Day 1 - 3/25/13:
Sean and I decided to drive to Phoenix today.
Our first stop on the way was a casino we've passed a few times but never stopped at called Hacienda Hotel and Casino.
*On the road note: No dance games in the arcade here but they do have $1 massages chairs (Sean and I got massages!); the smallest, cutest little theater I've ever seen; and a "Free Hoover Dam Movie" playing in a room to the side of the casino!
Hacienda Hotel and Casino:
Small movie theater at Hacienda Hotel and Casino:
Inside one of the two small theater rooms:
We pulled over to check out a couple little shops on the way just outside of Kingman including a little jerky, fruit, and nut shop where we got free samples of honey, almonds, olives, and cranberries and a restaurant and bar with a somewhat interesting and overpriced gift shop. We stopped at Kingman's TA Travel Center too but couldn't find any food worth the price so we just got some Sun Chips.
Cool view from the highway:
Jerky shop we stopped to check out:
Inside the jerky shop:
Some restaurant and bar we pulled over to explore:
Random room inside Castle Rock Bar and Grill:
Arcade inside TA Travel Center Kingman. No dance games here:
*Wikieup, AZ on the road note: Sean just got us pulled over AGAIN but the cop was too interested in our life stories, how nerdy we are, Sean's background, and how we met too give us a ticket. The streak continues!
We got hungry so we got food at a Mexican restaurant attached to a Shell station. I think the Mexican restaurant was called Filipito's and they had a Monday special: 3 rolled tacos for $0.99! Sean and I both got the special plus lots of free toppings and sauces to go with it! Yum
We randomly saw a QuikTrip and eughhh miii gawddd!! It's totally where I use to get my rib sandwiches when I was younger! I showed Sean the magical place! They have literally 1000's of drinks! They have smoothies, fountain drinks, coffees, teas but only one hot tea :( Sean wasn't happy and made a scene! But it's okay because it was delicious! We managed to wing a deal and it was all good!
^Written by Sean, trying to impersonate me but completely true! XD
Some of the drinks in QuikTrip and Sean being predictable and hanging out in the tea section. Lol:
Next stop was Gameworks in Tempe, AZ (right by Phoenix). Ddrfreak said it was open til midnight typically but when we got there at 11pm it was closed. :( Luckily there was another ddrfreak machine location right next to it:
Harkins Theaters
Arizona Mills Retail Center
5000 Arizona Mills Circle
Tempe, AZ 85281
(^funny cuz the Gameworks in Ontario, CA is at the Ontario Mills Mall)
They still had their DDR Supernova (last updated on ddrfreak in 2008)! We had to get manager's permission to get into the arcade to play without buying a ticket (since the ticketing booth is just before the arcade entrance). The volume was HELLA low to the point you couldn't really hear your song at all and the pads were shit (2/10 on 1P, 4/10 on 2P) but we were still glad they hadn't gotten rid of the machine altogether!
Inside Harkins Theaters by Gameworks:
Arcade inside Harkins. Note my hot husband on the DDR Supernova machine at the back!:
Our next destination was another Harkins Theaters, this time attached to an outdoor mall (instead of an indoor one like the last one) we saw listed on ddrfreak:
Harkins Theaters Marketplace 16
2000 E Rio Salado Pkwy
Tempe, AZ 85281
Their DDR Supernova was gone though and I had to delete it from ddrfreak. :(
The Dave and Busters at the same mall had PIU NX and 2 Guitar Hero machines though. There wasn't time to play PIU because they were closing, used cards/points for gameplay instead of tokens or coins, and had already turned the card machines off but there were 2 free credits on one of the GH's so we each had a game!
Pump it Up NX inside Dave and Busters:
We didn't know of any other machine locations that would be open that late but we figured Walmart would be so we drove 7 mins to a Walmart in Mesa, AZ and got a couple food items, a $3 wine, and a $9 brandy called VSOP, I think? I don't think I've ever had brandy before and Sean said it's not bad despite being an old man drink so I wanted to try it.
We tried to check the Cinemark near Walmart for dance games but it was closed. I don't think they had a machine from what I could see but I couldn't quite see ALL the way inside.
*Cool note: We stopped in QuikTrip, passed several more, and passed a Waffle House and a Rally's. It was like my childhood coming back to me again!
Finally, we found a little place called Whitman Park, parked the car in a corner and brushed our teeth. Then we cuddled in the back, me in his arms, and I fell asleep to the sound of his heartbeat. n.n
Day 2 - 3/26/13:
We spent a few minutes playing on the playground in the park when we woke up.
