Over the weekend Mason and I zipped down to Dallas to visit my friend Justin. One thing Justin wanted to do was take Mason to Gameworks, located in the Grapevine Mills Mall.
Gameworks is definitely a new school arcade. None of the machine there take quarters or tokens; instead, everything works off of a “game card” that you swipe at each machine. I’ve never been a fan of game card systems as they cause you to overspend and it make it hard to keep track of how much money you have left (which is probably the point).
Justin and Mason jumped right in on some House of the Dead 4 action, blowing away zombies. Mason played a little Beach Head 2002 and he and I took turns on the Star Wars Pod Racing machine. (I only took 4th place. The force was not with me.)
In the middle of the room stood two motion-controlled games (Initial D) which Mason took a go at. All I can say is, it’s a good thing that game has a seat belt.
From there, the three of us headed over to the pinball tables. There weren’t too many to choose from (five or six), but they did have Family Guy, South Park, and the Sopranos, so that was fun.
As far as older games go, there basically weren’t any. I saw one lone Frogger machine in one of the company’s custom conversion retro cabinets. I didn’t get a picture of it, but here’s a picture of the same style of cabinets that I took at the Gameworks in Las Vegas.
Other than Frogger, the next oldest game I saw was Mortal Kombat 4. The place is definitely not geared toward retrogamers. Then again, I have a place dedicated to retrogaming in my backyard, so I really shouldn’t be complaining.
One good thing I should say about Gameworks is that I didn’t see a single broken machine. I didn’t experience a single button or joystick that didn’t work. It looks like they really stay on top of maintenance there.
Anyway, fun times and a cool place.
Last week I visited a similar local place – Hinkle Family Fun Center. They have an area called “Nickel City” where you used to pay a $2 admission fee and then get access to a bunch of retro arcade games which either cost a nickel per game or were set to free play. Since my last visit there all that retro goodness has now been largely supplanted by a bunch of card-swipe redemption games and sit-down racers which are no cheaper to play than in the main arcade area. There are a handful of free play games (~4) remaining, the oldest of which was Lethal Enforcers. The old arcade just ain’t what she used to be :(
Those are some seriously ugly classic game cabs!
I was at the Grapevine Mills Mall on Saturday, but the Gameworks arcade was not one of the places I visited! Looks like a fun place for all you kids!
Well, that’s the modern arcade to you! The last Arcadia Festival in Montreal (2008) was held in the former Montreal Forum, which has been converted into an entertainment center with a Future Shop (Canadian arm of Best Buy). The arcade games were set to free play during the festival, so I took advantage of that. Not many pinball tables and no real retro games to speak of…
And that Initial D game seems like something that would give me motion sickness!
Next time you’re in DFW, give me a shout!