The Canada Thread

Hello! First time posting on this site, and all I want to say is thank you all for the work put into documenting arcades all across Canada. The tools provided to search for specific machines and be able to see up-to-date information (and detailed information at that) is absolutely awesome! So thank you all who have put aside the time to document the arcades you've been to on this website. I hope to do the same when I get the time!

Stumbled upon this site when looking for Taiko Machines in Ontario; I'm really out of luck there though, huh. Even the latest Initial D machine we have is 4, and it's all the way in Niagara falls! T_____T

Such is life though I guess...

UPDATE: WE HAVE FOUND THE LAST PUBLIC DDR EXTREME CAB IN LAVAL AFTER COLOSSUS LAVAL PULLED THE CAB! It's at Darkzone Laval in the underground floor of Galeries Laval. We are unsure of the condition at the moment. But hey, we have found it!

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Hey guys! Thanks so much for making me aware of eSpot's existence, and that it had Project DIVA Future Tone--it was always my dream to play the game on a proper cab, and today I was able to finally play on one, as well as try out all the other awesome machines there.

I live on Vancouver's North Shore, so CHQ and eSpot are a little out of the way, but since I already go downtown for class, I'll just hop on a Canada Line train or B-Line bus to one of the two once a week after class.

I ran into this site when I was watching some videos from FNWeeaboo when he offhandedly mentioned this place for finding machines around you. So yeah, thank you guys so much for keeping a running database on this--I hope I'll be able to make some contributions in the future too!

I just went to Darkzone Laval, They indeed in fact, have a DDR Extreme cabinet. The pads were a bit insensitive, could be raised a bit for playability, but hey, the pads still light up, 3 songs per credit unlike Guzzo with 1 song per credit. Hopefully LABcrab can be aware of this place.

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Its been a while since i posted here.

StepManiaX first, Centre D'Amusement Familiale 4 Saisons in Sherbrooke has a StepManiaX if anyone is looking for a public SMX cab.

DDR, i still maintain the one found at Party Zone 51 and is currently running DDR 6th Mix, i plan to swap it for 7th Mix once the owner of the place gives me the green light to swap mixes and will remain a 7th Mix throughout summer.
Prior to 6th Mix it ran Disney's Rave and Extreme Pro Clarity.

I haven't kept up with Pump it Up in a while but according to everyone in the thread, Arkad Amusement in Montreal has a LX cab with XX, hopefully by the end of the year they end up upgrading to Phoenix since XX online connectivity will be going away in December.

Carie Factory i think still has their TX cabinet running Fiesta EX if you're looking for an older PIU mix for those that wants to play content that was removed after the Prime era.

ITG, its been popping up again at a few places, i don't know if Laser Force down in Drummondville still has theirs but if they still have it, i know pictures of the cabinet showed a La Récréathèque sticker on the side, perhaps its the one that was at Les Galeries de la Capitale before La Récréathèque closed down there.

MontVR recently posted a video on their Facebook showing their ITG2 dedi being played by a father and son, the cabinet is definitely modded as the ITG3 theme is running on it. I think the dedi is at the Trois-Rivières location.

Village Vacances Valcartier does have an arcade, i know at one point on videos and pictures you could see the DDR X that was at Galeries de la Capitale but if anyone is nostalgic for the Indy 500 Deluxe that was at Galeries de la Capitale, its now at Village Vacances Valcartier.

Do you know if it’s online connected or not?

Updates: The DDR Extreme cab at TAG E-Karting & Amusement has been sadly replaced by the Betson DDR X2 crapocab, which means you'd have to go to Darkzone Laval if you want to play on better pads or want to play EXTREME. A lot of people are gonna be pissed about this.

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It could be worse. The X2 at Funhaven in Ottawa was modified so the Player 2 dance stage also functions as the menu keys for Player 2. Basically makes it impossible to play doubles or on P2 without it jankily adjusting the scroll speed.

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CHQ in Burnaby has one of the older black cabs running A20+ but when I tried playing yesterday as P1 it was miserable--the right panel kept missing my inputs unless I stomped so hard I felt pain in my foot. And this was after they supposedly fixed it too.

