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SCANDIA FAMILY FUN CENTER |
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Location: 5070 Hillsdale Boulevard, Sacramento, CA 95842-3520, USA. Report by Jon Olkowski
The Scandia chain of arcades goes back at least a couple decades and was a popular venue for those of us who grew up in the 1980s and '90s. They were especially crowded back when Street Fighter II and The Adams Family were at the peak of their popularity; indeed the last great hurrah for arcades in the U.S. Despite the arcade market’s decline there are still quite a number of Entertainment Centers such as Scandia that not only live on but seem to do quite well. Scandia offers a nice variety of entertainment options, including batting cages, bumper boats, miniature golf, go-kart racing, ticket redemption games, and of course, an arcade. The arcade featured a lot of fighting and driving games with the odd classic thrown in. There’s also a snack bar right in the arcade, which is open for your convenience. Not-so-found memories of these venues back in the day include broken games and a general unseemliness of the premises, with games covered in graffiti, dirty floors, and trash-strewn parking lots. While there is a certain nostalgic charm for the seedy arcades of my youth, the thought often occurred to me back then: “who would want to bring their family here?” Yet this particular Scandia wasn’t like that at all. It was clean and well-maintained, and staff were ever-present. It looked like a great place to take the kids. I was even a little disappointed my brother was on father duty that evening because the mini-golf course and arcade looked like a lot of fun.
The arcade area offers five pins which all showed significant wear but were mostly playable. The Pirates of the Caribbean was far and away the best looking of the bunch but was off that evening for some reason. No Good Gofers was playing the best and I spent most of my time on it. Getaway had a stuck flipper and was completely unplayable that evening. World Cup played loose but functionally. Overall, while I can’t recommend Scandia in Sacramento as a premier pinball destination, it does have a decent selection and there are lots of other fun things to do while you're there. For more information visit: www.scandiasports.com or call: (916) 331-5757.
© Pinball News 2009 |
