At Play in Xi'an's Arcades

[Photos all available HERE]

If not for Street Fighter II, it is highly unlikely that I would be in China today. This is no joke. Those of you who remember the game, will distinctly remember its immersive, character-specific backgrounds. Blanka, the electrical Brazilian beast, hailed from a stage that resembled the Swiss Family Robinson tree house. Dhalsim, the Indian holy man, fought in a temple. Guile’s, the American GI, was cheered on by other soldiers—one of whom made ambiguously obscene hand gestures. Then there was Chun-Li, the high kicking Chinese. Her stage was a vibrant Chinese street scene; chickens hung downwards from shop windows, men bicycled past, vendors squat in store fronts. Of all the stages, this was the one whose fantasy I most longed to experience. It was my first real impression of China. Fifteen years later, here I am.

Street Fighter II is still available and still played in Xi’an’s videogame arcades. During the past month, me and a few other (male) teachers at my school became obsessed with playing arcade games on our breaks from class. It was here we rediscovered the magic of our old favorites and the charms of many new ones.

Videogames are a sort of art. They may lack the emotional heft of an ambitious movie or book, but compared to Iron Man or the latest Clive Cussler novel, they hold up well. Consider one shooting game in particular wherein you and a partner play X-Files-style agents investigating a haunted museum: It starts simply enough with a few mummies popping up here and there, old Greek amphora flying toward you. Then the mummies increase, then you are surrounded, then totem poles begin lobbing pumpkin-things at you, then you are flying through a mining tunnel, then you are being swarmed by bees, then you are being chased by the Sphinx. . . .the entire game has the quality of a fever dream and it’s a thoroughly entertaining experience.

There are two major arcades along Luomashi—the pedestrian promenade near Walmart—and, if shooting mummies or pummeling a multinational cast of characters isn’t your thing, there are a multitude of other options. The major draws seem to be a game where four unallied players sit around a large table-cum-tv-screen and shoot at fish. There doesn’t seem to be much more to it than that and yet it draws crowds. In addition to the players—mostly men in their twenties and thirties—there are girl-friends and large numbers of unconnected spectators.

Of the two arcades, Tom’s World is the more varied and enjoyable. Its crowd is much younger: Parents with small children, groups of young kids, and teenagers on dates all mill about. In addition to the games mentioned, it has basketball tossing games, whack-a-mole games, drum sets, Dance-Dance Revolution, skee-ball, claw crane games, and many other fun-for-all-ages games. All games require tokens and cost about 1 yuan per game—a few more complicated games cost 1.5 yuan.

The other arcade Can Lan Yang Guang (whose mouthful of a name translates to something like Happy Sunshine Fun City) is less kid friendly. It’s darker and dingier with less variety of games. Whereas Tom’s World is all bright tones and high ceilings, this place resembles a series of underground tunnels. Colors are black and muted. People are packed together at close quarters. The crowd is older—no children on the day I visited. Instead it there is an abundance of older boys with sparse growths of mustache and girls caked in make up. I made my way through the place feeling as though I might stumble into a back room with a Russian roulette game in progress of be greeted by a tout offering to sell me drugs or endangered animals. Overall, a less wholesome feel.

Clearly, my sympathies lie with Tom’s World and, during the past week, a number of my work breaks have been filled with visits. Typically I settle in at the Street Fighter IV game only to be repeatedly out-matched by a series of small children who take turns at beating me, their laowei compatriot.

The only downside of these places are the slot machine style games whereat lonely, stone faced men and women plop in coin after coin. Just like pull tabs in a bar or the Las Vegas casinos, these games seem a bit dreary and dispiriting. Avoid them, however, seek out the bright colors of other games, and you will find yourself re- experiencing a little of the youthful pleasure such places once provided.