Today, I went to Round 1, which you probably know is a large chain of arcades and bowling alleys. I haven’t been to an arcade in a long time, and the last several times were at a Dave and Buster’s, so I thought it would be interesting to check out the games on hand and try to win some prizes. Here’s a brief discussion about what I saw.

Compared to the arcades I went to when I was a kid, there’s a much bigger emphasis on claw games at Round 1. I’ve always liked claw games though, so this was a lot of fun for me. They come in many different varieties. There’s your standard claws that pick up a stuffed animal or figure. There are ones where you have to push a box over the edge. There are ones where you have to align a pole so that it fits into a perfectly sized hole. Stuff like that. I had the most success from standard claw games, and actually won five different plushies. I got a Squid Game themed teddy bear, a small Squid Game guy, a Kirby, a dog in a samurai outfit, and a purple Pac-Man.

There’s also several games for winning tickets that can be exchanged for prizes. These are the sorts of things I used to see growing up. There’s stuff like skee-ball, and a big wheel that spins and lands on the amount of tickets you get, and other things that I’m sure you’ve seen before. My favorite was a big toilet that you have a limited time trying to throw fifty small balls into. You’re encouraged to scoop up as many as you can and throw them all at once. Over time, lids with smaller holes close on the toilet, making it harder to get the balls in.

And of course, there are actual video games. I checked out a Halo game that was pretty cool. It seemed to take place before the events of Halo 1, since you’re on the ship from that game defending it from attack. They also had a bunch of one on one fighting games, including a machine with Marvel Vs Capcom 2 on it. This was pretty cool to me, although I thought it was weird that the machines all only had one set up controls on them. Wouldn’t you want to play against someone in an arcade?

My favorite game that I played though was Godzilla Kaiju Wars VR. In the game, you’re in some kind of flying vehicle, zooming around and shooting tons of monsters. You can choose between two different missions, one focused around Manda and one on Megaguirus. These are really weird choices, in my opinion. But hey, it’s kind of cool to have some of the lesser known monsters highlighted. I did the Manda mission. The thing that impressed me the most was the sense of space. Yes, the game isn’t photo realistic, but it really feels like you’re flying past and shooting giant monsters, including Godzilla, who is very imposing.

Overall, this is a pretty different arcade experience from the ones I grew up with. But the spirit of walking to different machines and playing a quick round of something is still alive. I had a great time today and will definitely be back.