172 lbs. of marijuana found in a crane game

Drug runners will use pretty much anything to hide the transport of their “products” – that’s no secret. It is slightly surprising to read this story of a Las Vegas man who was transporting marijuana in the bottom of a crane game however. Obviously the drug would not have been used as an actual prize (of course I guess that depends on where you find yourself in the world) and the crane game was simply the cover being used but I know that it would be surprising if you were expecting the delivery of a game and you happened to get it before the drugs inside were removed, although that would probably be a very rare occurrence. In this case the police were on top of what was going on and arrested the man involved with the scheme, although I have to believe that there would be more people involved here so who knows if more games are being used for this sort of trafficking.

[Via The Daily Herald.com] [Discuss on the Forums]

Bang Back: The Pinball Movie

It’s been a little while since we had any pinball news – I have been waiting to see what Stern’s Big Buck Hunter Pinball is supposed to be like (which I hear is their next game). But while pinball news is slow, it’s not dried up completely, as indicated by this new documentary on the man who at one time was the best pinball player in the world – Rick Stetta. The trailer below is a rough cut but it’s still worth a watch. I do not know when the film is supposed to be released but I imagine that it will be soon.

[Found on ThePinballBlog.com] [Discuss on the forum]

The 5 best arcades still in business (in the Chicago area)

Whoever the contributors are to Examiner.com, they seem to be taking an interest in rating arcades in their local areas lately and here is the latest “Top Whatever” list of the best arcades in a certain area. Last time it was in the Detroit area with the top 10 or 11 places, this time it’s in the Chicago area. If this continues to be a trend then there will probably be too many articles to mention but I think it’s great that some people are noticing arcades that are still open in their area where players can usually find some new games.

Here’s the list. If you live in the Chicago area, do you agree?

[Discuss on the Forums]

Arcade biz in Texas closing it's doors Friday

With all of the news lately of entertainment facilities opening their doors, I had hoped that we wouldn’t hear about any closures but sadly that is not the case. An arcade in Abiline TX is closing it’s doors Friday and auctioning off all of the games next month on the 22nd. Called Fantasy World, it seems to have built a nice following in the city (according to comments in the article as well as in the comment section afterwards) but not enough to break through for what the owner wanted. It’s worth noting how the owner mentions the high prices for machines as a factor in closing his business – it can just take too long to pay some games down in certain circumstances, which is something I can empathize with. In fact I am closing my own doors on Friday, but only temporarily as we sell some games, pay some debt down and move to a new location.

Anyways, I am not sure how far Abiline is from other areas that have arcades (like Arcade UFO) but if Fantasy World was the only arcade in the area, perhaps someone will pick up the pieces and open a new facility in it’s place.

[Via Reporter News] [Discuss on the Forums]

Arcade biz in Texas closing it’s doors Friday

With all of the news lately of entertainment facilities opening their doors, I had hoped that we wouldn’t hear about any closures but sadly that is not the case. An arcade in Abiline TX is closing it’s doors Friday and auctioning off all of the games next month on the 22nd. Called Fantasy World, it seems to have built a nice following in the city (according to comments in the article as well as in the comment section afterwards) but not enough to break through for what the owner wanted. It’s worth noting how the owner mentions the high prices for machines as a factor in closing his business – it can just take too long to pay some games down in certain circumstances, which is something I can empathize with. In fact I am closing my own doors on Friday, but only temporarily as we sell some games, pay some debt down and move to a new location.

Anyways, I am not sure how far Abiline is from other areas that have arcades (like Arcade UFO) but if Fantasy World was the only arcade in the area, perhaps someone will pick up the pieces and open a new facility in it’s place.

[Via Reporter News] [Discuss on the Forums]

New FEC opens in the Tampa Bay area – Xtreme Adventures

The new FEC location announcements just keep pouring in and this one comes from Tampa Bay area in Florida. What used to be a gym has now become a 6,000 sq. ft. entertainment facility for families and in addition to the arcade featuring “an assortment of the latest arcade games” they also have a large lazer tag arena, a climbing wall, miniature bowling, a café and naturally a large ticket redemption area.  They even have a variation on Laser Tag that I haven’t heard of before called Lazer Frenzy where you have to traverse the arena while avoiding the colored beams that fire come from all directions. It’s always cool to see someone trying out some new ideas with something as tried-and-true as laser tag is so we wish them the best of luck and from the news article detailing the business, it sounds like they are already “bringing the bacon home” so to speak.

[Via TampaBay.com] [Xtreme Adventures Website] [Discuss on the Forums]

Plenty of new games to be seen at Sega's "Private" Show in Japan

Sega recently held a ‘private’ show in Japan where they showed off some of their latest offerings for the amusement market and thanks to the internet, that show is not so private after all.