Whitman Park:
Then we went to Waffle House!!! I hadn't been in years and Sean had never been so we went and tried pretty much everything that matters: grits, waffles, chilli, raisin bread, and the normal things, eggs and bacon. I was so satisfied!
Sean's cheeks outside Waffle House!:
We restocked with some misc supplies at 99 Cent Store and a Rooster Booster energy fountain drink at another QuikTrip. Then it was back to our hunt for dance games!
Next stop:
Golfland Sunsplash
155 W Hampton Ave
Mesa, AZ 85210
We got there around 10:40am but they didn't open til 11am so we walked around, checked the place out, (from the outside) took lots of pics, and cuddled on a bench in front while waiting. When they opened, we found so many music games inside! Ddrfreak hadn't let us down! They had Guitar Hero, IIDX 18 Resort Anthem, Technika 3, DrumMania V4, Dance Maniax 2nd Mix, DDR 4th Plus, DDR Supernova 2, and an ITG2 upgrade. DDR 4th Plus, ITG2, and Dance Maniax weren't working though and DrumMania had a broken hi-hat. :/ At least we got 2 games on IIDX, shared a couple on air hockey (free credits on the machines!), I got one on Technika (failed right away) and The Lost World, and Sean got one on DrumMania (though it was broken) and one on House of the Dead. We found a bunch of tickets so we cashed them in for candies and things too. We wanted to go on the awesome water slides in the attached water park but we weren't sure it was open plus we were on a tight schedule. *DDR Supernova 2 note: pads were 7/10 on 1P and 4/10 on 2P, mostly because of the up arrow's inner censor being shit. (Sean says 6/10 on 1P.)
Golfland Sunsplash:
Part of the arcade at Golfland:
Cool feature they added onto their DDR Supernova 2 machine as well one or more other games, including their broken ITG2 upgrade:
Our next destination of choice was:
Brunswick Desert Sky Lanes (Formerly Maryvale)
7241 W Indian School Rd.
Phoenix, AZ 85033
(623) 846-2090
^As listed on ddrfreak.
We stopped at a Peter Piper Pizza we saw on the way. Surprisingly, they didn't have any dance games but we had a quick game of air hockey (there was a free game) and one on some virtual roller coaster ride that cost 4 tokens! The game didn't technically cost us anything since we'd picked up free tokens laying around at lots of places we'd visited.
The Brunswick had an ITG2 dedicab but the coin mech was either completely gone or seriously fucked and no one could fix it so we couldn't play it. Guess we'll have to go back!
Brunswick:
The arcade:
The ITG2 dedicab:
We passed another Peter Piper Pizza on the way to Castles n Coasters, our next destination, but they didn't have any dance games either. We played H2 Overdrive for the second time though, first time being at Cinedome 12 in Vegas last time we went. That game is pretty awesome!
Back on track to Castles and Coasters (my second time going there now and Sean's first), we saw a Wahataburger from the freeway!!!! Wtf I had no idea they had that here either! What next, White Castle? Obviously we stopped and got Whataburger burgers there. So good!
Whataburger:
We finally got to Castle's n Coasters:
Castles 'n Coasters @ Metro Parkway East Mall
9445 N. Metro Parkway E
Phoenix, AZ 85022
It was still pretty much the same as how I remember it from when I visited a few years back! They still had the DDR Extreme with the huge tv replacing the too half of it, stil had their ITG2 upgrade (can't remember if the flat screen monitor replacement was in it then), and they have Guitar Hero, which was probably there then too but I didn't really pay it much attention if so. What's funny is that I'd completely forgotten about the theme park aspect of it and the coasters..All I'd remembered was the arcade! We had a few games and made some vids on the Extreme machine since the 1P pad was really good. (2P had an issue. Seemed like it was loosely connected to the machine.) We even traded off songs on the Oni course World Tour and managed to pass! Sean did most of the tough songs but I got us thru Matsuri Japan! We played free credits left in ITG2, some left in Extreme later, and a few left in Wangan Max Tune 3 as well as paying for a couple of misc games. We wanted to ride the coasters but the theme park area is mostly closed during the week.
Castles 'n Coasters:
Inside Castles 'n Coasters:
Part of the outdoor mini golf area at Castles 'n Coasters:
DDR Extreme with replacement tv screen at Castle's 'n Coasters:
We went across the street to the Metrocenter Mall I'd played at last time I was in Phoenix:
Cyberstation at Metrocenter Mall
9617 N. Metro Pkwy
Phoenix, AZ 85051
The arcade was gone though!! We were told it'd been gone a couple years now.
