Sega Center

From Sega Retro

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Sega Center was a chain of Sega-sponsored video arcades that existed during the 1970s and early 1980s.

History

Sega Centers came into existence when Sega purchased six Kingdom of Oz arcades in March 1976[1] (having previously bought a 50% stake the previous year[2]). Located across California (USA), several were re-branded into "Sega Center" locations and operated by a division of Sega run by Malcolm Kaufman (and later Steve Isaacson[3]). While most location testing of arcade games had at this point occurred in Japan, Sega Centers allowed the firm to location test on US soil, as well as profit from the rising trends of arcade video games.

Possibly starting with the opening of a venue in Montclair Plaza in 1977, Sega Centers began to only accept special "Sega Center" tokens, rather than real money[4]. This was an effort to introduce better cash control, reduce vandalism and profit from promotions (as well as not having to keep $6,000-$7,000 worth of quarters on hand)[4].

Sega Centers were designed to be inoffensive to shoppers, as in previous years, arcades had a reputation of being dimly-lit basements unsuitable for "prestige" shopping malls. The Montclair location was adorned with blown-up photographs taken from NASA, and was coated in "special acoustically-treated paint" to keep noise to a minimum[4].

Following Sega's 1986 purchase of the larger arcade chain Time-Out, the majority of remaining Sega Centers were again rebranded under that name. Ultimately, Sega would sell off the Time-Out chain in July 1990, and temporarily withdraw from the American arcade market entirely.

List of venues

Magazine articles

Main article: Sega Center/Magazine articles.

Photo gallery

Tokens

  • (head)

  • (tail)

  • (head)

  • (tail)

  • (head)

  • (tail)

Merchandise

  • Frisbee (top)

  • Frisbee (bottom)

  • Membership(?) card

References

  1. ↑ Cash Box, "November 13, 1976" (US; 1976-11-13), page 70
  2. ↑ Cash Box, "October 25, 1975" (US; 1975-10-25), page 43
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Cash Box, "August 19, 1978" (US; 1978-08-19), page 54
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Cash Box, "July 23, 1977" (US; 1977-07-23), page 41
  5. ↑ Cash Box, "July 2, 1977" (US; 1977-07-02), page 322
  6. ↑ Electronic Games (1981-1985), "Volume Two, Number Six; August 1983" (US; 1983-xx-xx), page 66
  7. ↑ https://forums.arcade-museum.com/threads/name-your-childhood-arcades.271595/page-19 (Wayback Machine: 2023-08-09 02:54)


Sega-related venues in the United States
GameWorks
Seattle (1997) | Las Vegas (1997) | Ontario (1997) | Grapevine (1997) | Tempe (1997) | Auburn Hills (1998) | Orange County (1998) | Miami (1999) | Sawgrass Mills (1999) | Chicago (1999) | Columbus (1999) | Irvine (1999) | Lone Tree (199x) | Tampa (2000) | Newport (2002) | Minneapolis (2002) | Long Beach (2003) | Las Vegas at Town Square (201x)
GameWorks Studio
Austin (199x) | City of Industry (199x) | Daytona (199x) | Henderson (199x) | Indianapolis (199x) | Kansas City (199x) | Littleton (199x) | Orlando (199x) | Philadelphia (199x) | San Antonio (199x) | Tucson (199x)
Sega City
Indianapolis (1995) | Cedar Park (1995) | Irvine (1995) | Lone Tree (1996) | Albuquerque (1997) | Baltimore (199x) | San Jose (199x)
Kingdom of Oz
Westminster Mall (19xx) | West Covina Fashion Plaza (19xx) | Puente Hills Mall (19xx) | Old Towne (19xx) | Tanforan Shopping Center (19xx)
Sega Center
Anaheim Plaza (19xx) | Carson Mall (19xx) | Fashion Valley Shopping Center (19xx) | Fox Hills Mall (19xx) | Los Cerritos Center (19xx) | Montclair Plaza (19xx) | Puente Hills Mall (19xx) | Sherman Oaks Galleria (19xx) | Tanforan Shopping Center (19xx)
Sega's Time-Out
Fox Hills Mall (19xx) | Golden Ring Mall (19xx) | Great Northern Mall (19xx) | Time-Out on the Court (19xx)
Sega Station
Boulder Station (1997) | Kansas City (1997) | Sunset Station (1997)
World Sports Grille
Tucson (2008) | Seattle (200x) | Detroit (20xx)
P.J. Pizzazz
Eastland Center (1980) | Garden Grove (1982) | Puente Hills Mall (1982)
Others
Game City (1992) | Grand Slam Canyon (1993) | Midway (1993) | Sega VirtuaLand (1993) | Innoventions (1994) | Sega Speedway (1995) | Stage 35 (xxxx) | Sega Sports at Centerfield (2000)
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