Retro style video game bars have popped up all over Japan this past decade. The main draw is that you can play home game consoles while getting tanked on sake. In public. It’s pretty much every little boy’s dream come true. There are places where you can game with maids who are paid to pretend like they’re enjoying your company while you play games together, or other places that provide some sort of service while you game, but now there are also places where you can bring your own games and your own booze and drink to your heart’s content with other gamers while you get your game on while gaming. It’s like going to a LAN party at your friend Steve’s house: you don’t really know anybody, everyone’s trashed, and you feel like a huge nerd but you’re pretty sure you’re having a good time. And then you pass out on the couch.
The Akihabara Shukaijo (shukaijo means assembly hall in Japanese) is certainly not much to look at as you can see from the photos above. All the walls are white, and it pretty much looks like the classic fresh-out-of-college-gamer’s apartment. Only with more seats and tables. The couches are cheap, the wooden chairs are old, and the tatami mats are stuffed into the corner where they belong. While this may look like your gamer friend Steve’s basement, this is in fact an actual arcade and a legitimate establishment. This is the Portable Game Cafe. Welcome.
Much like Steve’s basement, this is a place you can enter at any time of day or night and get your game and or drink on. The only catch here is that you have to bring your own games and your own booze, but that’s pretty much standard fare for Steve’s basement too. It’s perfectly fine to lug a TV or a desktop PC along with you, but the cafe is definitely more geared towards handheld gaming devices like PSP and NDS. Hence the moniker, Portable Game Cafe.
Video games are not the only games being played at the Shukaijo, however. Tabletop games (Warhammer, etc) and trading card games (Magic, Pokemon, etc) are welcomed here as well. Pretty much anything that doesn’t kill anyone else’s buzz is a-okay. The cafe’s website does state that both musical performances and fighting are strictly prohibited, however. I know, right? Bummer.
Portable gaming is huge in Japan. Long train commutes aside, Japanese people really seem to enjoy just meeting up with their friends and playing some PSP. Especially now when they can take it to the Shukaijo and hook it up to a projector for a crazy cool Monster Hunter Tournament! Wow!
So why go to a place like this that charges you by the hour when Steve’s basement is free and right around the corner? Well maybe Steve got kicked out of his basement by his parents. Maybe Steve cleaned himself up and got a job. Maybe Steve died, I don’t know. So where do you go to now? Someplace with Wi-Fi, of course. But coffeshops and the like don’t always enjoy large groups of gamers sucking up their free Wi-Fi and electrical outlets without ordering anything. And you can’t even get drunk and cantankerous in a coffeeshop without being shown the door. Now where’s the fun in that?
At Shukaijo, gamers can bask in the cafe’s free WiFi and many electrical outlets guilt free. Shukaijo also doesn’t mind if you bring alcohol in from the outside and knock a few back while you’re at it. Assuming you don’t get too cantankerous, of course.
Wii beer’d. Now Wii drunk.
When people miss the last train home, they can swing by this cafe, game a little bit, and if they’re tired, crash on one of the many sofas or tatami mats (just like Steve’s!) At the moment there are only two locations, one in Akihabara and one in Ikebukuro, but that’s still one more than Steve’s got going for him.
The cafe also provides various manga and magazines in the event you get tired of all that gaming and just want to read for a bit. Shukaijo also hosts special events where famous voice actresses and the like show up and play games with everyone. There’s even competitions and contests. When’s the last time Steve did that for you?
Shukaijo offers a dedicated space for gamers where the experience is what the gamers make of it. This place is wide open with no dividers or gaming booths like those found in manga cafes. Anyone can freely play with or against anyone else in the room. Everyone is there for the same reason: to relax, have a few brews, and game. The only difference between Shukaijo and a traditional arcade is that there’s no gaming equipment provided. You must bring your own. BYOB and BYOG is the motto here.
Kickin’ it old school.
Arcades have always been havens for gamers. The traditional game centers of yore were born out of Japanese coffee shops and the tradition continues with Shukaijo. Just remember to bring your own game equipment. It’s certainly a departure from the traditional arcade, but it’s an interesting development nonetheless.
So tell us, would this be a place you would go to on a regular basis, or just as a last resort if you happened to miss that last train home? Let us know in the comments below.
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