Well I made the sad discovery last night that Pinocchio on Des Sources in the west ilsand is now closed. The place was compleatly empty and there was this sign on the window



This really sucks, they had some good games too 2x World Cup 94, Tetris, Pacman/Galaga...

Its also closed on Langelier, corner Jean-Talon.

Quoted from Tom

Well I made the sad discovery last night that Pinocchio on Des Sources in the west ilsand is now closed. The place was compleatly empty and there was this sign on the window



This really sucks, they had some good games too 2x World Cup 94, Tetris, Pacman/Galaga...

I knew the owner (went to high school with him, he took over for his dad). He knew for a long time that the end was coming. I think the mistake they did was to move from the smaller Centennial Plaza locale that they had (now a pet store...) and moved to the larger location on the corner of Sources and Gouin, hoping to get some residual business from the high school close by (Riverdale) and from the Skratch pool hall. It did somewhat, but interest had been waning for years. There was rarely a pin in there.

The saddest indicator of bad business was when I played the Ultracade 4 years ago. I did a pitiful score on Defender on it (something like 40000 points ... sucks without the real control config), and 2 years later I went back, and my score was still in first place, with barely any other people with their initials up... still the generic scores up.

The little place they had was always jam-packed... but I guess they suffered from the same problems as all other arcades in the 90s... It was pretty good that they lasted this long.

... that's why I need to win the lottery to build an arcade. No other way to sustain one in Quebec with the government taking 400$ per machine per year and home consoles still being kings of the hill. You can't just take a building and put in some games. It won't work. You need to attract different groups of clientèle. Themes, special nights, diversification of services (pool tables, kids amusement like jungle gyms, restaurant, etc...) , whatever that would attract people and generate revenue... and all that depends on the proper location. Put that in an urban center like a suburb with a lot of young families, and you have a chance. Young families have kids that want to play, and parents that played pinball and vids. Most 30+ year olds don't give a crap about Dance Dance revolution... but put a Galaga vid, or High Speed pinball in front of them, and that might generate interest.

Growing up I spent so many hours at this arcade when it was further South on Sources Blvd. Used to play there for a few hours and then go over to Marche de l’Ouest to play the games there.

Very sad to see it go. Recently I brought my nephew over once & a while to play. The place was pretty quiet most of the time. As Sparky mentioned… it was only a matter of time.