General Arcade & Retro Chat' Special Championship Edition

johnny_ultimate

Token in Dublin closing next month:

https://www.facebook.com/TokenDublin/posts/pfbid02zrwzW8GqBNjEzPnSuwBkbf5x8pZMCdUCy42tcjcbzC5Z55nQcdWp775zAZngUfMjl

They had that hidden note on their website that they were going through some sort of finanical stress processes a while ago - it had disappeared so thought they were through the other side, but obviously not.

The place was always packed any time I'd been there, so sad to think it wasn't viable (albeit a few years of pandemic disruption didn't help). Had my issues with there - including lack of rotating game selection and mixed bag food quality (sometimes very tasty, sometimes ho-hum) - but it's still a shame to lose it.

Shapey Fiend

It's likely due to the debt warehousing scheme ending this month. They'll shut down start up again as a new restaurant avoid paying years of tax.

Inviere

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122161857#Comment_122161857

Token' Champion Edition

DaveyDave

I haven't had a good thing to say about Token in years. Too busy focusing on being a bar than a barcade.

Relatively unchanged selection of games for 6-7 years and any time I was in over the last 2-3 years the service got worse with each visit and it becoming a local pub for after work pints or people to shift the face off each other didn't help if you're there for food/games.

I'm one of the few who actually liked the food and getting rid of bacon jam fries was one of the stupidest things they could have done, only to reintroduce them again last month.

Outside of desperately trying to appeal to the vegans with new food gimmicks every other month they did absolutely nothing to improve and it's an absolute shame.

The right balance in my opinion is to focus on games first and only do finger food and relatively standard drinks.

o1s1n

Ita a shame it's closing but it's an even bigger shame how little the machines were maintained. They were just moved into the site and run into the ground from what I saw.

There was an amazing period when it first opened and everything was working great. Beer and videogames, what more could you want. Maintenance apparently! :eek:

The Last Bandit

Used to go there for after work drinks occasionally, but don't think I ever went near a machine.

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122162077#Comment_122162077

You should have brought a soldering iron and went near as many machined as you could.

johnny_ultimate

As much as it is / was a nice place to spend a few hours with friends (usually as a stopover before or after another event), the biggest issue with it from an enthusiast standpoint is definitely the game selection. They've barely changed or expanded the selection since day one, and there's very little in the way of rarities or deep cuts. I haven't been down to Level Up in Limerick as I'm rarely down those neck of the woods, but even from what I've seen of there they have a more eclectic collection of titles - and some nice new and imported cabs to complement the classics.

In Token I'm usually just straight down to the pinball as the cabinet selection upstairs is rather uninpsiring (and the likes of Time Crisis 2 always have a large queue), while the controls on some of the retro cabinet could definitely have used more maintenance.

Still, sad to see it go - was particularly nice when paired with a trip to the Light House.

Retr0gamer

I still haven't been and I'm only down the road now.

Shapey Fiend

I don't blame Token for being bar and restaurant first I think that's why it was rammed. It got so busy they kind of had to scale the games back to make more standing room.

Level Up is definitely the best of the retro arcades in Ireland. In its original location the food wasn't particularly good but now its part of an established sports bar with good food its improved a ton. The game selection is excellent as well lots of Japanese music games and stuff you can't necessarily play at home. Everything is well maintained and they change the games a lot.

Barcadia in Cork was class when it first opened. I don't like it much anymore as the game selection disimproved (aside from pinball which is still good) when they moved to the smaller area and now it's mostly booths for food. Does seem to be doing much better business now they've focused on the food instead though.

I bet you a zenny Token will be back open in another location within 6 months.

MrVestek

It is a shame that Token is closing down alright but I have to say that the quality of the machines and their maintenance did irk me over the years, not gonna lie.

Most of the machines had issues with their screens… controls and the Mario Kart GP (when it was there, I think its gone now) barely worked on the left hand side.

They really needed someone onsite to maintain the machines properly.

Sad really as I was in there only a few weeks ago with work people and the food was amazing as ever. Went looking for a few of the machines that had been there for years like Crazy Taxi and apparently they had sold them off a few weeks ago… that should have tipped me off that something was wrong.

I have no doubt that they'll end up re-opening up somewhere probably outside of the city as rents are crazy.

I have a bunch of tokens left but I'll probably keep them as a souvenir (or adjust the coin acceptor in my Blast City to take them).

MrVestek

Speaking of LevelUp, @dav09 yer site's SSL cert expired 33 days ago. ;-)

dav09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122165263#Comment_122165263

Not no more! Thank you @MrVestek.

