Arcades in Calgary

[ganked]

Just wondering which malls have arcades, and if calgary has the Battle Gear 4 with clutch or if its the older version withought

[ApexDrift]

arcades in calgary are a thing of the past only vids is ee now are in the movie theaters

[Trini]

http://forums.beyond.ca/showthread.php?threadid=186006

[blueToy]

Speaking of Arcades .


Any of you ( us ) old timers on this board remember a place on Northmount Drive called Ganges ? They were a pretty popular place in their time , located just beside CB drive in .

Cheers

[Sorrik]

any one remember wizard's castle in the Sunridge mall, or that huge one that they had in Malbourgh? :D

[Skyline_Addict]

Anyone remember Wizard's Castle in market mall? :rofl:

I got kicked out of there once for well, kicking a machine that ate my quarter. I think it was Final Fight.

God, this makes me sound old. But I was only around 5-6 at the time, haha.


Anyways, the Cove has OK games. The games mostly cater to junior high junkies (Dance Dance Revolution, that drumming and guitar game) and unorthodox fighting game fanatics (Guilty Gear, Street Fighter, etc.). They also have Maximum Tune machines, usually occupied by asians with spikey hair. If you want to play foosball and pool, those are there too.

[mboldt]

Where is The Cove?

Is there still the arcade at the university?

*Edit answered my own question right there haha. Should've read that other thread first.

I'm dissapointed that eau claire is gone... I haven't seen many arcades with maximum tune or initial d... movie theaters are about all there is left now... that I have seen around atleast.. however I haven't been looking around much.

[JordanEG6]

theres really nothing anymore except Cinescape.

Nothing beats East Street in Sunridge hahaha...old school :D

[Crymson]

There's that shifty looking one on the C-train line. I'd image that "shakers family fun centre" must have some arcades as well?

[CaptainReboot]

Originally posted by Sorrik
any one remember wizard's castle in the Sunridge mall, or that huge one that they had in Malbourgh? :D

Haha...I remember the one in Marlborough. It was called Laser Illusions I believe.

[Gainsbarre]

Originally posted by Skyline_Addict
Anyone remember Wizard's Castle in market mall? :rofl:


Yes! Wizard's Castle. I also have fond memories of the one closest to where I live (at North Hill Mall) called "Cosmic Corral" (if I recall correctly). I'm not sure if they were gone during the big renovation that the mall had in 2000, or right before it, but they were definitely gone after the renos (they were approximately where the TD Canada Trust is right now).

Ya, the only ones I see now are the Cove at the U of C, and this little one ("The Gallery") just east of the church on that shitty block between 1st street and Centre Street S.W. I doubt that it will be around much longer though ...every time I've waited for the C-Train on the 1st street S.W. platform I notice that the place is deserted, except for this one guy (presumably the owner) standing by the window, gazing outside at nothing.

[beyondpinoy]

the only arcade are the theaters, and maybe shanks

[Trini]

pity there isn't a place like Playdium Mississauga ON
www.playdium.com

[sputnik]

Anyone remember Laser Illusions?

[rmk]

was the place under the escalator at southcentre laser illusions? i remember that place you could pick out your NES games and play them.

also there used to be a place at chinook centre back in the day with games, food, etc. that place was cool.

[403Gemini]

Originally posted by rmk
was the place under the escalator at southcentre laser illusions? i remember that place you could pick out your NES games and play them.

also there used to be a place at chinook centre back in the day with games, food, etc. that place was cool.

Pretty sure it was, man those were the fucking days, i used to have birthday parties there... it used to be HUGE.

Gotta love how console gaming and things like xbox live and playing over the internet has killed social interaction hey?

[CaptainReboot]

Originally posted by rmk
was the place under the escalator at southcentre laser illusions? i remember that place you could pick out your NES games and play them.

also there used to be a place at chinook centre back in the day with games, food, etc. that place was cool.

