Charitably you could call me fair skinned, or less charitably ginger. So as a child on vacation I was either smearing sun-block over my blubber or hiding in arcades playing ‘Star Wars.’ Its crisp graphics still burn brightly as one of my earliest memories.

Sadly arcades are dieing, victim to what the home experience now offers. Graphics, online play, peripherals – each one a donut to diabetic arcades. In Japan arcades are kept on a balanced diet to prolong their life. One-on-one fighter fans flock to new releases. Collectable card games, themed from horse racing to D&D, supply distraction for smoking salary-men. The pinnacle of this, Gundam pods, sensory deprivation tanks that supplies the opposite of meditation. 8 people a time, and still you have to queue. A solution, a unique and involving experience, breathing new life into arcades, but could it do the same for arcades outside Japan?

Originally posted – July 4th 2008