Okayama Joypolis
From Sega Retro
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| Okayama Joypolis |
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| Location: Okayama Prefecture, Okayama, Japan |
| Opened: 1998-07-18[1] |
| Closed: 2018-09-02[2] |
Okayama Joypolis (岡山ジョイポリス) was a Joypolis indoor amusement theme park (and later large game centre, after its attractions were removed in March 2008). It closed after over 20 years of operations in September 2018.
History
Okayama Joypolis opened on 18 July 1998 as a part of the Joyful Town entertainment complex.[1] Unlike the previous six Joypolis locations, it did not contain any new attractions upon opening, with all of them having previously appeared at other venues in the months beforehand. It is claimed in some sources that that Sega originally did not intend to develop a Joypolis location at the site, only doing so at the request of Joyful Town.[3]
The venue notably featured elaborate American-themed décor with large amounts of bespoke Sonic the Hedgehog signage, particularly in the extra Sonic Bowl facilities found onsite on the third floor. A Dippin' Dots outlet, Sega Kara rooms, gift shop, and indoor play equipment for children could also be found in the park, as well as unrelated fast food tenants such as Mos Burger within its outside exterior. It had became one of the three final original Joypolis parks located in Japan alongside Tokyo Joypolis and Umeda Joypolis by September 2002.
Though it still received frequent updates to its roster of coin-operated arcade machines, Okayama rarely had any new attractions installed after the downscaling of Sega's amusement theme park operations in the early 2000s. On 23 March 2008, all of the remaining attractions were removed from the venue[4], effectively rendering the park little more than a large game centre. Its extra bowling and karaoke facilities were also closed just under four months later on 17 July[4], nearly 10 years to the day they had been originally opened.
The branch became the last Joypolis venue to be directly managed by Sega after China Animations Character Co. acquired a majority stake in Sega Live Creation in 2016 - ownership is not thought to have been transferred to Live Creation upon its formation the in the previous year because of its differing status as a large game centre. It closed on 2 September 2018 due to large-scale redevelopment of its premises, and was demolished shortly afterwards in November.[2]
Attractions
Gallery
Entrance
Magazine articles
- Main article: Okayama Joypolis/Magazine articles.
External links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://segaretro.org/Press_release:_1998-08-27:_Okayama_Joypolis_Open_no_Oshirase
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://gotouchinews.com/chugoku/okayama/37/
- ↑ https://www.neoamu.net/%E7%A0%94%E7%A9%B6%E6%A3%9F/%E7%A0%94%E7%A9%B6%E6%A3%9F-%E9%9B%91%E6%96%87/%E9%83%BD%E5%B8%82%E5%9E%8B%E3%83%86%E3%83%BC%E3%83%9E%E3%83%91%E3%83%BC%E3%82%AF%E3%82%92%E5%88%87%E3%82%8B%E8%A6%8B%E3%82%8B%E9%81%8A%E3%81%B6/
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 http://sega.jp/joypolis/okayama/ (Wayback Machine: 2009-01-29 10:36)
| Joypolis venues |
|---|
| Current |
| Tokyo Joypolis (1996) | Shanghai Joypolis (2014) | Qingdao Joypolis (2015) |
| Former |
| Shinjuku Joypolis (1996-2000) | Niigata Joypolis (1995-2001) | Yokohama Joypolis (1994-2001) | Fukuoka Joypolis (1996-2001) | Kyoto Joypolis (1997-2002) | Umeda Joypolis (1998-2018) | Okayama Joypolis (1998-2018) | Joypolis VR Shibuya (2018-2020) |