Game Underground — Attraction in Waltham

You know how some folk say 'Only '90's kids will remember'? Well, if you /do/ remember, you'll get a nostalgic kick; if you don't, then this is the next best thing to time travel. From outside, you can watch through the windows as people engage with flashy games of impeccable reflex...which may entice you in. It's...a 'cozy' atmosphere, as they have packed every available inch with a wide variety of games. Do you feel rhythm? You got it. Do you want to swing back to the '80's and wiggle a joystick and mash some buttons? Yup, that's there, too. Maybe you want to kind of emulate real-life stuff like driving, drumming, or shooting? Sure! Do you have a visceral need to bang, slap, stomp, or toss? Say no more... They've got a drumming game with an electric kit and sticks, Whack-a-Mole, DDR, pinball (my personal go-to that will send me into a frenetic spiral that renders time into a void of meaningless frivolity), skee ball, and that adorable little basketball hoop with a timer...and so much more. If you have a thing for tryin' to make Lady Luck blush, they have games of chance where you can win prizes...or tickets to buy prizes at the little counter. (If that's what you're goin' for, be sure to ask which games give tickets, 'cause it's not all of them. They also don't print tickets--darn.) Instead of tokens or tickets, you load up a little card that they give you...and with a whimsical little flick of that card, you're off to the races (and collecting tickets from certain games--the card tracks those, too). But mayhaps these more tactile engagements aren't so much your speed... Behind the cacophany of the machines, there are tables provided for those that have cultivated their decks and honed their minds for a magical gathering. Even for all there is to play on site, they even have a selection of games and cards for sale to bring your gaming itch home. All in all, a grand experience for the social gamer, the dabbler, or even just someone off the street looking for some good fun. All that said, I'll come back to that "'cozy' atmosphere" thing... It is a bit of a tight squeeze to get all that fun in a small space, and there'll be some points where you might have to shimmy by or politely ask someone if you can get to a game ('cause there are several games worth simply spectating for, and some folk camp out with chairs or sit on the skee ball so they can watch their friends go ham on some DDR, or while waiting their turn)... And while I'm on mild detractors, there are some older machines that either need some love or are temporarily defunct--but only a few, kinda to the side, and that's fine by me, considering that there is no room for boredom in the Gaming Underground. This place literally goes to 11...PM every day, except Sunday (only 'til 7 PM), 'cause...well, we've all got our reasons to dislike Mondays, but we can try our best to not let a lack of sleep be one of 'em.

tl;dr: Lots of arcade games in a little place in a great...

I really love this place! I come here usually every other weekend, the prices are amazing, all the arcade machines are in amazing conditions, and there's a great community there as well, I really like the custom-drawn covers for some of the games in the game store section, some are really funny, seriously I spend $20 on coins (which is 100) and still have half of them left after 2 hours, although I do have only 2 flaws here, and one of them is really small, and the other is just small, the small one is the masks, I don't care that they're there, but games like pump it up or even maimai make it a bit worse, and the smaller issue is only 1 side of the maimai cab works, but I heard DX is replacing the FiNALE machine soon so I don't think it matters rn, but yeah everyone is super nice there, I have not had one bad experience with the players there or the employees, it's just so nice to not have to drive all the way to Holyoke to play some Chunithm that's not even online, that's the other thing I love about this place, every single game is online. The game selection here is also immaculate, Pop n Music Kaimei Riddles, Chunithm, Step Mania X, maimai, Sound Voltex, etc. All are amazing I'm not good at all of them, but I can say all of them are fun, only thing missing here is some Taiko no Tatsujin, I understand they're hard to find I hope for Taiko Arcade HD to be more prominent in the US, I wish Taiko was more popular over here so we could get it officially, the old ones have been trashed to hell (from what I've heard) and even broke someones bachi! I was going on a tangent sorry but yeah, very nice place, very...

While the arcade machines may seem a little lacking at first, once I realized the Neo-Geo machine was packed with over 150 titles to choose from, all for one quarter I was set. The workers were extremely pleasant, open and social, and helped to provide the perfect environment for the arcade (a perfectly relaxed one). The owner turned all the games on for me (even though I only wanted one machine) at 12 noon while the place was dead, and another worker even set up a Gamecube to play games with me later. I ended up leaving having purchased a PS1, and the owner actually let me haggle him down. I'll be back very often, and anyone who thinks game purchases end at Gamestop or Bestbuy need to turn around and walk toward this place.

The titles that they have to offer range from various drumming games, to DDR, Crazy Taxi, two Initial D racing games (imported from Japan?), a Street Fighter 3 Alpha machine, the Neo-Geo machine with 180+ games in it, Mario Pinball, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (4 Player), and a light-gun alien shooter, as well as an 'arcade classics' machine with puzzle bobble, arkanoid, breakout, and various other games in it. They let you play any game on the shelf for 1 hour for 5 bucks, or 15 bucks for all day, on their system, in their nice air-conditioned zone on a huge flat-screen, and you can have parties there too, if that's your thing. But I know I'll be spending my time nestled in the corner playing Neo-Geo on a bar stool, or helping them organize old cartridges, because they deserve to be appreciated as one of the last true standing arcades in the state of...