July brought another varied group of arcade and family entertainment openings, from dedicated retro-themed venues and mall arcades to bowling centres, cinemas and indoor theme parks. Here is a worldwide round-up of locations that were newly opened, reopened or expanding during the month.
For Australian readers, these developments also show how modern arcades are blending classic video games, new releases, pinball, redemption machines, bowling, food and other attractions. Explore more arcade news on the RETROCADE Arcade Blog.
North America
Back To The Arcade — Allentown, Pennsylvania
Allentown now has another arcade venue, adding to the city’s growing reputation as a destination for arcade fans. Back To The Arcade uses an 1980s-inspired theme but reaches well beyond that decade in its game selection.
The line-up includes classic titles such as Congo Bongo and Tapper, 1990s favourites including Mortal Kombat and The House of the Dead, and newer attractions such as Let’s Go Jungle, Fast & Furious Super Cars and the 2008 version of Sea Wolf. The venue also has new pinball machines. Visit the venue’s official website.
Castlecade West Towne — Madison, Wisconsin
All Castle Games has continued expanding its mall-based arcade operation with Castlecade West Towne inside West Towne Mall. A further venue was planned for Brookfield Square Mall in Brookfield, Wisconsin.
The venues have no entry fee and combine video games, pinball, redemption attractions and merchandisers. The operator was beginning to move from tokens to card-based play, while mixing recently released machines with older stock. West Towne opened with Toy Story 4 pinball and also featured Dead Heat, H2Overdrive, Injustice Arcade and Super Alpine Racer, along with a possible exA-Arcadia machine. Locations are listed on the operator’s venue page.
Expressway Food & Fun — Sophia, West Virginia
Expressway Food & Fun opened in a 4,000-square-foot space, giving the local community a comparatively affordable place for food, parties and arcade entertainment. The photographs suggested that there was room for the game area to grow.
Its machines included Big Buck Hunter, The Fast & The Furious, Fast & Furious Super Bikes, Jetpack Joyride, Nicktoons Racing, Road Burners and San Francisco Rush: The Rock, as well as at least two older pinball machines. Further details appeared in this local news report.
Cinergy Entertainment — Wheeling, Illinois
Cinergy opened its first Illinois venue in Wheeling, bringing its cinema, dine-in and arcade format to a ninth location. Most of the company’s other venues were in Texas.
The size of the arcade and its complete game list were not stated, although photographs showed a substantial area with modern video and redemption attractions. Cinergy’s website also displayed Raw Thrills’ unreleased Mario Party Challenge World at one of its venues, probably in Tulsa, Oklahoma rather than at the new Wheeling site. More information is available through Cinergy’s website.
Bowl-A-Rama — Panama City, Florida
Bowl-A-Rama was a reopening rather than a brand-new business. The centre had been destroyed by Hurricane Michael in 2018 and returned under new ownership, with bowling remaining its primary focus.
A smaller game room was also part of the reopened venue. Its main website provides further information.
Underdogs Cantina — San Francisco, California
Underdogs Cantina is a sports bar and grill with a Mexican food menu and a compact arcade area. The entertainment selection included two crane machines, an IceBall alley bowler, Big Buck Safari, H2Overdrive, Terminator Salvation and at least one NASCAR pinball machine.
Visit Underdogs Cantina online for venue details.
Dave & Buster’s and Main Event
A broader chain update indicated that some Dave & Buster’s venues could be renamed Main Event. The proposed direction was notable because the reverse conversion might have been expected, with Main Event sites changing to the Dave & Buster’s brand.
A new Main Event venue also opened in Brownsville, Texas, following what was described as the company’s strongest soft opening to that point.
Europe
Pathé Games — Lieusaint and Marseille, France
French cinema operator Pathé began introducing an arcade concept attached to its movie theatres. Pathé operates sites across Europe and in Tunisia, and the Games format adds arcade entertainment to the cinema experience.
The first location opened in Lieusaint at the end of May, followed by a Marseille venue. Six more locations were scheduled to open before the end of the year. There was no admission charge, and play used tokens. Games were grouped into Family, Gamers and Vintage categories.
Reported examples included Halo: Fireteam Raven, Mario Kart Arcade GP DX, Minecraft Dungeons Arcade, Overtake DX, Speed Driver 5 and Super Bikes 3. The published game list did not make clear whether every title appeared at both venues. Additional information was reported in French coverage of the openings.
Babylon Park Camden — London, United Kingdom
Israel-based operator Babylon Park opened its first UK venue in Camden as part of a wider European expansion. The 35,000-square-foot site follows an indoor theme-park model, combining arcade games with rides and a full indoor roller coaster.
Games are distributed throughout the attraction rather than separated into obvious categories. The selection included Jurassic Park, Milk Jug Toss, Super Bikes 3, Nitro Trucks and SpongeBob Soccer Stars.
The Game Box — Arnhem, the Netherlands
The Arnhem venue became the seventh Game Box location in the chain. It was positioned as a family-oriented entertainment venue and offered more than 50 games, including Mario Kart Arcade GP DX, SpaceWarp 66 and StepManiaX, together with several pinball machines.
Details for this specific venue are available on The Game Box Arnhem page.
Asia, the Middle East and Oceania
Timezone — Indooroopilly and Parramatta, Australia
Timezone expanded its Australian network with two new venues: one at Indooroopilly Shopping Centre in Brisbane and another at Westfield Parramatta in New South Wales. At the time, the two openings brought the Australian total to 53 locations.
Sparky’s Bowling — Jizan, Saudi Arabia
Sparky’s Bowling, a sizeable Saudi Arabian bowling-centre chain, opened another venue in Jizan, a Red Sea port city near Yemen. The business also had a location in Sudan and further openings planned for later in the year.
The available information did not specify the arcade line-up at Jizan, although the venue was expected to feature a modern mix of attractions. The opening was covered by InterGame Online.
Announced and Upcoming Venues
- Bally’s was planning a Las Vegas Strip arcade with more than 80 games for autumn.
- OWENS Entertainment was preparing to open a family entertainment venue in Hastings, UK, during summer.
- Round1USA was headed to Glendale Mall in Arizona.
- Pinball Long Island was planned for Patchogue, New York, in autumn.
- A family entertainment centre was planned for Antigua.
- Andretti was approved for an indoor go-kart and entertainment venue in Arizona the following summer.
- Bowl Central was planning its third venue in Reading, UK.
That concludes the July 2022 location round-up: a month spanning dedicated arcades, bowling venues, cinema complexes, sports bars and large indoor entertainment destinations. New openings remain valuable indicators of where arcade games are finding room in the wider leisure industry.
At home, players can explore arcade machines, compare options in the Arcade Machine Buying Guide, or consider a space-saving bartop arcade.
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