Sega Park

From Sega Retro

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Sega Park was a brand of arcades operated either wholly or partly by Sega during the 1990s and 2000s in the United Kingdom and Spain.

Sega Park UK

In the UK, Sega Parks began appearing in the mid-1990s after the launch of Metropolis (1992) and Sega World Bournemouth (1993), the Sega Park name was used to describe Sega arcade venues inside shopping centres, and unlike Sega Worlds, were typically smaller venues with just standard arcade games or claw machines - no medium scale attractions or rides.

Over 16 Sega Park arcades opened in the UK, with most being sold off to Leisure Exchange in 2000, keeping the Sega Park branding, Over the years, Sega's presence has been reduced, with arcades either closing down or being renamed as new management teams took over operations. The final Sega Park in the UK to close was in Sega Park Southampton, on January 30th, 2013.

list of Venues

Sega Park Spain

To test the feasibility of the Sega Park concept, in Spain, Sega Amusements Spain S.L., launched a pilot project, in the 1992 Summer Olympic Games, in Barcelona, setting up a 550m²[1][2] arcade venue divided in five zones in The Olympic Village of Poblenou (La Vila Olímpica del Poblenou), an extensive neighborhood of Barcelona located in the Sant Martí district, constructed in the late 1980s and early 1990s for the Summer Olympics, equipped with several arcade machines of different types, including the special arcade cabinet R360.[3]

The result was tremendously satisfactory, with the athletes confessing to have played, all the arcade cabinets available, with the most famous, like the American former track and field athlete, Carl Lewis (Frederick Carlton "Carl" Lewis), paying random kids, to guard, a place for him in the queue or Sega Amusements Spain S.l. having to open the arcade venue exclusively at 6 am, to former, Spanish competition swimmer and Olympic gold medalist, Martín López-Zubero Purcell, which loved to play the arcades before his morning training session.

The first Spanish Sega Park, Sega Park Madrid, opened in 1995.

In Spain, concession rights of the Sega Park brand and Sega arcade gaming machines, were acquired from, Sega Amusements Spain S.L. (Madrid), in late 2001[4], by Valencia-based group Grupo Ábaco[5] (defunct), founded in 1991[6] in Paterna, Valencia by Spanish businessman Manuel Ramírez[7], owner of the cinema dedicated chain, Cines Ábaco, and the management, of the Sega Park venues, transferred to his subsidiary company, Ábaco Amusements S.L.[8][7] (formerly Play Park S.L.[9][10]).

List of Venues

Promotional material

External links

References