them.

FEC Openings & Updates

Dave & Buster’s Open Their Newest Location In McKinney, TX

D&Bs Also Look To Save Their Business With… Adult-Only Raves?

Pinstack Opens New 61,851 Square Feet Location In Sterling, VA

Duck & Roll Duckpin Bowling Alley + Arcade For Wayne, VA

Amusement Connect Furnish Kansas City’s New K1 Speed

GENDA Kiddleton Opens Two New Mall Game Rooms In New York

Cineplex Opens Fifth Playdium FEC Location In Vaughan, Canada

Rack N Play Arcade Opens In Twin Falls, ID With Lots Of Odd Cabinets – This looks like a single step up from Arcade1up, using custom cabs with 60-in-1s and AI generated images instead of photos of their party room. It is not impossible to get your hand on real classic cabs.

Are Aladdin’s Castle Making A Comeback? Apparently So – Lol at this article having to clarify it isn’t being funded by a memecoin currency

The Original Brooklyn Barcade Is Set To Close In The Next Few Years – This is very, very advance notice, but keep it in mind if you want to visit soon

Europe

Continue Arcades (Derby, England)

It’s been mentioned on here before a few times that the East Midlands of England haven’t been great for arcade locations, which happens to unfortunately be where AH co-contributor Ted is based out of. However, they did get an NQ64 bar arcade in Nottingham last year, and now one of their other cities finally has an arcade to call its own. Continue Arcades have largely been opening their freeplay places in the south of the country, but with them being a franchise operation, a new wing of the business has opened up with this one, and they plan to expand elsewhere. From the looks of this video and Ted’s photos they have a pretty solid foundation to work from, although the building is apparently without air conditioning (!) for now…

Level Up Arcade (Barrow in Furness, England)

Far away from the East Midlands, this next new freeplay arcade opening in England is sadly one of several that has got AI graphics plastered over their entire online presence, but when it comes to the location itself it doesn’t look too bad. Some of their selection of games can be seen in this post, with some unusual looking upright wooden cabs (unsure of the maker) running great choices of games in the form of Metal Slug 3, Puzzle Bobble, Final Fight and more. Find them on Facebook here, and their website at this second link.

GlitchCafé (Rebecq, Belgium)

Now to Belgium, where our friends at Arcade Belgium have once again given a helpful tip to the latest opening over there. It seems that one of the better ways in which an arcade can sustain itself through other means is by launching with a cafe component, and it seems to be working for this one, with it complimenting original cabinets of Sega Rally, Street Fighter Alpha 2, Time Crisis and more. They have a nice website here, and can be found

FEC Openings & Updates

Mega City FEC Opens In Slough With 130+ Games From Sega Amusements

Bandai Namco Are Revamping Their Namco Funscape Trafford Centre Site

Racecraft Sim Center Opens In Peterborough, England

New SpeedPark In Rennes, France Has InterCard-Powered Arcade

Italy’s Lot Of Games Launch Fifth Location In Sardinia

Asia/Middle East/Oceania

GameOn Arcade Arena (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)

Last time we only had one main location for these parts of the world, and it’s been a struggle for this post too, but one is better than none. This new Malaysian opening is an add on to an existing entertainment center, though the arcade is independent enough that it stands alone here. In terms of the games, among the more standard redemption fare they have also got Sega’s Maimai DX, Chunithm and Initial D, plus a whole area dedicated to Marvelous’ Pokemon Mezastar. Always interesting to see places rely on it so much over there, with it not being available at all outside of Asia still…