No Country for Old Arcades
Moments after being handed my first set of car keys, I began a ritual that would be repeated multiple times each week for nearly a decade now. I’d grab my cup full of tokens, the latest Super Eurobeat release (it being the style at the time) and proceed to tear through the windy hillside road that exits Livermore, kick the Nissan over four lanes and blaze down the freeway. Thirty-five miles and forty minutes later, I’d find myself at Sunnyvale Golfland: the arcade mecca of Northern California.
I’d like to think that like most good anti-social gamers, I spent the majority of my childhood in an arcade, but talking to a lot of folks I know within the industry, that doesn’t seem to be the case. When I speak of arcades now, in the present tense, I get confused stares and wide-eyed wonder.
“There are still arcades?”
The arcade industry, if we can still call it one, is hurting. No doubt about it. All the advantages that kept us coming to them up until the 90’s are gone, their technological edge having withered. For the young gamers of today, there seems to be little, if any point to venture into one of these dungeons of videogames and that’s a shame. Ten years from now there may not even be any arcades to cry for.
While putting together my current feature, No Country for Old Arcades, two arcades were shut down across two different states. If not now, we’ll never have a chance to tell their stories.
From now until whenever I’m actually stopped, I’ll be traveling around the country in search for the last great arcades in America. Interviewing the operators, talking with the players and attempting to give a voice to a piece of our culture that is slowly and very surely, fading away.
If you have some spots in mind, I’m all ears. I have some truly incredible folks already lending me a hand such as Eddie from Bemanistyle and Seth from Capcom, but any input is good input. Already this feature is starting to gain a life of its own and snowballing into something truly special.
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Jared Rea is a ridiculously nerdy 24 year old freelance games writer living in the Bay Area of California. When he isn't watching Doctor Who or crushing folks with his beasting Zangief, you can find him working on articles for various gaming websites.
Can’t WAIT for this series! Be sure you check out the arcade at Santa Cruz beach boardwalk… oh and if you see any House of the Dead cabinets for sale let me know!!
Also, serious portrait is serious.
Oh, believe me … there are SERIOUSER!
Suggestion: Putters of Rocky Mount, NC.
Has hosted one of the biggest tournaments on the east coast (if I recall correctly.)
There’s not much to it, but there is a lot of history.
I did some Googling for Putters and only came up with one in Washington. Do you know if they have an official website? If not, that’s cool. I can always just pester folks until I get what I need :)
I think, if you can manage it, Funspot is sort of a must-have for the series, even if it is in New Hampshire. I went there long before I learned of its notority, and even then - back when arcades were still fairly prevalent - it knocked my socks off.
And if you’re coming east, there’s something to be said about NYC’s Chinatown Fair, practically the only place there’s fighting game competitiveness left in the city.
Chinatown Fair is also notorious for having a live chicken that you could play tic-tac-toe against. Apparently, it was REALLY fucking good at it too.
Another Eastern Suggestion: 8 on the Break in Dunellen, NJ. One of the only places you’ll find ~10 well upkept pinball machines with a league being run on them every Tuesday, I believe. Also a fairly healthy fighting game community in addition to the modern communities of rhythm-action music games and card-based racing games. Come by on a Friday or Saturday night and it’ll pretty much be hopping.
They’ve been in business for about 35 years, I believe. The website I entered with this post is their quaint website.
I’ve only heard about the legendary 8 on the Break. It’s definitely going on my list. Thanks a lot, Miles :D
How about Tokyo Game Action in Winchendon, MA?
The owner is completely hell-bent on keeping the arcade scene (namely Bemani, fighting, and racing, in that order) alive in the eastern US, and is one of the only places to find and play Japanese/Import games around here. As a friend of mine for many years, I can remember the time when all he had was a small storefront in a seedy part of Woonsocket, RI. It was the size of a closet, but there was probably more rare games in there than all up and down the East Coast. I remember him living on ramen and dollar menu fast food for over a month to save up money and get us Beatmania IIDX Red and GuitarFreaks/Drummania V (yes, both machines).
There is much more information on the website, located at http://www.tokyogameaction.com
I plan on getting in contact with the owner of Tokyo Game Action soon. I haven’t been, but everything I’ve heard reminds me of everything we used to say about Ultra Zone back in the day. I’m totally dying to check it out :)
Well, make sure to post it to the TGA community forums and let us know when you plan to make it out, I’d love to get a group of people out to do this thing properly ;-P
Fanatical Devotion Funtip: Once, a member of TGA hiked from Boston to Winchendon to support a new machine (one of the fighting games, I believe). Took him 23 hours on foot.
