The Game Grid Interview

My Top 3

When the majority of people think of arcades nowadays, they tend to think of that corner area in your local theater or mall that’s filled with busted, sticky, no name title games. But one new locally owned arcade is looking to bring back the arcade experience to a new generation with some of the best and most hard-to-find arcade games around. The Game Grid recently opened up at Valley Fair Mall and has peaked the interest of gamers looking for something better than generic fighter brands and pathetic ticket games, while also enjoying gameplay that rivals that of home systems. I got a chance to talk to owner Adam Pratt about his new place, as well as take some pictures and ask him some random game and arcade questions. All while shooting up zombies on his sweet version of House Of The Dead wrote it myself and while collecting information for it was tough, it helped me think through my ideas and plan things out better than if I had just started the business up and decided to wing it. Anyone looking to start a business should sit down and write up a plan, even if it is hard because it will make you move out of the dreaming phase and into the planning phase. They say that you need a business plan in about every business book out there and for good reason - someone without a plan is usually unprepared for the reality that will hit them when they start up.

Were there any real difficulties to getting it up and running, or did things just fall into Vimeo and Youtube and there will be more. I also plan on holding some competitions which should be a lot of fun. Heros is the best resource on the new for arcade news right now and I’m not just saying that because I write for it (I don’t own the blog actually, I’m just one of several writers, I post under the handle Shaggy. That’s why the site says “The Saviours of Coin-Op” as it’s owned by a guy in the UK) but because if you take a look out there, it really is the best resource for arcade news. We scour the web for news and put it into one place and post our own thoughts on games and the industry from time to time. I love writing for the blog but lately I haven’t been able to do that much with all the work I’ve been putting into the arcade. I also have a site for The Game It’s not much to look at right now and I need to fix the game list but soon I will be having the site re-designed so it will look more professional. You can watch some videos of my progress on the place under the Take a tour link and I will have more there soon. I also write for Hardcore Gamer Magazine so if you can find one (they have PDFs of it for free at their site) I get one arcade article into those every time they publish it. And on top of that just drop by my arcade, I’m at the Valley Fair Mall next to the Red Robin Restaurant, it’s an outside entrance so you won’t find us inside the mall where you might expect it.