In the Decks mall in Tokyo’s Odaiba area, I knew that there was a retro-style arcade with lots of vintage machines. What I discovered there was that the whole floor (the second floor I think, on the left side; not the side with the Lego place and Madame Tussaud’s) was filled with shops and candy stores of the same type. But the arcade alone is worth visiting. You will likely find a few ageing machines in various places, but this place really goes all out with it, it collects them, it’s got vintage posters on the wall. I don’t know its name; you can see it on the sign in this photo but I think it’s more useful to know where it is: Decks Odaiba.

First of all, it had lots of pinball machines. Some dated back to the 50s, while others were clearly 80s classics like Star Wars pinball, and this Gottlieb one based on Super Mario Bros 3. They also had my old favourite Lord of the Rings pinball, which I’d played many times. You just can’t beat a good pinball table, that tactile sensation. It’s too bad they’re more and more rare these days.

There were some old video machines too: a Pac-man cocktail cabinet, some Nintendo Vs. Systems, Outrun. I had a go on Super Hang On; is the bike supposed to be that loose? I almost fell off! Maybe I’m too big for it… They also had plenty of mechanical games filling up the space. Whack-a-mole, the same whack-a-crocodile game that I’d played in my hometown days, a couple of kiddy rides, prize games. I won a cheap little car from a ChoroQ/Penny Racers machine which vibrated a table surface to move a car through gates in a maze, a little thrill and something to take home. There was also one of those coin-flicking games that Arino is always playing on Game Center CX’s Tamage segments: even with ten goes we couldn’t get the hang of it.

There are other arcades that are simple, with a variety of old-to-oldish video games in rows of cabinets (Super Potato’s Akihabara branch has a floor of them). But the fun theming and the variety of kitschy machines here make this one really stand out. There’s lots of other things to do in Odaiba too so it’s worth checking out.