I think there was a Laser Illusions in Southcentre behind the escalators. I don't remember anything about picking NES games though.

What about Chuck E Cheeses? Don't they have arcade games? There's that one that opened by Sunridge Mall.

[rmk]

Originally posted by 403Gemini
Gotta love how console gaming and things like xbox live and playing over the internet has killed social interaction hey?

Yeah, no shit. Those were the fuckin' days. The dude would walk around with the coin dispenser on his belt and pump out the quarters for you (when they did cost 25c)

Yeah, when you walked in, on your left hand side they had all the tv monitors, controllers and seats where you could play games.

i remember the place at chinook was called Easy Street. :thumbsup:

[Fivewayradio]

Originally posted by blueToy
Speaking of Arcades .


Any of you ( us ) old timers on this board remember a place on Northmount Drive called Ganges ? They were a pretty popular place in their time , located just beside CB drive in .

Cheers

I don't remember what it was called, but I remember the arcade a pool hall there right beside CB drive in. I used to go there when I was in elementary school. Would have been the early 80's. I remember all the old classics quite fondly: Jungle Hunt, Tron, Qix, Tempest, Battle Zone, Galaxian, Beserker, etc. I can even still recall the music from Moon Patrol.

[403Gemini]

Originally posted by rmk


Yeah, no shit. Those were the fuckin' days. The dude would walk around with the coin dispenser on his belt and pump out the quarters for you (when they did cost 25c)

Yeah, when you walked in, on your left hand side they had all the tv monitors, controllers and seats where you could play games.

i remember the place at chinook was called Easy Street. :thumbsup:

Remeber the days you'd hop on your bike with the game you rented in your backpack and went to your buddies house and played all day?

Yeah, good luck finding a co-op game now that you and a friend can sit in the same room and play... on ONE console. a lot of multi player games require you to "link up", wtf is that shit! Im not going to haul over my xbox just so i can take it to my buddies and play in his living room while he plays in his bedroom :rolleyes:

[gmoney82]

Originally posted by JordanEG6
theres really nothing anymore except Cinescape.

Nothing beats East Street in Sunridge hahaha...old school :D

Cinescape=closed

[Masked Bandit]

Originally posted by sputnik
Anyone remember Laser Illusions?

Yep, I used to work for them way back when (not in Calgary).

Did the staff here have to wear those ghey Star Trek looking vests?

[Spoons]

No no no you guys are all forgetting the sweetest place that was ever open.

Fud Ruckers! You could get a monster burger for cheap, and play a shit load of arcade games. You were given tokens with your meals and you could collect tickets to get some prizes, back when prizes were actually sweet enough to spend countless hours behind that fucking jackpot machine, hoping that one time, you will hit the jackpot.

[bigboom]

easy street was the king of all arcades in calgary.

[Gainsbarre]

ok, speaking of Easy Street (at Chinook Centre), how long did it last for? I think I first heard of it around 1993-1994, and it was gone by 1996-1997. I don't remember it being around for very long at all.

[5hift]

haha east street was the shit. It was kinda lame how you'd spend all this money to pile up tickets, only for it to be enough for some small pos toy.

I remember I had one friend whose job it was to unclog kids from the tube slides. Lol cant get much worse than that.

[JordanEG6]

Originally posted by Gainsbarre
ok, speaking of Easy Street (at Chinook Centre), how long did it last for? I think I first heard of it around 1993-1994, and it was gone by 1996-1997. I don't remember it being around for very long at all.

Im pretty sure it was around '96 at the latest. I remember crowding around and/or playing Killer Instinct and Mortal Kombat II back in the day in the Arcade section of Easy Street, both Chinook and Sunridge.

Also, I remember some kid asking where I got a pair of shoes I was wearing, which were released around the same time shortly before they closed. *sign* those were the days.

[dragonone]

is there a reason for so few arcades in calgary?