Sucks, because otherwise CHQ would undoubtedly be Vancouver's one-stop shop for all of the foot-based rhythm games. It has an ITG2 machine running StepMania 5.1 and a PIU XX machine kept in fantastic condition by a group of high-level players--and all of them for the reduced price of $1 per player, too. eSpot has a newer white DDR cab in much better condition, but it's $2 if you're not using Petals.

These issues are peanuts compared to how you guys have it though--what y'all're describing sounds horrifying LMAO

(this is a months-later post that got appended to the last one)
CHQ is hosting a first-of-its-kind tournament in Richmond! It'll be from the 22nd to the 23rd, and the tournaments will be for Chunithm Paradise Lost, Wacca Reverse, and Pump It Up Phoenix.

There'll also be a vendor hall with exclusive merch, and a free play arcade at the venue.

You can sign up or buy spectator passes here, or watch the livestream when the tourney happens here or here.

I've entered into the Chunithm tournament, so hopefully I'll be seeing you then!

https://zenius-i-vanisher.com/v5.2/arcade.php?id=8332
I've just added and populated a page for Montreal Pinball Arcade.
They have a DDR SuperNova cabinet with an aftermarket Insignia TV added on.
Their pinball machines are all in excellent condition, as are the other cabinets.

In Regina, Sk. a small arcade has A20PLUS, essentially, on freeplay. they do switch ups on mixes every so often as well (4thMIX PLUS last i seen) The hours at that arcade are very limited tho.
there is also an ITG2 dedi cab at the small theater in the Golden mile.
there's also a PIU XX at a ballers rec room but the owners seemed to have put the audio super low for whatever reason.

So once again its been some time since i've posted here.

The DDR at Party Zone is still there and is currently running 7th Mix.

The ITG2 that was at Laser Force is now gone and i believe was the one that could be found at MontVR in Trois-Rivières.
Its no longer in Trois-Rivières anymore but the good news? Its now in town where i live!

Its now residing at The Sweet Spot Victoriaville and i've played on it a few times to know that its in good shape, still trying to get the owner to let me fix the USB hub issue since USB drives aren't picked up by the game but also to let me temporarily put the OpenITG patch on it so that it can run ITG3 along with the ITG3, ITG Rebirth and ITG Rebirth 2 song packs.

In the future i want to help the owner get a new PC running in the dedi to retire the MK6 that's still running in it.

I'm visiting Ottawa next month, and might try to make it to Funhaven at some point. Are there any good bus routes that go there from centre-city, or should I just call an Uber or something?

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Hi there! OC Transpo bus 58, direction Crystal Bay, goes to both Funhaven (DDR X2 and Synth Riders) and Cineplex Cinemas Ottawa (DDR Extreme at the former Coliseum). This bus can be taken from the Lincoln Fields, Queensway and Iris stations, which are not currently O-Train stations, but which do have many frequent buses.

After taking the 58, get off at the Iris / Baxter station, then walk 8 minutes on Baxter Road. It's a nice machine, despite the flaws with DDR X2 NA/EU cabinets, but it's been almost a year since my last video visit. These days, it's a little pricey, too. Keep your OC Transpo Proof of Payment for a Funhaven discount on Mondays and Saturdays! It should score you four free credits, based on an adult fare.

If you just want the Coliseum, take the 85 Gatineau at Bayshore, or the 85 Bayshore from Lincoln Fields, Carling or Pimisi. Get off at Carling / Wylie or Carling / Kempster, respectively. (If taking the 58 Crystal Bay, get off at Carling / Bayshore, then walk east on Carling.) The DDR Extreme is decent, but it can cost as much as $2.30/game, so I seldom play it.

Landmark Cinemas Orléans has a DDR Extreme with a Megamix bootleg, LCD monitor, bad pads and more issues. While it's cheap at $1/play, cash only, I don't recommend it at all.

The dance games scene was much better in Ottawa and Gatineau a decade ago, with over a dozen machines, mostly in good condition. These days, there's much less to do. Cineplex removed its best machines at four of its locations, and it hasn't installed games like DDR World, PIU Phoenix or StepManiaX here, so far. Many nice smaller arcades went out of business due to retirement, bankruptcy or other similar reasons. I'm hoping to do something to turn the tide, and my hope is that by next year, Ottawa will have another location or two with games worth playing.