The Harkins Theaters behind the mall didn't have a machine either and neither did the Peter Piper Pizza across the street. On the bright side, there was a fun, grassy hill by Harkins and we took turns rolling down it!
*On the road note: They also have things Vegas and parts of Cali have here like Cane's, In-N-Out, and Sweet Tomatoes.
We got more energy drink at another QuikTrip and then continued on our next destination: back to the Gameworks we tried to visit last night!
Gameworks
Arizona Mills Retail Center
5000 Arizona Mills Circle
Tempe, AZ 85281
(480) 839-4263
We finally got to look inside and it was huge! They had DDR Extreme, DDR Supernova 2, DDR X, PIU Fiesta EX, IIDX Gold, GuitarFreaks V5, DrumMania V5, Pop'n Music 15 Adventure, and Guitar Hero!! Wow.. Extreme had 2 free credits on it so of course we played them but the pads weren't very good and the screen was discolored to the point where the right side was just a rainbow of arrows scrolling up the screen. The 2P pad on Supernova 2 was pretty good but we didn't check the 1P side (we shared a credit that was left on my old Gameworks card!) and the screen was somewhat discolored. Extra stage was turned off on it too. DDR X was on joint premium so we played a game together. The pads were pretty good for official DDR X pads. We shared a credit on PIU Fiesta EX but the 2P left/up arrow was broken and the bars were ridiculously wobbly. At least the 1P pad was alright. The IIDX screen randomly shakes top to bottom like something's loose inside. Not sure what's wrong with it. It was really fun to play anyway and Sean and I had a couple credits (me on 2P, him on 1P), especially because WE FOUND A VIP GAMEWORKS PLAYERS CARD WITH 400 CREDITS ON IT!!! Wow.. After IIDX, we used the card to try Pop'n, which was fun but ridiculously hard. Sean had a game on DrumMania and we shared one more on IIDX. We played a few credits on random games and won a few hundred tickets that we loaded to our card and saved too.
A small portion of the huge Gameworks arcade:
Music game area at Gameworks:
After we'd spent a few credits on the VIP card we found. Ballin!
Next stop was Arizona State University!
Sparky's Den in the Memorial Union building
Arizona State University
1151 S Forest Ave
Tempe, AZ 85287
480-965-3642
We got there around 11:30pm and the Memorial Union building that ddrfreak said the DDR Extreme would be in as closing at midnight. We had to rush! Most of the building doors were already locked for some reading but we managed to find a way in and get downstairs to Sparky's Den, the billiards and arcade area the machine was in. It was still there and still DDR Extreme! Sadly, it was out of order with what seemed to be a huge but easily fixable coin jam so we couldn't play. Ughhh Not all was lost though! At least we got to see and verify the machine was still there PLUS we then washed up in a restroom upstairs before leaving!
Sparky's Den's arcade at ASU:
We were nearly out of gas so we drove to a QuikTrip to fill up BUT, being the nerds we are, instead of filling up and leaving we spent an actual hour sitting in the car in the parking lot quizzing each other on dance game knowledge first. XD
By the time we actually got gas in the tank we were both really hungry and craving meat! We went to another Waffle House and got hot tea, coffee, and a tasty pork chop meal that we shared.
Waffle House again!:
Then we found a random parking lot, parked, and slept in the car for about 10 hours!
Day 3 - 3/27/13:
First thing we did after waking up, saying good morning, and cuddling for a bit was look for the next closest dance machine location to us (according to ddrfreak!). The result: a place called Jeeper's!. We put the place in the GPS but when we got there we saw the place had changed its named to Jambo! Adventure Park. The phone number was the same and they still had their DDR Extreme, though it was changed to $1 for 5 songs instead of $0.50 for 3. The attendant said they hadn't changed much at all about the place other than the owner, the name, and some signs and such. Another interesting fact: Before being Jeepers! the place had been Jungle Jim's or something. Anyway, Sean and I had a game on the decent Extreme machine and continued on! Note: Memory cards are hooked up on this machine!
Jambo! Adventure Park
2726 S Alma School Road
Mesa, AZ 85210
480-820-8300
Jambo!:
DDR Extreme inside Jambo!:
After that, we went to check out the next interesting-sounding ddrfreak-listed place in the area:
Amazing Jake's Food and Fun
1830 East Baseline Road
Mesa, AZ 85204
480-926-7499
We didn't know it was a pizza buffet and family fun center, a lot like John's Incredible Pizza but possibly with even more to do, so when we arrived we were a bit unprepared to pay $10 each just for admission. Being as hungry as we were though and having not had breakfast yet, not to mention I'd been waiting the longest time to show Sean what John's Incredible Pizza was all about AND there were 2 DDR machines at this locations, we sucked it up and paid $20 to get in and got a $5 game card. We found the 2 DDR machines back to back to the right side of the big gaming area. They were both Extreme machines but one still had the USA marquee from when it was USA (as last updated on ddrfreak when 1 had been USA and the other Extreme). The pads were horrible to the point where it was a struggle to pass the easiest songs on heavy but we still enjoyed the struggle. People left a few credits on the machines too so at least we got free games! Since we didn't end up having to pay for DDR, we used our $5 on skee ball, Basket Fever (kinda like skee ball but with hoops), Terminator Salvation, and some super fun racing type game called Dirty Drivin'!