[rmk]

didn't easy street have KI and MK in their own mature section? :rofl:

[freshprince1]

Lazer Illusions @ Southcentre FTW!

[dj_rice]

Easy Street, hahahaha, I loved when the games that gave out tickets would fuck up and give you shitloads of tickets....I still have Easy Street tokens I havent used :banghead:



Originally posted by dragonone
is there a reason for so few arcades in calgary?


Prolli due to the fact that theres the Wii, Xbox360, PS3 consoles out, and they prolly dont even make enough profit to cover the rent/utilities and etc...



Originally posted by rmk
didn't easy street have KI and MK in their own mature section? :rofl:


IIRC, KI and MK were just positioned at the front of all the other arcade games, meaning, all the kiddy games were along the wall, while KI and MK were in the centre of the arcade room

[benyl]

Originally posted by dragonone
is there a reason for so few arcades in calgary?

Um... XBOX, XBOX 360, PS, PS2, PS3, Jaguar, Sega Genesis, NES, SNES, Gamecube, Wii, PC, Internet, etc...



I am sure there are many more reasons.

[dj_rice]

Wizards Castle/Laser Illusions in Marlboro :rofl: :rofl: They had some policy where if you were caught there between 8-3:30 and were under 18, they would call your school/police and then u were banned from there IIRC

[KLCC]

Where is the new COVE location? Last time when I was at the U, I thought COVE was replaced by OPA!(the greek resturant) :confused:

[Skyline_Addict]

Originally posted by KLCC
Where is the new COVE location? Last time when I was at the U, I thought COVE was replaced by OPA!(the greek resturant) :confused:

It's right next to the Subway which is right next to OPA.

[izzoblitzo]

Originally posted by JordanEG6


Im pretty sure it was around '96 at the latest. I remember crowding around and/or playing Killer Instinct and Mortal Kombat II back in the day in the Arcade section of Easy Street, both Chinook and Sunridge.

Also, I remember some kid asking where I got a pair of shoes I was wearing, which were released around the same time shortly before they closed. *sign* those were the days.

damn, those were the days... I still have a stack of tickets from Laser Illusions that I never got to trade in for prizes...

They had a Laser Illusions at Eaton's Centre back in the day, and my cousin and I would pretty much waste our allowance there. You'd walk in, and they had the benches to play the nes/sega games (mostly birthday parties), and then they had this HUGE screen for the special of the month.. usually Mortal Kombat II, KI, and at one point, Virtual Fighter 2.

ah... yes.. memories...

Easy Street was all dressed up like a large treehouse... their downfall was after building Sunridge after the success of Chinook.. then they went belly under. I think they would have folded sooner or later anyway... but it was an awesome place to be... you could play minigolf there.

Laser Illusions was decorated with exposed piping and diamond plating everywhere... like you're on a spaceship.

[Mibz]

Easy Street was around until at least '98 because I would go there during lunch breaks in grade 8. I remember one kid we knew played House of the Dead so often he could beat the game on one loonie and get like 97% headshots.

[Gainsbarre]

Alright, I'll answer my own question. After a quick search of Calgary Herald archives, it looks like the Easy Street at Chinook was in operation from October 1993 to about October 1996 (the last article says that they're ceasing operations and liquidating assets to pay back loans)...this was the most recent article I could find about the Chinook location, so it looks as if they never re-opened (plus this coincides with about the same time I think it closed...)

-------
NEW LOCATIONS
Calgary Herald
Monday, October 25, 1993
Page: C2
Section: Business
Byline: Herald Staff

...
Easy Street Adventures (Banquet Rooms) 6455 Macleod Tr. S.W.
...
---------------------

And then...

------------
Easy Street bumps along rough road
Calgary Herald
Saturday, October 5, 1996
Page: G9
Section: Business

Easy Street is anything but that this weekend for a Calgary entertainment company with financial woes.

Easy Street Adventures Inc. revealed Friday it has agreed to cease operating and liquidate assets to help pay back a loan to Alberta Treasury Branches.

