New York's Arcade, Chinatown Fair to Close Down February 23

Image Courtesy Michael Nagle for The New York Times

Update: It is now February 23 and Chinatown Fair is still open. Huzzah! While New York's best arcade may still have to shutter its location on Mott Street, word is that if it comes to that, a relocation to Williamsburg may occur. Goodbye Chinatown, hello hipsters! 

Sad news for New Yorkers, and East Coast heads on a whole. Chinatown Fair, one of the premier arcades for fighting game competition on all of the right side of the country will be shutting its doors as of February 23 due to a loss of lease.

The dank, dark cavern which houses some of our generations greatest head-to-head games has been a fixture for world warriors seeking challenges whenever they may pass through New York City. Little more than a hole in the wall on the end of Mott Street, the lore of Chinatown Fair is one built on both urban legend -- in more ways than one -- and cold, hard quarters. 

In operation now for decades, one of the last true game arcades is a second home to many of those indoctrinated to gaming culture. Backpackers, goths, nerds, geeks, lawyers, college kids, grade-schoolers, old Asian men; the mix of folk here is an interesting one, yet a camaraderie is formed between them, stemming from the love competition and the love of the game.

If you're in the New York area, you only have a few days to pay your last respects to a true monument. Regulars are hoping for a relocation of some sort, somewhere that, while not as iconic as the humid, narrow corridors of that hole in the wall on Mott Street, will bring gamers and fight fans of different generations together for head-to-head, face-to-face competition and fraternity.

via EventHubs