I stumbled upon a gem of an old school arcade recently and was reminded of all the Awesome arcades Vancouver used to have! The PS3 and X-Box have basically killed the arcade in North America, but there was a time when the local video game place was THE place to be.

As a kid, I discovered the video game Major Havoc at the Ladner arcade, The Duck Pond. Soon, I was making weekly pilgrimages to Lansdowne Mall’s Lord Nelson’s Arcade, Richmond Centre’s Stargate 5, Richmond Square’s Wizard’s Castle and later UBC SUB’s arcade and the PNE arcade which hosts an amazing library of vintage glass. I know for a while there was a resurrection of the Arcade with places like Metropolis’ Playdium, Johnny Zee, and Castle Fun Park in the 2000s, but these places were sanitized versions of the real thing!

What’s the real thing? As a teenager I discovered Movieland Arcade (in my opinion) Vancouver’s only remaining old school arcade. Check the sign, “Games, Shooting and Movies” – it’s still as seedy as it ever was; you can still play a round of Gal’s Panic, and when you run out of quarters, you need to see the man at the front where he will issue exact change without even looking. It’s only a matter of time until this place disappears, so put your quarter up while you can!

Manning Park Lodge