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Getting the North American portion of the Location Database updated!

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Post #1 · Posted at 2013-04-21 02:10:07pm 10.9 years ago

Offline ddrencoremyst
ddrencoremyst Avatar Member+
142 Posts
United States
Reg. 2009-08-31

HELLO EVERYONE!

This is a futile effort on my part to work towards revitalizing the arcade music game scene once again and finding ways to bring life and happiness to the community (and maybe a little less trolling). It has quickly been brought to my attention that there are MANY DDR machines and other music games unaccounted for in arcades across the country.

SO! I am launching this campaign! A campaign for everyone to participate in. Finding arcade locations with music games, playing those games, and posting your results on this site! Seriously, Zenius-I-Vanisher is the best arcade locator... EVAR! Please follow these tips below to minimize any expenses you partake on your missions to find arcades.

1. Make a list of possible locations you should visit in your area (I recommend making the list in a spreadsheet like Microsoft Excel if you can), obviously it would work best if you can at least cover your town (or 20 mile radius from where you live), but the farther you can travel the better and I will give tips on saving money on lengthy trips down the road. What sort of locations should you visit, well the most common places to find arcades are: Arcades (duh!), Shopping Malls, Movie Theaters, Walmarts, Family Fun Centers, Pizza Buffets, Bowling Centers, Casinos, Hotels, Waterparks, and Theme Parks. If you are not sure what facilities are in your area, I recommend going to Google Maps and take each of my search terms and plug them in (make sure to also include the name of your town or be signed into your Google account if you have one to insure an accurate result approximate to your position). Also do not forget to check the phone book. Also try building a list for areas where you have at least one close contact (a friend or otherwise), and maybe they can help you out!

2. Once you build a list of possibles, try to eliminate locations before you head out of the house. For example either visit the location's website or social media sites (like Facebook) to see if there is any indication of an arcade at the facility. If you do not know or believe there is an arcade, the next step is to try to contact the facility directly, I recommend making a phone call if a phone number is available, but e-mail may work too (though I have not had as much success with that), and also do not forget about trying to use the message feature of a business's Facebook page, that a lot of times gets a quick response. If the location is some sort of national brand (say a Walmart or a AMC theater) then I recommend skipping this part. When checking websites or social media, seeing a picture of a music game is a LIKELY but NOT GUARANTEED indication that they have one (the photo might be outdated), and not seeing any picture of a music game is no guarantee that they do not have one. So now take the time to find out which of your locations either A. do not have a music game for sure (confirmed by direct contact), B. is not likely to have a music game (unconfirmed from direct contact), C. is likely to have a music game (again unconfirmed by direct contact). or D. Does have a music game (confirmed by direct contact). Chances are doing this step carefully will eliminate a lot of possibles. Oh one more thing, do not forget to check Zenius to see if the location already exists.

3. Once you filter out to your possibles, it is now time to collect detailed information about each location. This includes address, directions from your point or origin, hours of operation, but most importantly restrictions to reach the facility. A restriction either means there is a rule in place or there is a upfront charge in place to reach the location's arcade, Movie Theaters, Pizza Buffets, Waterparks, Hotels, Casinos, and Theme Parks are all classic examples of possibly restricted locations. For example a Casino may be restricted to anyone 21 and under from visiting without an attending parent, a Pizza Buffet may require a buffet purchase, Hotels may have their arcades open to guests only, so on. Now if the location does have some sort of restriction, that does NOT mean to never check it out, but having this information will assist you if you ever do an arcade raid.

4. Plan your raids. Now we are getting close to the fun parts. Planning your raids. Consider doing a raid when you have a day off, have a full tank of gas (or just be really good with public transportation route planning... lol). Have a bit of cash to blow (if we be lucky). A good raid tackles as many locations as possible by following a route working in a loop to your point of origin. For me I used to tackle towns all the way from Cheyenne, WY to the Denver Metro Area in Colorado when I got really bored. Also when you plan raids, consider putting EXISTING locations in the database with possible outdated information. Any location on the zenius-i-vanisher should be considered OUTDATED if the last location edit or comment made is more than 6 MONTHS OLD! Of course if the possibly outdated location has any existing "Regular Visitors" try sending those members a Private Message to inquire about the location. If you plan an extensive raid over a large area, consider for each location you plan to have an estimated time remaining to get home from that location, this way you know when to quit if things fall behind schedule (or you just have too much fun). Your raid should focus on locations with high probably to confirmed music games, and keep locations with low probability on the course to stop if you are on schedule.

