Gaming On The Strip: The Arcades of Las Vegas

Written by: Blaine Locklair, Editor, High Scores Arcade

During the week of February 20, 2007 through February 26, 2007 my family and I stayed in Las Vegas, Nevada for a work conference my wife had to attend. Since Las Vegas is the "Entertainment Capitol of the World", I thought it might be nice to take a look at some of the relevant entertainment experiences, the arcades of Las Vegas.

I first came to Las Vegas in February 2003 and went to most of the major gaming areas back then. What I learned was most of the major arcades are tied to the major hotels. For the purposes of this article, I'll be limiting the scope of the arcade visits to major hotels. There are probably some smaller venues to play arcades games at, but the idea here is to show off the major players, not to document every arcade game and pinball machine in Las Vegas.

Oh, one more thing... I'm out on a family vacation, not a journalistic mission to document EVERY arcade in Las Vegas. I'm sure there are plenty of other arcades in Vegas that aren't documented here. These are the ten I made it to while I was there. Your mileage may vary if you go there.

That having been said, here goes...

Sports Zone Arcade at the Las Vegas Hilton: This is where we stayed both this time and the last time I came to Vegas. When I came in 2003, I remember the arcade being full of games from end to end. Now, there is a huge section to the right of the arcade that doesn't have anything in it. The lights were even turned off in that area in an effort to draw attention away from it. One of the things I really like about this arcade is the industrial look of it, meaning it has the metallic decor, dark ceiling and the sports themed memorabilia around it. The arcade has the usual suspects in it, such as The Fast and the Furious, Dance Dance Revolution and so forth. I've always been partial to this game room since it was so convenient to where I'm staying, but it certainly seems to have taken a step backwards since I was last here. Hey, at least it's still open, which is more that many arcades can say these days. Overall rating: 5 out of 10.

Arcades at Circus Circus: One of the things I missed the last time I was here was that there are TWO arcades at Circus Circus. One of them is in the main circus hall and the other is in the upstairs area with the amusement rides. Both of the arcades were in nice condition and had both modern and classic games in them. Specifically I remember seeing The Simpsons, Ms. Pac-Man, and several Ultracade and Multtgame style machines. There's also a nice integration of circus style games mixed into the arcade (ring toss, water squirt gun races), and the employees of the circus games were never pushy. I really enjoyed both of the gamerooms, and I was a bit partial to the upstairs game room only because of the cool ambiance with the roller coaster going overhead. Nicely done on all fronts. Overall rating: 9 out of 10.

Arcade at Treasure Island Hotel: This "arcade" will actually spawn a future article I'll be writing called "Don't Say Arcade When You Mean Gameroom." This "arcade" sucks. Unfortunately, it lacks both quantity and quality. On the bright side, at least they had some mostly working games in there, even if the screens were starting to dim away. Oh yeah, and they're not Dutch. Overall rating: 3 out of 10.

Merlin's Arcade at Excalibur: There are some good and bad things here. This arcade is huge, which always adds to the cool factor. I love the whole Camelot / King Arthur / Merlin theme of the hotel and the arcade. The carpet in this arcade is bar none the coolest carpet I've seen in an arcade. Here's where the problem sets in: this arcade is geared toward young children. Not that most of them aren't these days, but this one is loaded with redemption games and circus-type prize games. That's the fundamental problem here - the loss of identity. One minute it's a great arcade and the next it's a county fair for kids. And the whole thing just doesn't look and feel as cool as I remember it being last time I was there. At least it's got that cool fountain thing in the middle. Overall rating: 7 out of 10.

Arcade at Tropicana Hotel: Not too exciting. This is just a large gameroom placed next to a business center. I had to take the elevator to the pool floor to even get to it. It's quite obvious that the idea of having games in the hotel was an afterthought and was likely someone's idea that "everyone else has them, so we should too." Here's the redeeming part of all of this: the games have been played so little that the look and play great! Overall rating: 5 out of 10.

MGM Virtual Reality Center: This has always been a fun arcade for me. It's in the "basement" of the MGM and has both elevators and escalators to get you down there. It always seems to have a good selection of games and even has some classic games as well. It has one of the fastest playing Lord of the Rings pinball games I've ever played. Everything I saw seemed to be in good working order, and I think that this was one of the better arcades I've been to in Vegas, both in 2003 and in 2007. Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

Arcade at the Imperial Palace: This was the worst arcade in Las Vegas. There were only 10 games in it, and two of them were broken completely. The other eight were in various stages of neglect from pretty good to pure crap. It's a good clue an arcade is going to be crap when the only sign for the arcade is the label on the elevator button. Wow. Skip this one at all costs. Overall rating: 2 out of 10.

Arcade at Bally's Hotel: Another "arcade" that I can do without. More of a gameroom than an arcade, the Bally's Arcade is in the deepest part of the hotel by the Monorail station. Most of the games were in average condition, save for the Star Wars Trilogy Arcade machine with the very dim monitor. The tan walls and carpet were a real eye-catcher too. Skip this one. Overall rating: 3 out of 10.

Luna Park Arcade at Cony Island in New York, New York: This was one of the very best arcades in Vegas. I was blown away with the sheer size of this arcade - it seemed to go on forever. I loved the entire New York atmosphere here and in the entire hotel. This arcade was clean, well maintained and had a nice selection of games. They even had a few pins (Star Wars Episode 1 comes to mind), which is unusual for many big arcades these days. The only knock I can think of was that there were a lot of circus prize games for kids mixed in, which was not uncommon for Vegas. Also, the Star Wars Trilogy Arcade machine I played had both of the fire buttons worn out and in need of replacement. Otherwise, most everything else really was impressive. This one's a keeper. Overall rating: 9 out of 10.

Gameworks on the Las Vegas Strip: This was the premier arcade in Las Vegas. The selection of games was unparalleled, and they have both modern and classic games. They have a nice selection of pins, although the Viper pinball slam tilted on me in the middle of play. They have a huge section of racing games, most of which were modern and updated. They have a great selection of classic titles (Ms. Pac-Man, Gorf, Missile Command, Asteroids and more), but most were in bastardized cabinets. I happened to come to the gameroom during half price hour - I bought a $5.00 card and left with $2.50 worth of credits on the card. It really became very inexpensive to play there during the hour. They had two of the new After Burner Climax machines with the flat panel screens and the motion cabinets. Without question, that game is the most immersive arcade experience I've ever had. If you ever run into one in the wild, get in it and play! There's not much to dislike about this arcade - I recommend it to anyone that visits Vegas. Overall rating: 9.5 out of 10.

There you have it. I hope you've enjoyed this virtual tour of the arcade scene in Las Vegas. Next time you make it to Vegas, stop by New York, New York and Gameworks and play some of the best games that Las Vegas has to offer.

"Arcade and Pinball Anthology"