The amount of the loan wasn't revealed and company officials could not be reached for comment. The transaction is expected to close Oct. 31.

Easy Street reported a loss of $716, 868 for the 36 weeks ended Aug. 4.

The company operates arcades in Chinook Centre and Sunridge Mall. The Chinook location was still open Friday afternoon. An employee reached by telephone wasn't aware of the financial problems.

Trading in the company's shares on the Alberta Stock Exchange will be suspended pending reactivation of the business, which management is hoping to do at a later date.



Idnumber: 199610050039
Edition: Final
Story Type: Business
Length: 137 words

[omagedon]

Well, I used to be a big arcader back in the time, I used to spend 10-20 bucks a shot every time I went in the arcade. That made me realize I should work in Cinescape (Eau Claire) when it first started to save me cash LOL.

Well, the only big arcade now that is still open amazingly is on 7th AVE and 1ST SW (just by the church).

Just don't go there at night LOL bad people go in there LOL.

[dragonone]

Originally posted by benyl


Um... XBOX, XBOX 360, PS, PS2, PS3, Jaguar, Sega Genesis, NES, SNES, Gamecube, Wii, PC, Internet, etc...



I am sure there are many more reasons.

how come arcades are still so prevalent in asia and places of asian influence like vancouver than?
i'm adding that to the things i like about van

sounds to me all u guys wouldn't mind an hour in a nice arcade in calgary

[Nav13]

I had my birthday in Easy Street, cant remember what birthday though. There also used to be an arcade in Northland Mall, but that closed down ages ago. Never knew the Eau Claire one closed down though, that sucks, it was a pretty good one, it use to have Ferrari 355 challenge with the clutch pedal, which really didnt do much but it was the first arcade game I know that had it.

[omagedon]

Originally posted by dragonone


how come arcades are still so prevalent in asia and places of asian influence like vancouver than?
i'm adding that to the things i like about van

sounds to me all u guys wouldn't mind an hour in a nice arcade in calgary

You sure?? I was in Hong Kong/Thailand and Vancouver this summer and everywhere I went (including Malls), I didn't see a single arcade.

[JordanEG6]

Originally posted by omagedon


You sure?? I was in Hong Kong/Thailand and Vancouver this summer and everywhere I went (including Malls), I didn't see a single arcade.


Theres actually one at Metrotown in Burnaby. It's an aright size. I see asian kids playing initial D all the time haha

[dragonone]

HK - WTF! There are arcadeS at every single community/station! who took u around lol there must be more than 50 arcades in mong kok alone!

there's 2 arcades right on no.3 road in van
i mean richmond:dunno:

[msommers]

Boogie's Burger still has Joust and that old Pac-Man table setup:D

[04es]

I used to blow $20 at the arcade all the time, freaking DDR... makes me sad there's barely anywhere to play it now...

There's tons of arcades in vegas, but I guess it makes sense there, I miss easy street though, that place was bad-ass...

[rage2]

Originally posted by Nav13
I had my birthday in Easy Street, cant remember what birthday though. There also used to be an arcade in Northland Mall, but that closed down ages ago. Never knew the Eau Claire one closed down though, that sucks, it was a pretty good one, it use to have Ferrari 355 challenge with the clutch pedal, which really didnt do much but it was the first arcade game I know that had it.
Ferrari 355 challenge was insane. I spent about $50 a day at the Shanks NW one to figure out the perfect Suzuka lap and how to sneak thru traffic. A buddy of mine introduced me to the game and he had set all the top times there. It took me about 2 weeks, but I managed to knock all his times off by a good 8 seconds thanks to figuring out how to get into 1st place by the 5th corner. The game was designed with realistic difficulty... you weren't supposed to get into 1st place until lap 2 but you can use cars as moving barriers in turn 1 and get some wicked distance. Those records stood for years before the game was gone lol.