As for Token, very sad to hear. I don't think there sounds like an immediate plan to return unfortunately, not by the sounds of it, but maybe something in the future. Retro arcade machines generally don't earn a huge amount of money, even in a dedicated space, almost a loss lead some but I respect a place who goes that route. Air Hockey, Basketball, Prize Redemption all necessary unfortunately for a lot of places. I was in Token week #1 when it opened and backed in on Kickstarter, it was always a long trip for me but enjoyed it while it lasted when I got to visit, the bar/arcade scene in Ireland is small so a lot have helped eachother/ vise versa over the years. Also on maintenance, retro arcades are incredibly difficult to keep running 365 days per year/7 days a week. You definitely need people who will passionately maintain them there are very few of us doing that in Ireland now, adding in rare Japanese machines is even more mental, and even then there are days you walk in after a busy weekend and it seems a lot of things are broken. Hopefully maybe they can collaborate with another bar or something/ use a free space elsewhere, they had some nice machines. I think it's unlikely there would have been the few arcade/bars in Ireland if it wasn't for them so hope the best for the future.

Jack burton

Yeah sad to see them go.

I managed to buy the Baywatch pinball that was in the window for ages a few months ago so be nice to have a souvenir from the place hah

MrVestek

Ohh no doubt that maintaining those machines in such a busy environment isn't an easy job but certain machines always seemed to have the same faults every time I went in, so I just feel like they could have done a slightly better job at it.

That said though still very sad to see the place go. Even the Decor was amazing, the fact that they had Teletext menus and things like that.

I really must travel down to LevelUp at some point and check it out. I still have about 40ish tokens that I found inside the Blast. :-P

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122166135#Comment_122166135

Might be time to add a few more to the lineup, any word on what they're doing with their machines?

Steve X2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122166271#Comment_122166271

It begins 🙂

Doge

This is a lovely cover of blue Monday in mega drive format! Something to cheer people up with the news on token!

https://youtu.be/0mAtYZg_lkQ

Optimus Prime

I Sold them a MK2 cab and a Xenon id themed as a Tetris cab when they started up always wondered what happened to them, heard from a few friends that had seen them they replaced the crts with LCDs and had cup holders drilled into them at one stage.

MrVestek

The Tetris cab definitely had an LCD in it from what I remember and it looked awful tbh.

Nerdkiller1991

Token closing, huh…wasn't the same since they removed the Sunset Riders cab.

CiDeRmAn

Too many poorly maintained machines, and getting worse.

Such a pity

DaveyDave

Apparently they're not selling, wonder what they're going to do with them then?

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122171212#Comment_122171212

Maybe that previous comment about reopening somewhere else isn't too far off th mark...

Inviere

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122171238#Comment_122171238

Can only be that can't it? I mean, why wouldn't a failing business want to liquidate its assets?

MrVestek

Isn't it owned by the same folks running The Rage? Maybe someone wants to transfer them to their private collection? :-P

DaveyDave

I thought Token got a new owner a few years ago?

Tom Mann Centuria

Hadn't seen this quick loading option before, it's reviewed on the Spectrum show today. The Backbit Pro, with different adaptors it can be used with Atari, Commodore, Vectrex, Amstrad, Sinclair and a rake of other systems. Expensive and looks to have pretty underwhelming functionality on the Spectrum compared to other options, but might be a decent option for people with loads of different systems. Maybe old news for most here, but I hadn't seen it before.

https://store.backbit.io/

dav09

A new huge arcade I visited on my travels, not in Ireland but not far across the seas, called Gravity. Great if you're ever going to The Olympic stadium/West Ham as right outside, opened last week. I think one of these would do well in Dublin if the chain were to expand with a slightly different model, full of influencers but decent spot, good games. And great to see some decent arcade games still being made Asphalt 9 VR is excellent, Vr Agent decent, Apex Rebels deluxe is decent, Mission Impossible not too bad. I wish they had more retro but the fact they have a Outrun 2 super deluxe is mental, Outrun 2 still does great numbers in any arcade. Big go karting track, bar, karaoke, mini golf, etc too, place is bananas size, a good place to spend a few hrs, a lot different to their other venues ive been to, no expense spared pretty sure the Asphalt 9 VR is like 80k alone. Probably would give it a 8/10 overall, missing some older games and pins like their other venue but i reckon they will add them as its only opening week. Also fairly sure it's Sega Amusements who run the arcade side to good to see them back too, sorta like a modern take on Sega World, along with Deith Leisure for the rest of the entertainment concept by the looks of it.

Retr0gamer

Retro Ahoy has a new video out on the controversy around cannon fodder. Well worth a watch.