5. Perform the raid. Now it is time to have fun! Remember to bring along friends if they are interested as it keeps the trip fresh. Remember even if your raid is just hitting one location, it is still a raid. Pack a map, cell phone, GPS if you like, snacks, and a positive spirit. Don't forget money because you still gotta pay to play even just one game if you find a machine. I also recommend packing a paper notebook where you can write down notes of each location you hit on your list. Remember to write down what kind of arcade it is, what the method of tender is (Quarter/Cash, Tokens, Game Card), what the purchase rates are (make sure to write down bonus rates for higher purchases, and any common rules for the facility (like No Outside Food or Drinks). also write down prices to get in the facility if there is an outside charge (like a Movie Theater, Buffet, or Theme Park). Then for each notable game you want to report, write down the name of the game, the cost (including the base cash price if the facility uses tokens or game cards), and any performance notes with the game (bad pads, low sound, fuzzy monitor). If you have a camera take pictures of the location front entrance, entrance to the arcade if necessary, and the machines.

6. Report the results. Once you completed your raid, give yourself a pat on the back. Now let's submit any relevant results to Zenius. A relevant result should be a location that has any music game and you were able to reach it and hopefully play it. You may want to report a result that does not have a music game but is likely to get one in the next year. Remember to report the location name, address, website, phone number, and current known hours, REMEMBER the more information the better! Also in the location description report information such as house rules, token/game card rates, specials, and if possible who's the company responsible for that arcade and their customer service contact (this way players can futilely scream to the machine owners to fix any broken games... lol). Remember to fill out all fields on the New Location form. Also don't forget to upload helpful pictures. Now at this point give yourself another pat on the back!

Other tips
- Walmarts will only have DDR machines if they have a "Gameplay" or "Walmart Family Fun Center" alcove in the facility, you can use Walmart.com to see if that store location has such a facility.
- Almost every shopping mall has a website, check the website to find a store directory and see if a name of an arcade is listed. Arcades are usually sorted into Electronics, Food Court, Entertainment, Other Stores, or Speciality sub-categories. If a name does not look familar and could be an arcade, try searching that business name on Google.
- For movie theaters that you cannot confirm over the phone, try just stopping by and asking the box office if they have an arcade and if so, a music game. Then you can put it on a future mission.
- Don't let a fair opportunity slip by, if you know you are going to a possible location with a restriction (such as cash entry) that normally you would not take the time to visit, be sure to check that location arcade!
- Rely on your friends, even if they are not music game fans, especially for restriction locations that you would not or can not take the time to check. Use your social networks too! Even if they can visually confirm a machine, it makes all the difference in the world.
- If you can gather enough information about a location without making the trip to that location including the confirmed existance of a machine, post it on Zenius, then hopefully someone else in our community can make the full update.
- If you are part of a friendly group of music game players (for example I am part of the IndyDDR community), feel free to mark your best locations, with your group's logo (if you know how to do image tags). This way other players you want to encourage joining you can, and makes your group stronger. I recommend keeping it to locations that are frequently visited.

I hope this article will encourage some location hunting and maybe make the North American region a little more accurate for finding music games to play, especially DDR. Who knows maybe if we all work together we can find some unaccounted for DDR X2s!


(Dead account - No longer participating)

Post #2 · Posted at 2013-04-27 12:27:44pm 10.9 years ago

Offline shirazu
shirazu Avatar Member
5 Posts
United States
Reg. 2012-10-26

I have been doing all of the above and have been actually finding a lot of locations in the DC area. Unfortunately every single machine I have found has been in terrible condition and many have been completely broken. Sad

I once called a laser tag facility asking if they have dance dance revolution. They said, "no we do not have dance dance revolution." I was right near the place a few days later on an unrelated trip and decided to visit to see if maybe they had other music games. They did not but they did have DDR Extreme.

