Sega Republic - Dubai visit.

mclemore

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I just happened to be in the neighborhood, and stopped in at 2 nice arcades in 2 malls in Dubai.

One of the malls, the Dubai mall, has all sorts of wonders. The tallest building in the world (by far), ice skating, tons of shops, the largest acrylic panel in the world (for an aquarium), and a couple fun attractions including 'Sega Republic'.

That's where I ran into the full scale Initial D: http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=189226 and the Storm-G: http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=189229

First some teaser photos.
 

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and some more teasing.
 

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at the entrance...
 

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Everything runs on credits, like a D&B.
 

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How the locals roll...

Sorry that some of the photos in this thread are blurry. I thought they were better than nothing. The photos were taken with my iPhone camera which doesn't like low light very well.
 

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Everything runs on credits, like a D&B.

Those are Embed cards, I'd recognize that barcode anywhere. We have the same exact system at Badger, and rumor has it D&B does too. It's scary, they have something like 50% of the market worldwide. To be honest, the only other cardswipe system I've ever seen, was made by a long defunct company and the FEC that owned it went under too.

They're very, very similar to credit cards in that the card itself contains only an account number, and there's a central server keeping balances and managing transactions. Even the staff cards are like this -- they just have a special status on the server, the game swiper itself doesn't actually know the difference.
 
would you recommend Dubai as a cool family vacation destination spot? Are the customs that much different than here...could someone find themselves in trouble, inadvertently?
Very cool pix, after a quick google it looks like they have a ton of awesome architecture proposed for the future.

Tom
 
would you recommend Dubai as a cool family vacation destination spot? Are the customs that much different than here...could someone find themselves in trouble, inadvertently?
Very cool pix, after a quick google it looks like they have a ton of awesome architecture proposed for the future.

Tom

We had a good time there. In the next few days I'll post a non-arcade Dubai thread in the chat about anything section.

It's a long way to go just for Dubai (though that's what we did for a variety of reasons), but it's easily a stopping point to another destination, like an African safari.
 
House of Dead 4 Special

Ok... I had to resist not creating another thread just for this post. I resisted since this game is a good 5 years old and not quite as decadent as the Initial D.

I've always been a House of Dead fan.

This is about as deluxe a cabinet as a shooter is going to get.

Walk up...be impressed. Cool graphics.

You have to walk under the guillotine to get access to the bench to sit.

While playing, every time there is a change in scene (and new monsters suddenly appear), the bench spins 180 degrees (there are 2 large screens, 1 on each end of the game). Each time you spin 180 degrees, you better be ready to start start shooting.

And at least for this one we have 3 TAFA flyers on site:

http://flyers.arcade-museum.com/?page=thumbs&db=videodb&id=5196

http://flyers.arcade-museum.com/?page=thumbs&db=videodb&id=5365

http://flyers.arcade-museum.com/?page=thumbs&db=videodb&id=5856

"me like"
 

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Ping Pong

Can you return the serve?

 

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Bowling and Shuffleboard

sorry for the blurs...

Bowling and Shuffleboard
 

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Golf and soccer.

Golf (driving), golf (putting), and soccer (kick)
 

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See, that place is everything a modern US arcade should be -- fun interactive experiences that can't be reproduced at home. I dream of one day opening an entertainment facility in much the same vein, right here in Wisconsin.
 
Wow, my wife would probably really like that ping pong machine/game.
 
Republic Credits?

Yup... you buy credits on the debit card, and when it runs out you buy more or don't play. Each game can have a different price. The more you buy the more of a bonus you get. See the attached photo. If you put AED 300 on the card, you get an extra 100 free.

AED = Arab Emirates Dirham 1 = 27 cents, so AED 100 = $27.23, AED 300 = $81.68, AED 500 = $136.13.

The games are priced separately from the rides (ie: roller coasters). The 'Power Pass' (all day) covers the rides. Games are pay as you go.

All day pass plus AED 200 credit for games is AED 220 (US$60). The games credit will get you on Initial D 8 times if you played nothing else.
 

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Just more...

Just more photos.... I'm not going to post all I took (nor did I even take photos of everything they had) but it's all a good sample.
 

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and another batch.
 

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that looks like a lot of fun. my in-laws went there last year and stayed at the 'al burj' hotel or whatever it is for a week. they had a good time. i don't know if i'll get there ever as i don't really leave the US on vacations, but it looks cool.
 
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