Hold crap - how did I not hear of this sooner? Like I mentioned in my blog a few posts back one of my favorite weekend haunts in Houston is Joystix - it has tons of classic arcade games for play the first and last Friday of every month.
Well I happen to stumble onto this post at the "Best Blogs of Texas: Deer Park, La Porte, Pasadena" that clued me in to ANOTHER arcade service/sales/play establishment that recently opened just up the road in Humble. Totally Amused Classic Arcade reportedly opened its doors last October to allow the general public to pay $15 and play tons of arcade games on free play every 2nd and 3rd Saturday and Sunday of the month. Apparently Amused has been around for several years but just specialized in arcade sales and service. In 2005 it even hosted Houston Arcade Championship where several arcade high-score records were set - including Frenzy, Tapper, and a few others.
The Chronicle did an article on the place and its owner Brian Sternberg of Spring that you can read here and ABC 13 News ran a piece on him you can watch below. I just heard about this place so I can't vouch for it yet but I will almost definitely be up there this weekend to verify and if it isn't boarded up I will report back next week!
[UPDATE August 1, 2010] I was finally able to contact Totally Amused and unfortunately they confirmed by suspicions - their arcade is no longer open to the public. They do sell arcade games (at pretty reasonable prices) and perform repairs, but if you want to have some old-school arcade fun in Houston the only real option is still to hit Joystix on Pac-Man Fever Fridays.
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6 comments:
Oh yea, I'm there!!!!
Pungent and I have been doing some research and so far we still don't have confirmation if this joint is still open for bidness. Stay tuned!
Let me know what you find out. My folks live in Humble, so that would be really close for when I'm in town. Not that I've been in town much lately.
Did you ever find out if this place is still open?
Nope - I called and left an e-mail asking about it but so far haven't heard back. Doesn't look good.
Totally disappointed in Humble, Texas... I finally got Totally Amused on the phone and they confirmed that the arcade is closed. So Joystix remains the only real classic video game venue in town. Totally Amused / vidpin does still do game repairs and sells classic arcade games at reasonable prices - their website is www.vidpin.com. But no arcade... bummer.
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