GameWorks is no more

[Shaggy the Atarian]

They only had six locations left (by comparison, Dave & Busters has over 130; Chuck E Cheeses had over 1,000 pre-pandemic, down to about 650 now), but the name that essentially created the modern "Family Entertainment Center" is now done for good.

 

Industry expert Kevin Williams penned this article that takes a deep dive into how GameWorks got started and what the future might hold. 

 

I am also working to have an interview with former GameWorks President and COO Cory Hynes here in the next few weeks that I will either livestream or post to YouTube (depends on what he would like to do). It might be more interesting to do the latter so I could make it like the interview I did with Eugene Jarvis a few months back (yeah, shameless plug  ) 

 

 

[Crazy Climber]

We had a gameworks here in MN way back, I never really cared for it but thats because I'm a cranky old man that likes to ramble on about how good things used to be... They did have a Centipede machine though which was kinda cool I guess...

[Keatah]

When I visited GameWorks many moons ago, it felt very formulaic, sterile, planned out. I could feel the business model. The personality of the games seemed to take second place. It wasn't organic or homey. Felt very touristy and manufactured. The complete opposite of cozying up in winter with a stack of Electronic Games magazine and pile of 2600 cartridges in the shag carpeted basement.

 

For a while I was hoping Level 257 would've fit the bill, but it was more of the same. After those two experiences I more or less gave up scouting modern arcades. Much prefer that pile of blankets and hot soup, playing emulators (or real hardware) at home, way into the night.

 

Still enjoy revisiting/rereading my childhood astronomy books. Albeit with a new perspective contrasted and created by modern telescopes like Keck & Hubble.