The beloved New York City arcade Chinatown Fair closed last month after three decades; its owner, Henry Cen, will open a new arcade, but it will be in a different location, with a different focus, and evidently with fewer games.
https://lastchance.cc/historic-new-york-arcade-closure-is-rumor-started-by-a-5766183%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
The New York Times, in a profile in today’s edition, says Cen will open “Next Level” in Brooklyn. While it will cater to the fighting game crowd that made Chinatown Fair a famous attraction, it won’t carry the kind of cabinets that make an arcade a hangout.
https://lastchance.cc/chinatown-arcade-an-unlikely-place-for-tolerance-5600791%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Next Level is not yet open to the public. It’s located in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, on “the first floor of a modest residential building,” which also is a departure from Chinatown Fair’s grimy, hole-in-the-wall digs.
Cen intends for Next Level to attract star players of fighting games. Projection screens streaming video game tournaments and a bubble tea service will also be installed. Cen is confident that the fighting game culture is enough to make the arcade sustainable.
“Fighting games attract one thing: people that want to be respected,” Cen told the times. “There’s a lot of people in life that don’t get respected for a lot of things they do. So they have this pent-up anger, then they walk in the arcade, they play a fighting game, and if they beat someone, they gain their respect. And with that, it builds camaraderie. Respect is the most important thing in life.”
For Displaced Gamers, a Light on the Horizon [The New York Times]