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Hi so update on the dedicab at The Sweet Spot in Victoriaville.

It is now running OpenITG Beta 2, now has the ITG3, Rebirth, Rebirth 2 song packs along with two packs i made to show off what the ITG/SM community has to offer. Pack CJMV has stuff going back to the Dancing Wipeout days.

Trotmania (Best Of) are songs i chose from the Trotmania packs to showcase that even fandoms have some incredible stepmakers making content for ITG/SM

Finally, i can now say that the cabinet is now running the ITG3 theme and i couldn't be happier about it, why?

I've dreamt for so long to play ITG3 on actual dedicab hardware and now that i'm doing it, i couldn't be happier about it!

Alright so if anyone was curious about the StepmaniaX cabinet in Sherbrooke, it is connected online and is getting updated when a new version comes out and allows for profiles to be logged into.

I am happy to announce that every Xscape location in Canada is now listed on Zenius! There are 83 of them! It's easy to search for them by visiting the Arcades page, then typing Xscape (or Cineplex, SilverCity, etc.) in the Location field. I'm keeping the listings as accurate as possible. (There's an 84th Xscape on Zenius. It may be a mistake or duplicate, or maybe Cineplex's website is outdated.)

This will help gamers prepare for the 12th Cineplex Community Day this next Saturday. September 14, 2024. The press release is out in English and in French. Last year, the Xscape fundraiser was limited to a $1 donation to Boys & Girls Clubs of Canada per card sold or per Cineplex concession order. (It is « chaque article » in French, though.) That's still happening this year, but from 9 AM to 11 AM, there will be free 30-minute Xscape cards for non-ticket gameplay! These are in limited quantities, but whether or not guests will watch a movie, they should be able to play. Also, "Guests at [Cinescape] can receive tokens to sample games […] before their film."

In terms of dance games, 17 Xscape arcades have them. There's one Pump It Up XX at Erin Mills, although it's in bad condition, as is the DDR X at CrossIron Mills. Otherwise, it's DDR Extreme or In The Groove 2 in various conditions. Other games worth a try, though each Xscape's selection varies, include: OutRun 2, Mario Kart Arcade GP DX, MotoGP, Cruis'n Blast, TMNT and several others!

For those who will visit on Community Day, please consider updating the Zenius listings after visiting. This will help future guests know which games are available, and which ones work best. Of course, please be respectful of others when playing games. It may be best to let others play first, as I believe the 30-minute card starts after swiping on a first game. In any case, everyone should have fun!

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To answer some of the other comments:


Yes, it's good that British Columbia has some of the newer Bemani games! Let's hope that maintenance improves. A few arcades across Canada have them, too. I'm currently earning some high scores in jubeat and Nostalgia. When I visit the GTA, the DDR A20+ machines are in good condition, and they're still online with official support. Too bad a newer game isn't available.



I'm glad you got the opportunity! I'm only aware of two other arcades in Canada that offered the ITG3 theme on dedicated machines:
• Midway Family Fun Park in Ottawa, ON (It sold its ITG before closing in February 2019.)
• Cineplex Cinemas Scarborough (It's seen better days.)

I still enjoy ITG2 and its red theme a lot, but I rarely see it in public these days, but I still find ITG3 theme to have a nice blue theme. It is mainly based on the screenshot for that game's flyer, before it was cancelled. More recently, maybe you noticed "What Ya Gonna Do" by Scott Brown being added to StepManiaX. That's the menu music in the ITG3 theme, and the song jacket is a tribute to the title screen! For me, that song has a bittersweet feeling, but still gives me good memories of playing ITG3 at Midway and at Scarborough.

(The post edit is for brevity, and for spacing between my three comments.)

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To answer your question, that's literally the first song i played when i first tried StepManiaX and i love how it basically pays homage to ITG3 as a whole!

https://x.com/YumeArcade/status/1835682524896379155

soon™

Holy smokes, this is great news for rhythm games in Ontario! Looking forward to the place opening!

I'll definitely have to make a trip down there once it opens.

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3 year update:

Moncton NB has ITG 2 with simply love on it downtown, and I have pump it up fiesta in my garage. So if anyone somehow ends up in the middle of nowhere or missed the exit to nova scotia, hmu