Amazing Jake's, view from the entrance:
Amazing Jake's, going into the arcade:
Two DDR Extreme machines in Amazing Jake's:
Our meal at Amazing Jake's!:
We went looking for a 99 Cent Store to restock on supplies next and saw an AMC Theater on the way so we stopped in to check. When we got inside the dude working there would NOT let us in no matter what without buying a movie ticket first but said that they DO have a DDR Extreme machine there. We didn't wanna pay for a movie we weren't gonna watch so we just took the guy's word for it. Turned out it was listed on ddrfreak as an Extreme machine anyway (last updated in 2003). At least the grass in front of the place was nice so we laid down in it for a bit and then climbed a tree!
AMC Mesa Grand 24
1645 S Stapley Dr
Mesa, AZ 85204
*On the road note: I can't believe they have Chick-fil-A here too!!
Next ddrfreak place:
Stratum
1455 S. Stapley Drive
Mesa, AZ 85204
(480)545-5500
We didn't know what to expect since there was no info about what type of place it was but it turned out to be a laser tag with an arcade. Last ddrfreak update was in 2004 but they still had their Extreme machine, as listed, as well as a Guitar Hero machine! The screen on DDR was perfectly bright and beautiful-the best I've seen on an AZ Extreme machine! The 1P pad was perfect too but the 2P wasn't very sensitive. Sean managed to AAA My Summer Love on it somehow but I was almost failing when I tried it! Also, the bars were both wobbly and loose but 2P wasn't as bad as 1P. Still, it was a really good machine overall, only $0.50 for 3 songs, and they had the volume way up so there was no struggle to hear the machine over the other games. In fact, you could hear it from the front door! We had a few credits on it before leaving, since most machines we come across these days aren't nearly as good.
Stratum:
Inside Stratum:
We checked for another location after that:
Game On Family Entertainment Center
15633 S 32nd St
Phoenix, AZ 85044
It had been last updated on ddrfreak in 2006 and was long gone when we got there, replaced by a Goodwill Thrift Store. Lame.
Next up was Brunswick Kyrene Lanes bowling center:
Brunswick Kyrene Lanes
6225 W Chandler Blvd
Chandler, AZ 85226
(480) 491-3388
They were supposed to have a hacked r16 ITG2 dedicab but it was gone and replaced with DDR Supernova. WTF.. Anyway, the 1P pad wasn't perfect but the 2P was fine. Kind of a sad ddrfreak update for me..
Brunswick Kyrene Lanes:
Arcade at Brunswick Kyrene Lanes:
*On the road note: This is getting ridiculous! They have Cheesecake Factory, Benihana, Elephant Bar, BJ's, The Old Spaghetti Factory, Famous Dave's, and Five Guys all in one shopping center here!
So the next location was in the same shopping center as the above listed restaurants:
Harkins 20 Theaters at Chandler Fashion Center Mall
3159 West Chandler Blvd
Chandler, AZ 85226
480-732-0110
We stopped in and had a game on their DDR Supernova (same as listed on ddrfreak). Pads were mediocre, 1P better than 2P, but we were just happy they let us in without a hassle!
Harkins 20 Theaters:
Arcade inside Harkins
Awesome photo of the DDR Supernova machine in Harkins:
It was getting a little late and nothing else on ddrfreak was standing out a whole lot plus we still had nearly 400 credits left on the Gameworks card Sean had found yesterday so we drove back to Gameworks and played like EVERYTHING. XD Seriously though, we played an Initial D 3 driving simulator game, a virtual roller coaster simulator thing, Jumping Jackpot, some IIDX, basketball games, skee ball, Deal or No Deal, Operation, a candy game, some misc ticket games, Deadstorm Pirates (fun shooting game), etc! We also swiped the card in the token machine a few times and stocked up on lots of tokens to use elsewhere some other time. At the end of the night we'd accumulated over 900 tickets which doesn't really get you much at a place like that but it DID get us a couple cool travel mugs and a few small goodies!
