Arcades in Birmingham

[Street Turk]

Guys,

I am off to Birmingham on Sunday for a conference. The conference starts on Monday so i have some time to kill.

Can anybody please tell me where I can play some decent arcade games? SF is a must, and whatever else they have.

If anybody wants to play some SF let me know as well. Super Turbo for me, but can also do 3rd Strike-although for some reason i cant use the sticks as well on 3rd...

Oh-and a decent (and cheap) curry house please!

Thanks a lot.

[Gradius]

There are 2 arcades on New St in the town centre, I haven't been in either of them for years. One of them was exclusivly fruit machines and the other is (was) both fruit machines and video games. Let us know if they are any good.

As for a curry, try Shah's in Station St. The cheep option is "curry club" at wetherspoons (Bennett's Hill and Corporation St). A fiver gets you a curry and a pint on Thursdays.

[fuse]

Last time I went there I couldn't find a single SF machine. I semi-knew some Tekken players, who all used to play in some bowling alley arcade somewhere out of town, can't remember the name of the place.

Star City has all of the usual sort of games you'd expect from a leisure complex - Time Crisis, DDR, some racing games, you get the idea, but alas no SF

[Street Turk]

Oh no...

I read somewhere that Brum had a thriving SF community 'back in the day'...

I thought there may have been a Goodge St (Casino) equivalent that we have here in London...oh well.

Will try Shah's-lets see if Birmingham really has the best curry house next to Glasgow...

[Gradius]

If your really after a good curry you need to visit the "Balti Belt" which is on Ladypool Road in Sparkhill. Definatley take a cab to those tho.

[fuse]

I was more of an occasional passer-by, so it's quite possible I'm missing a Casino-equivalent place... I'll cross my fingers for you

It's grim up north, yet even more grim in the midlands

[Street Turk]

I heard about the 'balti belt'

Will have a look around

And i will let you guys know about the arcade scene (or lack of)

Thanks for the help!

[Jimmyzilla]

Last time I went there I couldn't find a single SF machine. I semi-knew some Tekken players, who all used to play in some bowling alley arcade somewhere out of town, can't remember the name of the place.

There's a bowling alley in the Broadway Plaza, which is just off 5 ways roundabout (you can search for the cinema AMC Birmingham to find it)

There's DDR, Ghost Squad....uhh and other stuff I can't remember

[bignige]

There are 2 arcades on New St in the town centre, I haven't been in either of them for years. One of them was exclusivly fruit machines and the other is (was) both fruit machines and video games. Let us know if they are any good.

As for a curry, try Shah's in Station St. The cheep option is "curry club" at wetherspoons (Bennett's Hill and Corporation St). A fiver gets you a curry and a pint on Thursdays.

The one opposite the fruit machines only arcade used to have a downstairs full of arcade games, but it got flooded. Not sure what's in there now. Gamestation has a Fatal Fury/SNK fighting arcade machine on freeplay downstairs. At least it did a while back.

[Street Turk]

Will checkj out the town cnetre-guess Gamestation is round there.

What a shambles.

Going to one of the UK's biggest cities and cant find a blinkin' decent arcade.

Terrible...

[in5ane]

Off the top of my head, the only place I can remember seeing a SF2 machine recently around here is Birmingham International Airport... not much help unless you're flying out!

The bowling place at Broadway Plaze (5 ways) has a few decent machines, and a decent pool hall bit upstairs. If you can live without curry, there is also an awesome all you can eat chinese buffet (Dragon BBQ) which is fantastic. As well as being cheap and cheerful, it's chock full of hot chinese chicks.

[Salsa Party Animal]

There is a few arcade machine next door to best gamestation ever in Odeon Cinema. But I don't think they will have Street Fighter 2.

[QualityChimp]

Most of the places I can think of have been covered.

Best place I've been to locally is at the bowling alley in Star City. It's where I've been able to play most new(ish) games. There's also an awesome all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet there too.

The bowling alley at the Broadway plaza has a few usual suspects there, but I think they had the Mario Kart arcade not so long back.

The arcade in the basement used to have a load of games, I remember playing the Double Dragon Neo Geo game there, but it was really intimidating!

Sadly there's no Trocadero-style arcade in Brum, but there's a million different ways to play Street Fighter, surely?!

Not sure how up-to-date this list is, but you might find it useful:

http://www.jammajup.co.uk/birmingham.htm

Have a great time at your conference... will you be day dreaming about SFII though?

[ChrisF]

Used to be a FANTASTIC arcade in the centre of Birmingham. I used to spend many a days there playing neo games, and they even had a few VR machines. That was until a kid got shot in the face at point blank range and they closed it down It's now The Cotton Club (was 52 degrees north) in the Arcadian / China town.

Star City's a bit out of town (and probably not worth getting a taxi if you're not in a car), so like the others say, the bowling alley at Broadway Plaza (end of Broad Street) usually has a few machines. Plus the Dragon BBQ near by is good too.

[VR46]

Not exactly an arcade, but it's in Birmingham! taken from here

http://www.gamespress.com/release.asp?c=t%0C%CBo%BD%01%B6j7%CAk%AC%DD

(you need to be registered)

Omega Sektor: Bringing Gaming to the 21st Century.

Omega Sektor, the next key recreation destination in the UK opens its doors in the heart of Birmingham during summer 2007. This state of the art centre is set to usher in the 21st Century of arcade style gaming, providing a casual yet high-tech social experience for all ages and abilities. The centre will also offer music, movies, an internet café and other entertainment areas.

Boasting over 400 highest spec PCs with multiplayer LAN and online play, as well as the market leading next generation consoles including the Xbox 360, Omega Sektor will rank amongst the largest gaming centres in the world. In addition, many major publishers have signed up, attributing to a catalogue of over 500 playable games.

Visitors who need to give those trigger fingers a rest can socialise with likeminded new acquaintances and friends alike in Omega Sektor’s comfy chill out areas. Equipped with MP3 players and HD displays showing all the latest films and trailers, they act as the perfect staging ground to your next joystick assisted virtual assaults!

Players will be able to check out new games before they hit the shops on the best performance processors on the market, including the Intel Core 2 Duo and Intel Core 2 Duo Extreme.

Omega Sektor director and professional gamer Sujoy Roy says, ‘Omega Sektor will help build communities with key gaming competitions and tournaments taking place frequently at the centre and a rankings system, which will be hosted on the website.

The days of gaming for everyone have arrived as this brand new leisure attraction prepares to launch in the UK.