Chicago tribune noticing the New wave of the arcades

gamer12

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"I guess I love how the arcade business has contracted to an underground band of crazies."

This should be the motto of KLOV. haha
 
Good article. They mention all the Illinois arcades and significant game rooms except Star Worlds. That's a crying shame.
 
He's been getting a re-awakening about the concept of local arcades this summer.
He mentions it here- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LM8GS06ghbU

I came back to the video game hobby after experiencing Star Worlds, who has been around since the 80s. Up to last year I didn't believe it was possible to still have a local arcade experience in America.

Glad to see it is turning around even if it is perceived as a bunch of fanatics. :)

I've seen Raw Thrills in 2 locations the past week. a BBH at a theater and a Sport bike game outside a Walmart. That oversized game experience just doesn't capture my imagination. Would like to see something on the market that plays to the intimate game experience like happened in the 80s.

"I guess I love how the arcade business has contracted to an underground band of crazies."

This should be the motto of KLOV. haha
 
I would love to open a local arcade. BUT my COUNTY only has MAYBE 30k people. It would have to be more of a hobby than a business. Oh wait, i'm already doing that and I don't have to yell at people about abusing my machines.
 
Good story.. But I've never need any arcade BITD with Opium rooms in the back, as the article referred to.. Show how outdate the laws and thinking are.
 
I don't know about you guys, but I already own a fully functional arcade, and it's revenue neutral. So I guess I'm not losing money ;)
 
I didn't realize that Chicago had so many "mom and pop" arcades around here.... I guess I need to start visiting them.

Its cool to hear about people trying to bring back arcades, I'm only 29 and was too young to really dump too much money into arcades (guess I'm making up for that now)
Although, I still have great memories of arcades.

Also, I feel like that with emulators and such you miss out on so many games. Its the difference of having a old school juke box vs. an ipod.
Jukebox may have 100 good songs that would never come to mind unless you saw the title card, where as with an ipod you have 50000 songs and you have to seach for something that is already on your mind to play... you never get a chance to rediscover classics or find new ones.
 
Illinois has 7 DEDICATED (meaning they are interested in have games not just for money and they have classics) arcades and barcades that is good...

G12
 
nice article but again they spread this myth that the arcade disappeared after the 80s. Yes it diminished but its not like we've had new arcade releases every year by companies making these for their own personal game rooms.
 
Illinois has 7 DEDICATED (meaning they are interested in have games not just for money and they have classics) arcades and barcades that is good...

G12

Anything close to Aurora?.. I tend to find myself bored out there often after work. Still haven't had the extra cash for an extra monitor for the one arcade I have at my sisters. So something close to atleast kill some time and have fun would be good.
 
If there was no booze in the Emporium I wonder how many people would be there. Of course the other two places they mentioned do not serve alcohol so I guess it is possible to attract people without it.

Personally, I don't know many people who would seek out a stand alone arcade to play these games, other than the other hobbyists here.
 
Anything close to Aurora?.. I tend to find myself bored out there often after work. Still haven't had the extra cash for an extra monitor for the one arcade I have at my sisters. So something close to atleast kill some time and have fun would be good.

Star Worlds is in DeKalb; that's probably the closest one to you. Hop on I-88 and head West.
http://starworldsarcade.com/
 
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Yeah we noticed this too lol. Guess 27 years in business didn't matter to this writer. Tho the same paper did a write up about how arcades were disappearing two years ago. The writer claimed he'd been to Star Worlds and he wrote about all our redemption games LOL. Needless to say that article isn't on our wall of fame.

Pat
 
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We don't serve booze at Star Worlds, never have. Yes we do attract some that are into the hobby, but overall it's just college students and parents with their kids. Younger kids do enjoy the classic games as well we do offer some of the newer games too. We often see groups of girls in too on "girls night out". I guess it's all on how a business is run, we've always been family owned and operated.

Pat
 
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