[FSPA] Tilt Studio Valley Mall - Hagerstown

[ethan at 757.org]

> Interesting bit of spam received at FSPA's general info mailbox.  I've 
> never heard of this chain... looks to me like a Dave & Buster's 
> knockoff.

I have never heard of it, but that is crazy they have a location down at 
Patrick Henry Mall right near where I used to work (Newport News VA area.) 
My arcade friends down that way have never mentioned it.

There is another chain that gets a lot of excitement among the Japanese 
game crowd called Round One. Round One is the largest operator of arcades 
in Japan, and they are able to lean on Konami enough to get some of their 
high score networks opened for US players. They're opening a location 
about 1.5 hours away in Maryland. There are groups of locals that carpool 
to the location that is West of Philly (Exton PA) currently so this will 
shorten their trip.

Tilt Studio looks to be redemption heavy, which I guess what you have to 
do to pay mall rents and stay in business. Round One seems to pick malls 
that aren't swank but aren't totally dead which might be the same case 
with this Tilt Studio place.

I guess some questions on Tilt Studio would be if it is open past mall 
closing time like D&B. Not sure if their tech pay is as bad as what D&B in 
Virginia Beach is reported to pay but if so I wouldn't count on good 
pinball maintenance.

There is something similar owned by Namco in Chicago suburbs called 257 
(as in Pac Man Kill Screen) and it has a surprising amount of older vid 
cabs and a solid pinball lineup for a mall location (maybe 9 machines?) 
There were flyers all over about league night there which was cool.

In the meantime, suggest they buy some Alien and other cool titles.


 			- Ethan