ARCADE

a film by Kurt Vincent and Irene Chin

A letter I received about a night at Chinatown Fair arcade

I got this in my inbox last night and thought I would share it with you guys.


I’m not a super avid arcade gamer by any stretch of the imagination. That being said, one of my favorite nights ever was spent at Chinatown Fair.

 My roommates and I were Sophomores at NYU, living on the border of Chinatown and the Financial District at the time. After a particularly rough run, we were all depressed, bored, and my one roommate had just been broken up with. We decided that we needed to do something. Wandering to one of Chinatown’s closet-like liquor stores where you pay through a hole in the glass, we got a few little bottles of booze using my fake ID, and mixed it with the Gatorade each of us had just picked up. It was classy.

Then, we wandered over to Chinatown Fair. It’s hard to describe why - the alcohol, the camaraderie or the video games - but this place was an escape for us that night. I still remember it fondly and talk about playing a seemingly unnamed Japanese vertically scrolling shooter that we pumped at least 20 dollars into, just for the mere fact that you get a giant movable laser cannon. Something changed in our collective friendship that night.. we all became a little closer.
A week or so ago, I was enthusiastically telling another friend about Chinatown Fair and demanded we go - which is when I found out it was closed. I wanted to play that shooter with the laser cannon and now, all I’ve got is the memory of the experience. Which may be better than the actual game, admittedly, but still.
                       -Steve 

I think a lot of people have had similar experiences at Chinatown Fair.  Irene, Reed, and I spent a lot of time at Next Level arcade this weekend.  Friday night felt a whole lot like the way CF used to feel.  I am so happy that Nick and Henry, the owners of Next Level, have put their heart into creating such a welcoming place.  

-Kurt


  1. arcademovie posted this