On OLD SCHOOL FUN FOR EVERYYONE!

arcades adapt with their definition – in this case, per Merriam-Webster, “an amusement center having coin-operated games.”

While cash may no longer be king like (Donkey) Kong, arcades still accept it, as well as electronic payments made in-person or via online reservation.

The true bottom line hasn’t changed: arcades offer an escape. In the Tri-Cities, options include Funway Entertainment Center in Batavia and Emagine Theater across town.

Visitors to Funway and other arcades find the place to be a haven whether it’s hot and sticky outside, or storming and gray.

“There’s variety for different activities and all different ages,” said Jackie Sommerfeld, Funway director of events. “So, it’s good for families. Kids young and old.”

Funway touts itself as the area’s “largest selection of video, redemption, and skill games.” There’s an exclamation point in there as well, and why not? Arcades are supposed to be fun, after all.

Funway offers more than 90 arcade games and pinball machines, with attractions ranging in cost from 25 cents to $3.

“We have a [virtual reality] game that is popular and then there’s things like Pac-Man and driving games. It’s a good mix of newer and older favorites,” Sommerfeld said. “You also have skee-ball, which is a classic.”

The arcade is open until 10 or 11 p.m. on most days; check www.funway. com for more information on hours.

There’s plenty of indoor fun to be had adjacent to the arcade, as well.

Sommerfeld said laser tag – which involves players pursuing one another, light-emitting phaser guns in hand – is the venue’s most popular attraction. The people have spoken not only with their pew-pewpews, but in their numbers; one game of laser tag can accommodate up to 26 people.

In 2020, Funway added Black Light Mini Golf, which may take the elements out of the equation but offers obstacles nonetheless, as

Emagine

550 N. Randall Rd., Batavia 630-474-3002

Funway

1335 players navigate a 12-hole layout that takes them through sea and jungle landscapes on the path to buried treasure.

“It’s been very popular, too,” Sommerfeld said. “Something different.”

Differentiation was part of Emagine Entertainment’s goal in its renovation of the former Randall 15 theater, 550 N. Randall Road, with the showpiece a 96-foot-wide CinemaScope screen. The multimillion-dollar project produced what is touted as the largest screen of its kind in the Midwest. Still, smaller screens – and what isn’t small compared to this behemoth – do their part at Emagine, too. The venue’s “High-Roller Room” features a variety of video and amusement games. One attraction, fashioned as a vintage arcade stand-up with buttons and joysticks to accommodate four players, features a mean selection of arcade games to enjoy.

“We have this classic arcade game in there that has about 2,000 games downloaded to it from the ‘80s and ‘90s, which is a nice little complementary situation,” Emagine CEO Anthony LaVerde said. “But there’s so many old games in that machine.”

The room derives its name, though, from a fast-emerging game called duckpin bowling. It’s a variation on traditional, ten-pin bowling that sees players use smaller balls without holes to fulfill their objective of knocking pins down. But that’s not all.

“On the lanes themselves, there are unique and interesting modern games like Angry Birds and Ghosthunter where the ball becomes integrated and the bowling experience becomes integrated into the game that’s actually projected onto the lane,” LaVerde said.

Players interested in duckpin bowling can reserve lanes online or the oldfashioned way – in person.

The same goes for anyone wandering past who has a shuffleboard, billiards or “NBA Jam” jones.

“It’s open to anyone off the street, absolutely,” LaVerde said. Game on.