If you grew up throwing quarters into the Street Fighter machine at the corner bar, or if you are a parent today and are looking for a plan where your children can let go of their cell phones and you don’t get bored, we have good news. Game Station has just landed in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat , a gigantic 950 m² leisure center that is a real temple for lovers of video games and arcade games.
This new hotspot is not just any arcade, it is the materialization of the nostalgia of its owners.
Arcade nostalgia and a solution for parents
We spoke to Felipe, one of the four partners behind the project, and the motivation couldn’t be more relatable. “We all have children and we were facing the problem that there are not many things for them,” he tells us. “We grew up with arcade machines, we had that nostalgia. I grew up near the Novedades movie theater, there was a brutal arcade there!”.
The idea was clear: to create a space where children “are not alone at home with YouTube”, but can socialize, move around and, above all, play with their parents. Goodbye generation gap; hello to family Air Hockey games.
What do we find in this temple of neon?
Game Station has divided its huge space (almost 1,000 m², to say the least) into two large areas to please everyone.
On the one hand, the pure and simple arcade area. Here there are about 50 arcade machines where variety is the norm. The adrenaline is pumping with the latest generation of simulators: you can get behind the wheel of racing cars, go round corners on motorcycles or feel like a real Top Gun piloting airplanes. Right next door, 4 Virtual Reality (VR) machines await you for total immersion.
It doesn’t end there.You have action games to release tension, from those that work with water pistols to compressed air. And, of course, there are the classic arcade games that never fail: no shortage of mini-ball courts, basketball hoops to have fun with friends, the essential air field hockey tables (or pucks) and even a curious surfing machine. To top it all off, the classic dance machines to shake your skeleton and a lot of multiplayer options designed for the whole family to play together.
For the little ones (and for parents’ peace of mind), the enclosure includes a giant “chiquipark” of various heights with its indispensable ball pool.
Tickets, prizes and Asian drinks
Obviously, it wouldn’t be a real arcade without that glorious moment of redeeming tickets. At Game Station, the machines give out points that accumulate on a membership card (which also offers discounts) and can be exchanged at a prize counter. And beware, there are not only goodies: they have plush toys, headphones, keyboards and even the coveted collectible “Labubu” dolls.
To recharge your batteries, the center has a bar area serving coffee, snacks and a curious selection of snacks and Asian drinks. In addition, on the second floor, they have private rooms to celebrate birthdays and events.
Access to the space is free, but the chiqui park does have entrance fees depending on the hours used. On the other hand, the arcade machines are free access, and work with the tickets purchased.