What? New Arcade Games @ The Local Bowling Alley

Yesterday, my family and I visited the local bowling alley, and to my surprise, I discovered some new arcade machines—well, “new” as in produced in 2014!

This is the last remaining bowling alley in my city, and while they’ve always had arcade machines, it’s been nearly two decades, probably since around 2003, since I last saw a relatively modern one there.

The Bowling Alley Got Interesting Again…

The venue itself is a decent size, though the main focus is clearly on the snooker/billiards tables and the bowling lanes. They’ve only got space for three arcade machines. For the past few years, they’ve stuck with the same setup: two pinball tables and a Sega Rally cabinet. Before that, it was just one pinball machine, Sega Rally, and Dance Dance Revolution.

Oh, and how could I forget the ever-present, never-working Time Crisis cabinet? Every time we visited, it had the usual “Out of Order” note slapped on the screen—classic.

One of the two brand-new machines I spotted was Deadstorm Pirates: Special Edition. Both the cabinet and the in-game menu are dated 2014, but the machine looks absolutely pristine—no signs of wear or tear anywhere.

It’s housed in a proper full-sized cabinet, very reminiscent of the classic Jurassic Park arcade setups. The build quality is solid, with great sound and physical effects—no cheap shortcuts here!

Deadstorm Pirates itself is an older game—I actually have it on the PS3—so I’m not entirely sure what makes this “Special Edition” cabinet new. I’m curious to find out if there are any major changes or upgrades compared to the original version.

The other new machine was this one, ” Dead Heat Riders “, which is dated 2013 on the cabinet and 2014 in the game. This cabinet also looks brand new, with not a single scratch on it.

A very cool design on the cabinet, 2 full-size bikes and lots of cool lights and of course lots and lots of noise/sound.

Discovering new arcade games—or even stumbling upon old ones—is still one of those things that genuinely excites me, and it’s been that way for as long as I can remember. Unfortunately, finding arcades in Norway these days is next to impossible. The market has all but disappeared, and most of the machines are long gone.

I didn’t spend any money on the machines this time around, but I definitely plan to on my next visit. That said, maybe that’s part of why arcades vanished in the first place—people just stopped spending money on them.

Next time, I’ll also try to take more photos. It was a bit too crowded this time, and it wasn’t easy to get clear shots. The cabinets were pretty busy too—kids mashing buttons (as always), but also quite a few people actually playing and enjoying the games, which was great to see.