A Visit to Video Gameland

Video Gameland.

Sounds like a throwback to the 1980s. Certainly the sign outside this narrow den of hyperactivity on Mott Street in Chinatown looks to be from about that era.

There's nothing dusty, however, about the scene inside the L-shaped space. Literally, about 100 machines of various types. Dozens of serious-faced teens, in line for machines, checking out each other's performances, huddled around hot games. It reminded me of the atmosphere inside an old-style pool hall or in a back-room power game. No talking, no smiling: we're here to play.

Though innocent, the place somehow felt illicit. Low ceilings, red brick walls, exposed pipes, tiny faux Tiffany lamps hanging from the ceiling, a supervisor of some sort crouched inside a wooden shed in the corner. If you crossed an opium den with a Coney Island arcade, it might look like this.

Used to be the Canton Chop Suey restaurant some decades back.