Arcade Graveyard

I have been living in Indonesia, on and off, for almost 15 years now. This city never ceases to amaze me. I drove 1 and a half hours across the city, through grueling traffic to find this supplier of video arcade games. I spent another half hour getting lost in small dirty lanes known as Gang Tikus (rat roads), because they are so narrow and winding. I finally found the large warehouse nestled deep within a web of small decrepit houses. As I dove towards the lot I was relived to see a clear open area within the gate where I could maneuver my car around to get out, otherwise I would probably have to reverse all the way to the main road.

The warehouse itself was quite large and it contained numerous electronic video games that looked old and dusty. These were second hand pieces that the owner bought and revitalized back to life. There were also many new games still wrapped in bubble paper awaiting delivery. Apart from basic arcade games they also manufacture bumper cars and kids rides made from fiber glass plastic. This was a pretty interesting process to see. In addition they also build soft jungle gyms for kids.


These bumper cars were fitted with laser tag guns. When a car is “tagged”, the carriage (not the rubber base) will spin 3 full 360 turns in 2 seconds. That sounded pretty awesome to me. Each car costs about US$4000. I would love to get a few of those to pass time on the weekends. We could have a bottle of tequila in each car and the driver would have to swing a shot every time they are tagged. Combined with the spinning, that would make for an awesome drinking game. If only these people know what I was thinking during our meetings. I am SO wasting my talents here!

These bikes have their front axel off set from the center causing the bike to bounce up and down as you ride it. It does not sound like too much fun for me but the owner said that this sucker can move at 55kph!!! That’s bound to give your nuts a jolt.

It would be impossible for a visitor in Jakarta to find this place but they still seemed to be doing good business. The owner was a decent Chinese/Indonesian man with fair knowledge of the English language. One part of my work that I actually enjoy is seeing where the products we pass daily and take for advantage actually come from. I love the manufacturing process. It really alters ones perspectives. I got a chance to try out the new Time Crisis as well. I could not take more pictures because my battery ran out.