No Country for Old Arcades: Sunnyvale Golfland

A world renowned arcade in the heart of the Silicon Valley.

When Ben Kenny set out to establish his own brand of mini-golf centers in the 1950s, the term "videogame" wasn’t yet part of our lexicon. Air hockey and mechanical pinball tables were sucking down quarters like no tomorrow at the Tucson, Arizona, golfing center, but these machines could never compare to what the advent of Pong would do for this burgeoning industry. A new expansion that opened in 1958 in Sunnyvale, California, placed the up-and-coming franchise in the heart of Silicon Valley and over the next 40 years, Golfland would become a part of Bay Area culture and videogame history. It's also the perfect place to begin the first entry in GameTap's look at arcades across the America.

Throughout the 1970s and '80s, Sunnyvale Golfland (SVGL) gained a well-deserved reputation for having the latest and greatest in arcade gaming. It was one of the first locations to jump on board with Pong and subscribe to the craze of Ms. Pac-Man--and these machines proved to be just as important to Golfland as the putting greens themselves. So important, in fact, that an entirely new building was constructed to hold the ever-expanding lineup; the original building was converted into the snack shack of today. For as much as the technology and the nature of the business have changed, one thing that hasn't is Golfland's family heritage. Jason Kenny, who inherited the business from his grandfather and father, is the current owner of Sunnyvale Golfland and has seen his business and the entire industry evolve.

"One of the main reasons why Sunnyvale Golfland has always been so hot for games is that all the major manufacturers are here," explains Kenny. "Capcom, Namco, Sega.... Sadly though, they’re all gone." These names tend to come up regularly as we chat and deservingly so. Throughout arcade history, Capcom, Sega, and Namco have been three of the biggest arcade developers in the business. While all three are still hugely successful in the videogame space, they’ve all scaled back their arcade divisions to the point of obscurity--and in the case of Capcom, they've pulled out of the U.S. entirely. This exodus of manufacturers has not only put the hurt on arcades like Sunnyvale Golfland, but the players as well.

When I ask Jason how long SVGL has been the testing grounds for new games, he laughs and simply responds, "Forever. Atari and Midway, those guys would bring in raw machines. We'd help gather player feedback and they'd bring us updates a few times a week. They'd essentially develop the games here." Players would come out of the woodwork for these tests, and it wasn't out of the ordinary to see editors from magazines such as Electronic Gaming Monthly and Tips & Tricks poking around for the latest dish. Some manufacturers such as Sega would go so far as to fly out both executives and machines to see what the players of SVGL thought of their latest creations.

"Now, every once in a while we'll get a test, but the game is pretty much done."

Owner Jason Kenny keeps Sunnyvale Golfland in top condition.

Arcades may be on life support, but that doesn't stop dedicated players.

A huge factor in this is the industry's shift from videogames to redemption (or ticket) games, as both manufacturers and operators are overall less willing to take risks on expensive or untested titles. Since the dawn of the business, arcades have relied on showcasing the very latest in technology, but to do so now is to put the other foot in the grave. The visual gap between the arcade and home console markets has also ceased to exist, so in an attempt to lure players back into the arcades, manufacturers are going for broke with elaborate and at times costly setups. Tekken 6, for example, is due out in arcades this summer, but the price tag for the widescreen, HDTV setup has owners like Jason rethinking their methods.

"[Tekken 6] is about $15,000, and for a fighting game, that's tough," he explains. "In the past with something like say, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, that's an obvious slam dunk. We'd order two for every location." With your average arcade title costing around $5,000 a pop, operators were much more willing to take a risk on something that may have been slow to recoup the loss, because the arcade scene was more active. "The way we purchase now is a lot different. We’ve had to become much more strategic." Sunnyvale is still the first stop for new games, but it's also become something of a commercial testing ground for the rest of the Golfland franchise. Should a machine like Tekken 6 take off, they’ll start purchasing it for their other locations. If not--well, nothing ventured, nothing gained as they say.

Despite the stream of titles slowing to a trickle over the past couple of years, the players of SVGL still come out in droves. Sunnyvale established itself long ago as a dedicated partner to manufacturers, but it's the passion of the location's user base that made a test so valuable for developers. From world class fighters to rhythm gaming savants, SVGL players are notorious for being some of the very best in the world at any given title. If a developer wanted its game to be broken, torn apart, and generally dissected in ways they could never imagine, they dropped it on Sunnyvale. Gamers have traveled from all around the world, including Japan, Korea, Australia, and India just to be pushed to their limits. And for as much as things have changed, that is one aspect that remains the same.

John Choi is one such player and has been a Sunnyvale regular for going on 15 years now. His accomplishments in the competitive gaming scene, particularly in Capcom's fighting titles, are well documented--he's a certified beast in Super Street Fighter II Turbo. When asked what keeps him coming back to SVGL, he instinctively replied, "The competition." Sticking to one arcade requires more than healthy competitors, though. "The owner, Jason, is a real good guy and they make sure to keep their machines in nice condition. You can have all the games you want, but if they're not well maintained, nobody will want to go there."

The general consensus is that arcades are dead, but when stepping into Sunnyvale Golfland your only clue as to the decline of arcade culture is the expanding section of ticket games, slowly crawling across the facility and claiming more space. For the dedicated, there is no substitute for the social camaraderie and experience that arcades have continued to provide for more than 30 years now and will continue to do so for some time to come.

[For more photos of Sunnyvale Golfland, please visit the Flickr set from our photographer, Oscar Chang. Thanks!]

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