Believe it or not, the classic video game arcade is not a thing of the past — at least not in the Valley. (No sooner had I moved to Colorado than the arcade in the Pueblo Mall shut down.) Sure, my childhood haunt at Chris-Town in Phoenix closed years ago (along with just about everything else in the mall), and the recent closing of Cade Gallery left a gaping hole in the Valley bleep and bloop scene. But others remain, including a truly classic multi-level arcade at Castles N Coasters in Metrocenter’s outer circle (pictured).
Man, now I’m getting homesick.
For you desert dwellers, the blog Phoenix Gamer maintains a helpful annotated list of arcades in and around Phoenix, with photographs. I’d like to see it in map form, of course — but this is a great start. Check it out. Among other fun features you can find on their blog, you can watch a recent performance by local 8-bit music gods The Minibosses performing tunes from the “Castlevania” series.
(Updated to remove links because blog is defunct and home to spam links.)
