Grandmother buys old building in Japan, finds 55 classic arcade cabinets

Grandmother buys old building in Japan, finds 55 classic arcade cabinets

If you wanted to experience arcade games any time over the last forty years then you had to visit the Far East!. The game centers are still there lit up with neon lights all very attractive and Blade Runner like! But you have to go back 20 years to see them at their prime. Now one very lucky arcade fan is experiencing just that right now due to a surprise purchase by his girlfriend’s grandmother.

The grandmother agreed to purchase an old building in Chiba, which is just outside of Tokyo. When they arrived to check out their  building they found out that the first two floors used to be a game center in the 1980's!!. Whoever ran the arcade back then left all the cabs behind when it closed, and it is full of classic and now highly sort after games!

In total there are 55 arcade cabinets, most of which are the upright Aero Cities cabs, but it’s the game boards that they contain that’s the most exciting discovery. The list of game includes the following:

• Columns
• Donkey Kong
• Galaxian
• Magical Tetris Challenge
• Metal Slug X
• Pengo
• Raiden 2
• Super Puzzle Fighters 2 X
• Street Fighter 2 Championship Edition
• Street Fighter Alpha 2 (Zero 2)
• Street Fighter EX 2

There’s sure to be more games discovered as not all of the cabinets are in working order, with monitor damage being the main fault but whatever they find, this lucky gamer has just cashed in his extra credit!!

Skeeball Should Be in the Olympics!

Skeeball is one of the most recognizable games of the past 100 years.  
By Gametimeplayers.com

The objective is simple enough, even for the youngest of gamers to understand, yet the skills necessary to compete at the highest level, or obtain the arcade’s high score for that matter, requires an immense amount of practice and precision.

Unlike Skeeball’s second-cousin-once-removed, bowling, simply hurling the ball down the lane in a semi-straight line will not result in a respectable score. To truly master the art of Skeeball, rolling the ball down the center of the lane won’t give you the points necessary to obtain legendary status. Only painting the corners, where the big points reside, will tally up your score properly. Beyond simply aiming, there’s a depth-perception component to the game of Skeeball that bowling cannot compete with. Skeeball is the ultimate combination of bowling and a game of H.O.R.S.E. Let’s be honest, not all Olympic sports require an incredible amount of athletic ability. Of course the majority do. But then there’s archery; an impressive skill that entails an incredible amount of practice and training. Not necessarily athletic ability though.

To claim Skeeball should automatically be eliminated from the Olympics because of the lack of athletic ability necessary makes the argument invalid. The IOC (International Olympic Committee) holds a vote after each Olympic year to decide which sports will be included at the following Olympics. According to Rule 48 of the Olympic Charter, a maximum of 28 sports can be included. Think back to the games you’ve seen televised: curling, sailing, and archery, to name a few. Adding a sport to the Olympic roster is based on its world-wide popularity. Of the people reading this article, were any of you on your school’s curling team? That’s not to say all the sports mentioned aren’t great fun, impressive to watch and entertaining.

One could argue however, based on popularity alone, Skeeball is one of the most recognizable sports of last century. Simply put, the guidelines placed upon which sports will be included in the Olympics are loose at best.  Playing arcade games, of any kind, requires a certain level of skill; hand-eye coordination being amongst the most obvious. Timing, dexterity, concentration, speed, anticipation, accuracy and multitasking are all sport-related (and real-world) skills the best gamers master. Skeeball, we can argue, requires the greatest combination of prowess. Understanding velocity, inertia, rotational physics, and the lane’s terrain are all crucial to becoming a Skeeball expert. Skeeball is like taking a free throw by rolling it down a bowling lane and off a ramp – 9 times in a row. Turn on ESPN 2 on a Tuesday at 3 in the morning, and you’ll find all sorts of interesting “sports;” Darts, billiards, poker, spelling bees, fishing. Is Skeeball really that different than any of these? 

And even if we can’t agree on adding Skeeball to the Olympics in 2014, the discussion should at least be opened to including video gaming of some sort, in the future. 100 years ago, saying snowboarding should be in the Olympics would have either raised eyebrows, or led to being asked, “what’s snowboarding?” If curling is in the Olympics, and poker is on ESPN, then the least we can do is let the conversation begin.

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