It should be noted that this show intends to show off products that are primarily intended for the Japanese market, but that doesn’t mean that you couldn’t see some of these games making at an appearance at certain arcades where they like to import games. One of the major attractions at the show was Shining Force Cross – a new RPG entry into the market that also makes use of Sega’s new Ringedge hardware. The game will make use of Sega’s ALL.Net so you can have cross-arcade play and it even features a tutorial as it sounds like the game is a tad complex, but for many RPG fans that is a good thing.

One title at the show that certainly carries some international interest (minus in the United States) is WCCF 08-09. Admittedly I do not much about this game as I have never seen one in the US although I am sure that Twisted Supreme or Heavy Electricity could elaborate in more detail what it is about this latest title that makes it different/better than previous iterations of the title. Obviously all of the big teams from around the world will be on here with updated player rosters. The description on GameWatch mentions something about “finally a real-time network game” but I do not know what they might mean by that since I thought that previous titles also could be networked together.

One interesting revelation was that of a police chase racing game, sort of like Chase HQ2 but it’s targeting a younger market and two players can race on one cabinet. Sega also has developed a companion light-gun title to this one with a similar cabinet design but it has mounted guns and a different game based upon the same story as the first game. Too bad they don’t link together.  I am kind of surprised that we rarely see kids cabinets made by the larger arcade companies unless it’s in Japan, you would think that there would be some sort of market out there for arcades and children.

There were a few more games that Sega showed off, so if you are interested in finding out more, click here [Via Game Watch]

Plenty of new games to be seen at Sega’s “Private” Show in Japan

Sega recently held a ‘private’ show in Japan where they showed off some of their latest offerings for the amusement market and thanks to the internet, that show is not so private after all.

It should be noted that this show intends to show off products that are primarily intended for the Japanese market, but that doesn’t mean that you couldn’t see some of these games making at an appearance at certain arcades where they like to import games. One of the major attractions at the show was Shining Force Cross – a new RPG entry into the market that also makes use of Sega’s new Ringedge hardware. The game will make use of Sega’s ALL.Net so you can have cross-arcade play and it even features a tutorial as it sounds like the game is a tad complex, but for many RPG fans that is a good thing.

One title at the show that certainly carries some international interest (minus in the United States) is WCCF 08-09. Admittedly I do not much about this game as I have never seen one in the US although I am sure that Twisted Supreme or Heavy Electricity could elaborate in more detail what it is about this latest title that makes it different/better than previous iterations of the title. Obviously all of the big teams from around the world will be on here with updated player rosters. The description on GameWatch mentions something about “finally a real-time network game” but I do not know what they might mean by that since I thought that previous titles also could be networked together.

One interesting revelation was that of a police chase racing game, sort of like Chase HQ2 but it’s targeting a younger market and two players can race on one cabinet. Sega also has developed a companion light-gun title to this one with a similar cabinet design but it has mounted guns and a different game based upon the same story as the first game. Too bad they don’t link together.  I am kind of surprised that we rarely see kids cabinets made by the larger arcade companies unless it’s in Japan, you would think that there would be some sort of market out there for arcades and children.

There were a few more games that Sega showed off, so if you are interested in finding out more, click here [Via Game Watch]

Namco's Tank! Tank! Tank! confirmed for US release

While there weren’t many new products revealed at the Distributor Gala in Chicago that took place this past Friday, there were some new confirmations about certain games coming to the US that we only guessed might make it out to territories outside of Japan. One of those games is Tank! Tank! Tank! by Namco, which we have covered previously. Thanks to Lydon Allred at Mountain Coin we have some pics of the T/T/T setup that was present at the Gala. From what I’ve been told, the game was well received at the Gala although presently there is no release date for the game at this time. The game does include a motion base and the steering wheels look just like the ones we saw on Namco’s Tokyo Wars. We’ll be keeping an eye on this one and in the meantime I have added Tank! Tank! Tank! to the Arcade Release List.

[Discuss on the Forums]

Namco’s Tank! Tank! Tank! confirmed for US release

While there weren’t many new products revealed at the Distributor Gala in Chicago that took place this past Friday, there were some new confirmations about certain games coming to the US that we only guessed might make it out to territories outside of Japan. One of those games is Tank! Tank! Tank! by Namco, which we have covered previously. Thanks to Lydon Allred at Mountain Coin we have some pics of the T/T/T setup that was present at the Gala. From what I’ve been told, the game was well received at the Gala although presently there is no release date for the game at this time. The game does include a motion base and the steering wheels look just like the ones we saw on Namco’s Tokyo Wars. We’ll be keeping an eye on this one and in the meantime I have added Tank! Tank! Tank! to the Arcade Release List.

[Discuss on the Forums]