Post #3 · Posted at 2013-04-27 01:24:37pm 10.9 years ago

Offline CynicalOkie
CynicalOkie Avatar Member
541 Posts
United States
Reg. 2011-02-27

3DS Friend Code: 5370-1122-8774
"Care cup is empty! c[_]"
Yeah, I've been thinking about doing that with the arcades in my general area. I also do -not- recommend calling anyone. EVERY TIME they always get something about their arcade wrong. For example, the arcade I regularly go to in Tulsa, when I called them asking if they had DDR, they said no. Lo and behold, I saw it in person, and there was SuperNOVA 2. Another arcade said they -had- DDR, but it was actually a Pump it Up. So definitely only take the information in person.

Post #4 · Posted at 2013-04-28 02:37:17am 10.8 years ago

Offline ddrencoremyst
ddrencoremyst Avatar Member+
142 Posts
United States
Reg. 2009-08-31


Last updated: 2013-04-28 02:39am
Indeed, calling only serves a purpose in getting a lead, and never take word if they do or not. However, calling is helpful because it at least decides if it is worth making a trip or not, especially if the possible location is a very long ways away from you.

I just checked up on a few locations on my to do list in Indianapolis, and unfortunately the results were not fruitful (only a couple of poor condition Pump It Up's were found). However I still have hope that my efforts to check on places in my region will benefit myself and other players in the future.
(Dead account - No longer participating)

Post #5 · Posted at 2013-04-29 03:27:53am 10.8 years ago

Offline shirazu
shirazu Avatar Member
5 Posts
United States
Reg. 2012-10-26

Another bit of advice I could add here is to ask around at classic and fighting game regional forums if they have seen music games. For example shoryuken usually has active regional forums and although most fighting game play is at home these days there are still people there who visit arcades from time to time.

Post #6 · Posted at 2013-04-29 04:30:39am 10.8 years ago

Offline warpdr!ve
warpdr!ve Avatar Member
339 Posts
United States
Reg. 2011-09-15

"Fairy-nough"
Also, I've found Youtube to be surprisingly useful, as I've found a couple of arcades by people tagging them in their tags/descriptions, and as a bonus you can see the machine in action. Then it's just a matter of PMing the people if you want to ask anything else, and you can even have a little meetup or something.

Of course other rhythm game forums are useful - r21freak has a small thread on the topic, for instance.
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Post #7 · Posted at 2013-09-19 01:57:25am 10.5 years ago

Offline iidxzeus
iidxzeus Avatar Member
5 Posts
United States
Reg. 2013-09-07

How do we let this website know when a DDR machine has been located or removed? I found the one they had at Potomac Mills mall in Woodbridge, VA is gone as of about 2 weeks ago.

Post #8 · Posted at 2013-09-19 04:47:27am 10.5 years ago

Offline al2k4
al2k4 Avatar Admin
9,387 Posts
United Kingdom
Reg. 2006-05-01

Nintendo Switch Friend Code: SW-6451-2397-9509
"BEMANI Sound Team"
Just hit the Edit button next to the game then click the Remove button. You will have to add the game to the other location if it has been relocated.

Post #9 · Posted at 2013-09-19 05:07:54am 10.5 years ago

Offline toby7ten
toby7ten Avatar Member+
116 Posts
United Kingdom
Reg. 2010-05-15
MySpace: https://myspace.com/pumpstreetuk
Game Center Nickname: ARCTIC SMASH

Last updated: 2013-09-20 08:29pm
Quote: ddrencoremyst
HELLO EVERYONE!
This is a futile effort on my part to work towards revitalizing the arcade music game scene once again and finding ways to bring life and happiness to the community (and maybe a little less trolling). It has quickly been brought to my attention that there are MANY DDR machines and other music games unaccounted for in arcades across the country.

Brilliant post! I think if the arcade has decent playable games (but no Bemani) I think it would be a crying shame to omit it. There are plenty of fighting, shooting, and racing game players here. If Zenius is going to be the ultimate arcade database, it would be way better to have all cool locations =]
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