Mutatis Mutandis

Arcades. No one really bothers to go to one anymore. They are all on the verge of extinction in the US. Even if one wants to go to one, they quickly disappear in a flash. They existed for a short while in malls as just another form of entertainment to people. They were small and were missing many elements of a normal arcade. Its quick fun, but only for that moment. If you want a quality arcade you have to drive miles to a city called Ontario to find them (If you live in Los Angeles, California). They are Dave & Busters and GameWorks. Both have pretty good selection to choose from. But again they both were missing something. The fun. Dave & Busters may have the food, but GameWorks has the out-of-ordinary games. Even then it still doesn’t add that missing element.

Maybe its that bar that they both have. I think I have it. These places were made for drunk adults. Less activity and more for the adults who are intoxicated. This is what happened to the arcade that was once a weekly hangout for kids in the 80’s and early 90’s. Yeah, I think it was our fault. We got old and created arcades for our older beer drinking selves. What a huge mistake. We seem to have lost our inner child within us. Where does one look to rekindle our childhood and regain the fun of an arcade. Does one look toward the arcade fun we had at Chuck E Cheese’s? No. We don’t.

Today, while strolling aimlessly through Twin/Lone Pine Mall (aka. La Puente Hills Mall) and going through clothes stores with the family; from a distance I saw hope. Hope at which at first I thought was some sort of strange looking store that was probably some new clothing store similar to the awful Forever 21 (Here comes the hate comments). But after ignoring it for an hour and coming upon a flyer for a new type of entertainment center, I searched for it. I came upon it. Once you stand right it in front of it; it is no closing store, but the hope we all need. It was a Bowling Alley and Arcade center hybrid called Round 1. But it was also more than that.

Now believe me, in words it just sounds like your regular old Bowling alley were you see a small section for an arcade. Its way more ambitious than that as you can see from the entrance:

Not convinced? I took some pictures inside:

Very sorry for my very poor cell phone camera, but here is the huge arcade for Terminator Salvation. That is actually a projection screen.

Rambo game with actual cut scenes from the movie! Insane!

Area dedicated to fighting games including such games as: Street Fighter 2: Hyper Fighting, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, Street Fighter IV, Tekken 6, Dragonball Z and lots more.

5 year old kid owning the other guy (in the pic before) playing Street Fighter IV.

Domo crane game for the win. The blue fuzzy thing on the bottom were random Cookie Monsters. Extra bonus points there.

No way! Toy figurine prizes! Others had Transformers, The Dark Knight, and as you can see Barbies.

Food prizes! Wait what?

An Ice Cream crane game? Wait, what’s going on here?

Random prize machines. Still weird.

Japanese photo booth areas? Oh, I see what’s going on here.

So almost as soon as I saw the food prizes and these photo booths: It dawned on me. There was only one place in the world this arcade could be inspired from: Japan. Its also not inspired. This place, this company is originated in Japan! We have our answer to the revival of arcades in the United States. It is Round 1.

There are many things Japan take from our culture to theirs, but there are many things they have taken from us and can make it ten times better there. One of them that is still widely successful in Japan are the arcades. This can only be the beginning. Round 1 not only makes D&B and GameWorks look like Chuck E Cheese’s, but in Japan so does this one. Both are equally insane things to say but completely true. In Japan, Round 1 makes D&B and GameWorks look like small insignificant arcade places in malls (To be fair, they kinda are already).

Here is a floor map of all 7 floors of the many things to do in Japan’s Round 1. Yes. I said 7 floors:

Now, I don’t mean for us to get lost forever in a place like this in America, but I also think its something we need. I think this can be very fun for Americans. Is this a crazy idea? Yes. Do we need one? Probably. I’m sure as time goes on we could later expand and make it quasi-similar to that. Knowing us, we would do exactly that and half-ass it.

To see more and clearer pictures of the American Round 1, click here.

For the main Japanese website of Round 1, click here and later translate it to understand the craziness that goes on.

If you rather not, here are pictures of the Japanese Round 1 instead.

I almost forgot to mention. The bowling area uses a new system to get bowling shoes and to register. If you click on the link for the clearer pictures of the American Round 1 there is a place near the entrance called AutoShoeser. This is where you get your shoes. American Round 1 is also much bigger than it looks, as seen in the pictures. There is a separate area for Darts, Ping Pong, Pool, and even Karaoke. By the way there's better pricing than that for games once your inside.

This may not revive traditional arcades, but it certainly takes it in the right direction in America.

Live on: [American] Round 1.

You had a good run GameWorks.