TO LIVE AND PLAY IN NY

I looked inside, to check out what we’d be missing, and witnessed a sea of deluxe arcade set-ups, mostly Sega games (my favorite brand of arcade entertainment), including almost every single racing title of theirs up till that point (even the ultra rare, in America at least, Sega Touring Car). And the entire space was completely deserted. Where was everyone? At the bar, which was filled with men in business suits all staring at the “sexy” bartender, who was literally standing on the bar. She was pouring what I believe was vodka down her chest, trying to get it to run down her body and onto the one leg that was raised, with the foot hovering over a glass. Mind you that this was when the whole Coyote Ugly bar scene was really hot in the city, and since this woman was wearing really high heels, balancing precariously, high above the floor, and was perhaps drunk (though she looked most definitely like a total idiot) she nearly fell backwards, which might have broken her neck. Anyway, the place didn’t last long either, despite the fact that later on they tried to change things up by making it more family friendly, with the incorporation of redemption games to win chintzy prizes or candy.

Barcode closed its door about 2000, 2001, and not long afterwards another arcade popped up, calling itself “The Broadway Arcade”, despite the fact that it was on 42nd Street, near the Port Authority on 8th Ave, well over a block and half away from Broadway. This “other” Broadway Arcade was more of the same: three stories this time of assorted gaming machines, mostly large, deluxe units, such as Dance Dance Revolution which was starting to become popular in America at the time, as well as some fighters for the hardcore set, more redemption games for the kiddies, and a sports bar area with related games for fathers and business types after work. But despite yet another at- tempt to wrap the arcade experience in a bright and shiny package, trouble still went down. A few doors down was the B. B. King Club & Grill, which played host to a number of musical acts, and often after a R&B or rap performance, a fight would ensue among its more thuggish patrons. They’d get kicked out of the establishment and almost immediately make a b-line to the Broadway Arcade to continue their fight. Violent scuffles would break on a regular basis, causing them to beef up security considerably. Like XS and Barcode before it, despite its glitzy potential, The Broadway Arcade closed its doors a few years later to little fanfare.

Then you had Lazer Park. Located on 46th Street near Broadway, the place was smaller and far less impressive looking than the bright and shining behemoths that XS, Barcode, and Broadway were. It was just a laser tag arena, a purely average one at that, with some video games in the waiting area. The arcade component wasn’t anything terribly impressive and had basically what everyone might expect: some fighting games, DDR, classic stuff, plus redemption machines, along with a Battletech set-up which was a star attraction. But in the end, it worked long enough to stick around longer than any of the other “new-wave” arcades.

Over the years, Lazer Park tried different things to stay alive. I recall in the summer of 2003, the manager brought up the idea of getting involved in the business of selling consoles and games, and asked for my opinion. I basically said that it wasn’t worth the trouble, but in the end, he ended up pursuing it anyway. I can’t say honestly if it was a super successful move, but I never saw many people lining up to take a game home. (It didn’t really help that their selection was hardly stellar.) Another gimmick was “Super Sundays;” for $20 a person could play unlimited games from 7 pm to midnight. While Lazer Park managed to hang in there, perhaps far longer than anyone could have expected, it closed its doors in 2005, after nine years of business. You can still visit its website, and read the message from its owner about how they’re looking for a new location, though it hasn’t been updated for about four years now.

So what do we have left? Not much really, only one sole vestige of the old arcade scene remains today, the Chinatown Fair, on 8 Mott Street, in the heart of Chinatown. It’s become the final true dark corner of the city for gamers to gather. The place feels (and smells) like “the good old days” to a certain extent, though the sights and sounds are very much rooted in the now. It’s actually somewhat similar to a Japanese arcade, mostly due to the selection of games that are designed to cater to its primary clientele. You’ll generally find what- ever is hot in Akihabara (that’s where arcade rats in Tokyo gather primarily) in Chinatown Fair, often stuff that has yet to be officially introduced on American soil, and perhaps never will. Which somewhat justifies the hefty price tag for each game, due to the high cost of importing.

Though for me, the place hasn’t been the same ever since its star attraction flew the coop... literally. Upfront, there used to be a chicken in a booth which one could play Tic Tac Toe against. If the chicken won, he got some feed. If you won... well, I don’t know, because you never won. The feathered bastard al- ways got the first move. The foul was eventually released to a farm in upstate New York due to the pressure from some animal rights activist, so he eventually won his freedom, which is a happy ending and all. But he embodied much of what the Chinatown scene was all about, and the mood and atmosphere in general just hasn’t been the same afterwards.