Making good use of all the free credits Sean found at Gameworks!
On the road post: We just used the card with 400 credits on it that Sean found yesterday to play like infinite misc games, get a zillion tokens, and win sexy prizes!! We still have lots left over too!
Finally, we managed to meet up with an Arizona dance gamer: Chaz Totschek! So nice of him to come out. It was seriously like pulling teeth trying to get anyone out to chill with us. Not sure if everyone was busy, anti-social, hated us or what. Rofl Anyway, the 3 of us met up at IHOP, ate, and chatted a lot. It was pretty fun and, as always, nice to talk to another dance game enthusiast just so we don't feel too alone in our nerdiness!
IHOP with Chaz:
We started back home after that but we didn't get far before getting pulled over yet AGAIN. This time I was driving. We saw the "Welcome to Surprise" sign (lol) for Surprise, AZ and wanted a picture with it so we pulled over. Then a cop drove by on the opposite side of the street, shined a light on our car (we hadn't gotten out yet), and turned around somewhere down the road to come check us out. I thought we'd lose him in the nearby neighborhood but he came after us. He didn't turn on his lights but stayed behind us so I pulled over to see what he wanted. He didn't get out and didn't have his lights on so I got out and walked to his car to see what the deal was. He told me to get back in my car. I was like, "wtf. Do I have to?" He said I had to and when asked why he just repeated for me to get back in my car. I argued with him that I shouldn't have to do whatever he wanted unless I was officially being pulled over, which he hadn't said I was and didn't have his lights on, and was given a valid reason. Finally he turned on his lights and said he'd come over to my car to talk to me in a minute so I went back to my car, sat down, and waited. When he finnnnally came over he asked me for my license and such. Then he asked for Sean's. Sean had his, of course, but I didn't see why the cop should need it so I argued that with him. The cop kept refusing to let me explain what we were doing there til I finally refused to do or say anything else until he let me say what I wanted. I explained, dishonestly, that we'd pulled over to the side of the road because our car was making a funny sound and we were trying to figure out what was wrong with it and that we'd proceeded to drive through the nearby neighborhood to listen to and diagnose the issue before getting on the main road. By this time, a back up car that he'd apparently called arrived. They asked us to get out of the car and I asked if we were legally required to since we weren't technically doing anything wrong and since I'd already explained the situation. They said that yes, we legally had to oblige and get out and that they weren't voilating any of our rights. Then the two cops separated us and each of them questioned us individually about where we were from, the purpose of our trip, how we knew each other, etc. They couldn't seem to understand the concept of a spontaneous roadtrip or our marriage or interest in video games or anything. They asked us about fifty times about whether or not we had drugs or weapons or anything they sould know about on or with us and it got to the point where my answer was like, "omg, seriously?! NO. Not sure how many ways I can say it." He also told me another fifty or so times that he didn't understand what we were doing there and that our stories didn't make sense. We explained over and over and over and finally both gave up in frustration and said that we didn't understand how they couldn't comprehend our perfectly logical explanation for stopping or anything else AT ALL that we'd answered for them repeatedly and in every way possible. The first cop eventually got his dog out to sniff around our car but I knew my rights enough to know I didn't have to let him search inside the car. Despite not having drugs or guns, I did have an open bottle of wine in the car (we hadn't had any of it that day, however) plus these guys had already had us here for nearly an hour! The second cop told me to sit on the ground while the first one was talking to Sean but I refused. I was wearing booty shorts! Bad enough that they had us out in the cold and wouldn't allow me to get my jacket from the car but demanding that I sit on the ground too? Nope, not happening. I stood. Finally, the first cop tried looking in our car with his flashlight and said I had a blue box on the floor of the car that looked like an ammo box. He asked if I minded showing him what it was. I originally started to refuse but finally agreed with the condition that they let us go after that. It was worth it anyway to walk him to the door, pull the box (which happened to be a box of tampons) out, and state very loudly, "THAT'S my tampon box. Anything else?" Then he asked AGAIN whether we had weapons or drugs or anything else they should know about. Were they fucking serious? Hahaha I shook my head, laughing, and they finally gave us our stuff back. Despite us being very sarcastic and short tempered with them, which they totally deserved, they finally said we were free to go but that our story still didn't make sense to him and that we should watch ourselves because any officer in their county would've done exactly the same with us given the circumstance. I made some sarcastic remark to him about how illogical that was but he and the other cop each just walked back to their cars and we all finally got the hell outta there. XD Geez..
We went straight home from there and almost immediately passed out once we reached our bed. It'd been a really fun couple of days but we were in desperate need of about half a day of sleep!
