I got a text from my old manager yesterday that said, "check out Exton Square Mall Round 1". I thought it might be some horrible news of a fight or other disaster. Instead it was a new entertainment center called Round 1. They have locations on both coasts. Today, I went there to check it out.

Wow! It's a big place with lots of games. I was surprised to see a lot of Japanese arcade machines there. There were all the fighting games you can think of, Mario Kart, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, a light gun game Gunslinger Stratos, a rhythm game that looked like Guitar Hero or Rock Band complete with drum set and guitar, dance machines, a Sonic runner game, and some games with strange control inputs I'd never seen before.

One game with interesting inputs was a Kung Fu Panda game with six drum-like pads suspended vertically on each side. You just punch them as Kung Fu Panda on the screen tries to block projectiles.

There were a lot of phone games made into arcade experiences: Candy Crush, the Sonic endless runner, Infinity Blade with a giant touch screen, Plants vs. Zombies that used a pea shooter light gun, and many more. It's interesting to see endless runners on what looks like a giant cell phone in an arcade. It's kind of a good idea.

As usual, loads of racing games including Batman with all the Batmobiles ever concieved for TV or film. Most of the racing games were seated versions and some with rideable bikes. There was the Star Wars Battle Pod where you get inside it and are surrounded by a bubble-like screen. There were other games like that enclosed in a small room with surround sound and a big screen.

I looked for classic stuff, of course. Only the fighting games had the classic joystick controllers. I saw several fishing games, one with fishing rod controllers almost exactly like the one for Dreamcast and games like Sega Marine Fishing. There were several versions of Pac-Man, one a multiplayer competitive version and another some cross between air hockey and Pac-Man, don't know what that was about. And there was a Space Invaders light gun shooter. That was about it for classics.

They also had a full bowling alley, pool tables, dart boards, karaoke rooms, skee ball, those stuffed animal grabber machines I forget the name of, and roulette style amusements that come close to pure gambling. Some of the machines give out something like tickets and you can win prizes for accumulating them.

It was interesting to see what has become the modern day arcade. Too bad no actual classic cabinets, but still alot of interesting stuff. Mark and I will have to go there one day soon for real and play a bunch of stuff.