 

Most folks who frequent Chinatown Fair are fighting fanatics, easily some of the best you’ll find anywhere in The Big Apple. Which to be honest makes the place a pain in the ass for casual players. Anyone who wishes to just to have a little fun and try out some fighter that they might have little or no experience with will quickly find themselves fodder for the aforementioned joystick pugilists that are constantly on the prowl for an easy kill. Which to be honest reflects a primary reason why arcades as a whole are dying breed across America.

Anything else? With no other real arcades to speak of, one must therefore consider businesses that might have a machine or two. Lots of bars have that dual Ms. Pac-Man & Galaga machines for example. Though I don’t know about you, but I feel like a putz noising up some sleepy dive joint with the sounds of ghost chasing and fruit eating. Not that I’m ashamed of my love for games or anything like that, but at most places where I’ve seen them they really stick out like sore thumbs, plus each game is like a dollar and that’s way too much anyway. How about bowling alleys then? Most across this nation usually have a bunch of games on-hand, and New York shouldn’t be any different, right? One surprisingly decent spot for arcade action used to be Leisure Time Bowl- ing Center and Cocktail Lounge, located at the Port Authority of all places, which is the big station at Time Square, where the last remaining porn shops in the area huddle around. It used to have a fairly respectable assortment of electronic distractions, until the whole place went through a massive renovation, with the game room getting completely lopped off. Though according to management, that wing will be back and supposedly better than ever later this summer.

Manhattan has two other bowling alleys that I know off, a brand new upscale establishment that’s on the very western tip of 42nd St, literally right next to the West Side Highway, called Lucky Strike. But they have zero games to speak off, and neither does Bowlmor Lanes & Strike, another hip and trendy hotspot (yes, we’re still talking about bowling) down south, near Union Square, the heart of NYU country. Though the latter may not be too upscale after-all since it’s actually adding a gaming room later this fall!

Then there’s Mars 2112, this goofy theme restaurant on Broadway and 51st. The premise of the place is that you’re dining in outer space, meaning the decor is out of a campy science fiction flick straight out of an episode of old school Star Trek, and stand up comics “from Mercury” bore you death with bad space jokes while you attempt to consume some of the worst food ever. But the most important thing here is there rather spacious game room, with the highlight being the eight player Sega Rally 2 set-up. Too bad that there hasn’t been a new game introduced to that space in ages, and most of what’s there is in piss-poor shape. All the monitors have severe burn-in and blur issues, making any game a headache inducing experience. Also, you have to deal with cards yet again. No thanks.

I suppose Dave & Busters is worth mentioning. There’s one in Times Square, naturally, on 42nd Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues to be exact, almost directly across from where the second Broadway Arcade used to be. And if you’ve been to one, you’ve been to them all. But since it’s in the third floor of a New York City building, it’s considerably smaller compared to their usually spacious restaurant/bar/arcade complex. So the designers unfortunately decided to scale down the arcade component the most, meaning there’s only a few games on-hand, and they’re extremely pricey. But that’s the case with any D&B, regardless of location. At least when something “nerdy” happens in the city, like the New York Comic Con or New York Anime Festival, the organizers like to use the spot to have special gatherings, so it’s sometimes a decent spot to meet fellow gamers en masse (instead of having to play Time Crisis 4 alongside some drunk chick from Long Island, hogging all the first aid packs). Not too long ago, when the King of the Kong was hitting theaters, the hero of the film, Steve Wiebe, tried to set a new world record at Donkey Kong there, and that was pretty neat. I also hear that the ESPN Zone, located on 1472 Broadway, has a bunch of sports related arcade machines at their restaurant as well, though I have yet to personally verify this. Sorry!

Then there’re the not so obvious places, the hidden, almost underground spots. Places that you had to be in the know about. Like Kong Man Center in Chinatown, on 89 Bowery, between Canal and Hester Street, which was this store that sold primarily music and movies from Hong Kong, bootleg anime, plus Chinese manga. There was also this super tiny and cramped room in the back that was filled with Neo Geo MVSs, featuring the latest from SNK and long-standing fan favorites. Unfortunately, they closed shop sometime ago. How about web2zone, on 54 Cooper Square, between Astor Place and 4th Street? It was an internet cafe that had tons of PCs hooked up to allow for net- worked play, which I know doesn’t sound terribly exciting (especially to any- one who is not much of a PC gamer, such as myself ), until you go down to the basement, where they had two authentic Japanese cabinets (meaning that the controls were lower to the ground than American machines, requiring one to sit down to play) running Virtua Fighter Final Tune, an update that never made it out here officially. The few times I stopped by, the place was completely packed; I never once got the chance to play since there was always around twenty folks ahead of me, and the smell would always quickly get to me. I’m afraid the stereotype is very much true, rabid gamers sometimes have issues with hygiene, and the ventilation there was beyond abysmal. It too is out of business, though the idea of an internet cafe in this day and age is a pretty silly one.