This is a great idea, and I look forward to future articles!
I’ve been to TGA once, and it’s as amazing as anyone will tell you. Possibly even better, because the slightly surreal nature of the drive through wooded country roads to Winchendon in order to play obscure arcade games in what looks like an abandoned bowling alley is generally not mentioned.
Thanks Jason. Yeah, I’m almost concerned with what will happen when I fly into Rhode Island. I’ll have to rent a car with a good GPS or something ;)
Matt: Agreed. As I go around I’ll try and give folks as much of a heads up as possible. Not only for photography sake, but along with brief interviews I think it would be really cool to do video blogs with the regulars. It could make for a really sweet series of youtube videos, you know?
You also might want to check out Pinball Pete’s in Ann Arbor, MI.
Also, maybe you’d be willing to post an itenerary of sorts, listing when you’re going to a given arcade. People might even be willing to help out with things like lodging so you can save a little bit of money :)
Although it’s not technically an arcade, I think Adventure Games in Dickson City, PA (it borders Scranton, home to The Office) is worth a look. The one side of the store is your typical shop for LAN gaming/D&D/Magic/etc., whereas the other is a living-room-like setting with an Extreme-turned-StepMania cabinet. For the hardcore dance gamer, couches, chairs, a couple tables for your stuff, and box fans to cool off all that sweat are always very inviting, not to mention a crowd of people who share the same passion. They got their DDR machine in 2003 and I still go there.
The place serves as a testament to players coming back for more when given what they want.
What makes you so sure arcades are really dying? That prediction was wrong before so how is it so certain this time? The problem with arcades is that we gamers have this all or nothing attitude. We never look at a slump in arcade economy as just a slump, we think of this as a true sign that arcades have had it. We make it our mantra that “arcades are dying”. How about a new mantra: “No more whining” or “doom saying is killing arcades”. We really have to recognize that we have something worth fighting for. We’re all reading this for example. What we should do now is something like Jared Rea is doing. He saw a problem and is doing some research. We should join him in actually doing something about the problem. However I suspect that ultimately I think what will happen is we are just going to have to wait out our slump and things will get more exciting afterwards.
BTW: Check out the awesomeness of Rohnert Park, CA Scandia. We got Pump It Up Pro, In The Groove 2, DDR Super Nova, Hokuto No Ken, and Guilty Gear XX
Daniel: If that’s true, then this is one long ass slump ;)
You do have a point though. History has proved that all arcades need is that one, incredible killer app to bring folks back in droves. Pong started us off and Space Invaders caused coin shortages in the 70’s. Pac-Man carried it in the 80’s and Street Fighter II made sure the 90’s were still wildly successful. In the late 90’s, early 2000’s, Dance Dance Revolution brought legitimate, mainstream attention back on the arcades.
To keep on this positive train, there are still developers who are really trying some unique stuff. Namco has the iDOLM@STER and Konami’s Jubeat is really something else. It’s just unfortunate that Street Fighter IV isn’t going to do the trick like people hoped it could.
Yeah it would be nicer if these slumps were just year long slumps.
About killer apps: I think we have a great deal going with the latest offerings from Andamiro and Arc System Works. We have what we need and want. We just need to perfect it. We need to start demanding that our local places buy the new games that we want. We need to demand they get their stuff fixed. We need to encourage people to make social gaming a habit. We need to have advertisements and promotions for good arcades. We need in general to get serious about controlling our own destiny.
Haha, I remember my brother telling me about his trip to TGA one day. Crazy stuff.
Of course, most of my arcade-going experiences from my youth all took place at Fun & Games, I think it was, in Framingham, MA. I’m pretty sure it’s still there, I think I went in once last year, but business isn’t exactly thriving. Still, it was everything an arcade should be. Dark, with flashing lights everywhere, and of course there are the games. Most of them are pretty old by today’s standards, though here and there are some newer ones. Plus, they’ve got laser tag. Who doesn’t love a good game of laser tag? :)
SVGL was good times. I miss the weekly ritual of going there.
Hey, remember the time you passed out on Jumping Pop?
Awesome series, I look forward to reading more. There’s actually some pretty good arcades here in the Seattle area. Look me up if you ever plan a trip up this way.