Hello everyone and thank you all for reading. It's been such a long time since I have seen everyone and been around the community I grew up with and loved. I miss so much about the FGC and can't wait to get back in the mix of things and very fortunate to have many of you still along for the ride.
The arcade has been under construction for about a month now and still undergoing work as we must comply with all the city's rules and regulations. It is a very slow yet steady process that I would estimate at roughly 50% done so far. I really can't believe I have come this far and things have changed majorly in my life since the start of this whole project. This has been a very testing time and definitely the most challenging goal of my life. I have lived a very fortunate life and was blessed to having 2 amazing parents. I was always taught that working for everything you have in the only way you can truly appreciate what you achieve and having things come easily is not always the best route. In all this though, I never would have thought it would take over 2 years from the day I closed Super Arcade in Walnut to get to where I am right now.
I really don't know why I started this blog a few years back. I have had a lot of time to reflect on many things and take on an entirely different perspective not only from my surroundings, but also my life as a whole. I was always a person driven by ego and always strived to be the best at everything I started with a no quit attitude. Sometimes this was a good thing, and sometimes it was bad. I wanted to get this arcade up and running so bad that I sacrificed so much and ruined relationships with people around me. I have burdened friends and stressed out not only myself by my family. I came to a point where I felt that keeping the arcade open was no longer feasible and that is when I ran a Kickstarter campaign in hopes of revamping the old shop and bringing Super Arcade to a whole new level. I honestly told myself that if the goal wasn't reached that I would not continue on and be able to walk away knowing I did my best and would have no regrets over it. Well, this was not the case and the campaign actually succeeded and I got back to work harder than ever. I spent almost a month remodeling the old location and took a slight step in a different directions by adding pinball machines and adding more items for retail sale. I concentrated more on running tournaments and kind of left the "arcade" aspect and retro gaming stuff to the side. Through the first few months after the remodel, we started running some tournaments on computers and I wasn't listening to what the customers and the community wanted. I let myself fall into a state where I wasn't fully asserting all my effort and energy into the business. This is when another move was made and I decided that Super Arcade would separate from our tournament partner and go on our own path. Things were working out well from that time until we were forced to move.
Fast forward 2 years of going through hell and wasting close to $175,000........ The shop is moving along with hopefully no more issues and we can finally be open in approximately a month. I don't know what to expect from the new location exactly, but what I can ensure is that the quality of tournaments and customer service will be what people remember and continue to be the reason our customers come back for more and more! The new location will have a larger line up of arcade games since the new shop has twice the amount of floor space. The tournament section will be larger to allow for more casual set up for those not competing. And also, in case you missed the news, World 8 has joined forces with Super Arcade and will have a remote location inside our shop so you can purchase all your gaming needs while you visit our shop.
And finally, I have an announcement to make in regards to all of our Kickstarter backers. I will definitely be able to finish working on getting everything finished in terms of backer rewards and acknowledgement, and I also have plans to reimburse each and every person who contributed. I didn't want to commit to saying anything publicly regarding this, but now that I know for sure the shop will be opening soon and I will have stable income, I can commit to this and want everyone to know that I thank you very much for your patience and faith you put in me to get the job done. I can't wait to see what the future brings for Super Arcade and hope you all come to join me on this escapade! See you all real soon. And more updates with pictures will be on their way!
Thanks,
Mike Watson