I guess my absolute favorite bizarro “arcade” had to be Cake-O, located on Allen Street (I forget the exact building number, sorry), once again near China- town. I first came across it by total accident late one night, while bar hopping, and noticed some arcade machines insides a darkened cake shop. Because the notion of an arcade/bakery sounded so awesome, I immediately returned the next day during business hours, but was sorely disappointed. It was just a ratty, rundown space with only three busted looking arcade units, two Neo Geo MVS, each with just one game, and a MAME computer in an arcade housing. There were actually no cakes to be found, just a few candy bars for sale; the whole time these two kids, huddled around laptops kept staring at me, wondering who the hell I was. There was definitely some kind of illegal activity going on. It’s gone now, but in it’s place is a highly bizarre website that I still haven’t been able to figure out. Just Google the name and you’ll get a bunch of extremely random YouTube vids and a blog about a suspicious look- ing beauty pageant. Further research has produced information regarding a Japanese sweet shop that shared the same name, but in a slightly different location, and which had closed a few years prior to the one I just described. My guess is that they stole the sign or something.

And that’s pretty much it, at least for Manhattan. There’s still Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, even Staten Island. Unfortunately, I’m not familiar with every square mile of all five boroughs, and am pretty sure there’s some stuff on the island that I’ve probably missed. Though I am somewhat familiar with Brooklyn, since I lived there for a few years, here and there. So naturally, I know all about Barcade, which as the name suggests, is a combination bar and arcade. Come for the cheap prices on local ales, stay for the rows of classic games, such as Super Mario, Rampage, and even the old vector Star Wars game. Unfortunately, it’s located dead center in the heart of the trendy section of Brooklyn, Willamsburg (on 388 Union Avenue to be exact), which means instead of arcade rats, the place is swimming with hipsters. And while they may look (and smell) better, their general attitude often leaves a lot to be desired. I remember one time when I wanted to play Atari’s Star Wars, with the wonderful vector graphics and all, some girls who were pissed at their boyfriends for ignoring them in favor of electronic delights on-hand were us- ing it as their place to stew. When I kindly asked them to step aside so I could play, one of them totally lost it and screamed: “YOU F*CKING DORKS ARE ALL ALIKE!” She promptly stormed to the bathroom to do some more coke. Then again, this was a few years ago, well before video games became cool for that group, so maybe now things are a bit different?

If you head south, way south, down to Coney Island, you’ll find a tons of small arcades, again offering a mish-mash of old and new, as well as the relatively obscure. Until recently, it was perhaps the only place on the eastern seaboard where one could find the Sonic the Hedgehog arcade fighting game, though it’s been missing for a few years now. Not surprised since it was practically unplayable, due to a heavily messed up monitor; virtually every machine you’ll find is on its very last legs, which is rather appropriate given that the future of Coney Island as a whole is up in the air, as rich folks who recently bought the land are in the midst of gentrifying it. In that sense, Coney Island has always felt like the place where arcade games finally go to die. But while it’s still breathing, I highly suggest everyone rush to El Dorado Bumper Cars for the last genuine Ms. Pac-Man machine left, perhaps in the entire state, which only costs a quarter a play, plus it’s nice and hard, thanks to the speed injection.

To be completely honest, the best arcade you’ll find anywhere in Brooklyn is my buddy Dave Mauro’s place in Greenpoint. In his kitchen, right next to the fridge, are two Sega Astro City cabinets, imported directly from Japan. Each is stuffed with assorted systems, such as a PS2, Dreamcast, and the Wii, plus a PC, to allow for pretty much any classic arcade (and even console) title you can think of. Not even Chinatown Fair, which is normally on top of such things, has Tatsunoko vs Capcom available for play!
 

 

 

I suppose that more or less wraps up the arcade offerings in NYC. Somewhat sad, I know. But is it at all surprising? As stated earlier, arcades are a dying breed all over the nation, so what would make NYC immune? Unless you live in Southern California, which still has plenty of arcades to choose from, or perhaps New Hampshire, which is where Funspot, the nation’s largest classic arcade is located, your hometown probably has the same problem. Then again, given that one can find multiple places to get excellent Chinese food or see sketch comedy live well past midnight here in NYC, perhaps it’s not that crazy to expect to find at least a few places to play a quick round of Mortal Kombat as well.