Sorry to hear.

This brings up the question of how do we want to handle closed locations? Because I have seen some inconsistency on this subject. Some locations have been "archived" by adding a note to the description about the location's closing, followed by an edit of every single game to take it off the floor. That's pretty tedious for the larger locations. I'm also convinced it really doesn't serve much purpose other than nostalgia for a location that is dead and gone. Leaving the entry in the list could send the wrong impression that the location is still open, and having a seas of red game entries not only looks bad but it might not mean anything to the average Aurcade visitor unless they're really paying close attention.

I handle the Pacific Northwest locations and whenever I hear that a location in this region has closed I just delete the entire entry. (I plan to revisit most of the Seattle area locations this week; I know they're out of date.) I think Aurcade is much more useful as an arcade finder if we don't clutter it up with dead locations. That doesn't help anybody.

I've added a "closed" note to the entry for Family Fun Arcade in Granada Hills but I haven't done anything else to it yet.

Yeah, I don't even display closed locations on my database. I do have a flag that marks a location as active/inactive and use this in the SQL queries.
I can help with the Seattle entries, kind of. Skill Shot's 'zine lists about 99% of the on-location pinball machines in the Seattle area, Unfortunately nobody handles videogames. My database does, but I too need to visit around these places and get a videogame listing as well.

LaughingOtter Wrote: I can help with the Seattle entries, kind of. Skill Shot's 'zine lists about 99% of the on-location pinball machines in the Seattle area, Unfortunately nobody handles videogames.

We (Aurcade) handle videogames, or at least I used to for the Seattle area until I got tired of having no help whatsoever. I used to visit every location at least once a quarter. Stopped doing that at least a year ago and no one seemed to notice.

After a while I get sick of seeing all the inaccurate data and I make the rounds again. Ideally every location listed on Aurcade would be visited and updated once a month, since it seems that route ops change up games so frequently. But it's easier to build a huge database than it is to constantly re-verify all that data.

I'm sad to hear that this location closed after such a long run. It reminds me of the part near the end of the film Chasing Ghosts, where they do a run through of several closed arcades shortly after the golden era.

Thanks for sharing this and expressing your concerns Steve, and inviting us to be a part. I'd like to add some of my input to expand on what Chris, Fred, and others have written. I agree that closed locations should be eliminated (unless Aurcade decides to have some sort of commemorative closed sites page listings). There are plenty of inaccurate listings, even in the Chicago area. For instance, Emporium-Bar & Arcade, no longer has The Machine: Bride of Pinbot on the floor, it's been replaced with Transformers pinball. One of the locations that keeps up really well with listings is Underground Retrocade: http://www.aurcade.com/locations/view.aspx?id=1397 (when a game is in repairs, it is removed from the floor and Aurcade. Then when it's back up, it's listed as new with a green highlight across the game listing). I think it makes the most sense when it's done this way, or encourage users to check out the location's website and/or facebook for the most current information.

I'm going to see about getting new locations added and have others updated by reaching out to regional admins in my neck of the woods. I would like to ask, would someone please give an example of the red entries? I have not seen those.

-Duc
nowornever12001@yahoo.com
www.storyofstuff.org

Thank you Chris, this helps to know. So this is similar to the games that have been newly added to a location (the one I mentioned previously with a green line straight across the entry). However, for we non-admins, the entry for the red doesn't show up on the screen at all. I'm glad you and Fred pointed this out. Good to know of the extra perks you guys have, thanks for keeping Aurcade running with the work you do!

-Duc
nowornever12001@yahoo.com
http://espn.go.com/free-online-games/theocho/_/gid/359/wreck-it-ralph-fix-it-felix-jr