My all time favorite game was street fighter 2 thanks to my asian heritage. I'd spend 25 cents and last literally 3 hrs beating up all the round eyes :rofl:.

[omagedon]

Originally posted by dragonone
HK - WTF! There are arcadeS at every single community/station! who took u around lol there must be more than 50 arcades in mong kok alone!

there's 2 arcades right on no.3 road in van
i mean richmond:dunno:

You serious? I been to a ton of stations in HK (if you mean subway stations) and I never seen an arcade unless of course its tucked in the corner. When the last time you been there? Maybe I wasn't looking for it and my friend is not much of a gamer. Mong Kok? I been there about at least one week out of four weeks I was there.

LOL, I remember I was in University a long time ago. I used to play SF during the times I was supposed to be in class since nobody could beat me LOL and I had so many challengers...

I remember all the round eyes who tried to cheap shot me during their turn...I always used to give the second round if I won the first round. But when they cheap me no second round :)

[403Gemini]

Originally posted by omagedon


You sure?? I was in Hong Kong/Thailand and Vancouver this summer and everywhere I went (including Malls), I didn't see a single arcade.

Thats because they arent in malls, they're actually buildings to themselves and they're fucking huge... when i was in japan we went to a place iirc was called sega world or something. I couldnt believe how huge the place was

[freshprince1]

I'm going to miss laughing at the hardcores getting crazy on DDR, I can't beleive people would humiliate themselves like that, especially when they get going two at a time....:rofl: :rofl:

[JordanEG6]

Originally posted by freshprince1
I'm going to miss laughing at the hardcores getting crazy on DDR, I can't beleive people would humiliate themselves like that, especially when they get going two at a time....:rofl: :rofl:

hahaha, at Metrotown in Burnaby/Vancouver, I saw some round eye with a white tee, black pants and a Fadora (hahaha, who does he think he is, Justin Timebrlake or something?!?) playing DDR by himself. He was pretty into it, he was moving his arms and everything
:rofl: :rofl:

[403Gemini]

As embarrasing as it is to play DDR it's actually an INSANE work out... but id never play it in public, just get the floormat for home haha

[copynpaste]

Originally posted by gmoney82


Cinescape=closed Whats in that space now? Not surprised, that place was a huge rip off to begin with.

[blueripper6]

Originally posted by rage2

Ferrari 355 challenge was insane. I spent about $50 a day at the Shanks NW one to figure out the perfect Suzuka lap and how to sneak thru traffic. A buddy of mine introduced me to the game and he had set all the top times there. It took me about 2 weeks, but I managed to knock all his times off by a good 8 seconds thanks to figuring out how to get into 1st place by the 5th corner. The game was designed with realistic difficulty... you weren't supposed to get into 1st place until lap 2 but you can use cars as moving barriers in turn 1 and get some wicked distance. Those records stood for years before the game was gone lol.

My all time favorite game was street fighter 2 thanks to my asian heritage. I'd spend 25 cents and last literally 3 hrs beating up all the round eyes :rofl:.

That ferrari game is insane! I want one in my house lol. too bad the one at shanks is broken:thumbsdow and has been for sometime. you can do paddle shift but it just isnt the same.

If you could find a cheap old building and open up a playdium in it. You would make money for SUREEEEE. So many cities have them, calgary doesnt though.

[adam c]

where in metrotown or is it at the movie theatre?
i was there a couple weeks ago and didnt see it... im heading out there again next in a week and a half

[JordanEG6]

Originally posted by adam c
where in metrotown or is it at the movie theatre?
i was there a couple weeks ago and didnt see it... im heading out there again next in a week and a half


I Think its beside that auto accessories shop (Over Drive I think?) and Old Navy on the Upper Level. The level below the theater. its called CHQ Entertainment

[403Gemini]

I went to a mall in spokane that was about 4 levels, and the entire lower level (basement level) was an arcade. was pretty sweet!!!