While walking to the City Market downtown today, Sharon and I happened upon Apocalypse Gaming Lounge, located on 107th street at 102nd avenue. The mirrored windows make it impossible to miss. Apocalypse opened on April 8th, after some construction and setup delays (according to their website). We decided to check it out.
Apocalypse has thirty kick-ass looking computers for gaming, as well as a dedicated Xbox 360 Rock Band stage with two overhead flat screen televisions. They’ve also got a couple retro coin-op arcade machines. The decor is reminiscent of a restaurant like Moxie’s, with hardwood floors, black leather couches and exposed brick walls. You can see the full list of available games on their website.
They are open Sunday through Thursday from 10am to midnight, and Friday and Saturday from 10am to 2am. Rates are $6.50 per hour ($30 per day) for non-members, and $4.50 per hour if you decide to pay the $40 per year membership fee. There were no gamers in the lounge early this afternoon, but I suspect their clientele are more night owls than early risers. Here are some photos I took of Apocalypse.
Internet cafes are nothing new of course (a great one in Edmonton is 3rd on Whyte), but I haven’t seen many gaming lounges. I wonder if this is part of a growing trend? Are gaming lounges sprouting up in other cities? I think the concept is great, especially with games like Rock Band, but I wonder how feasible the business is. Apocalypse has 108 members in their Facebook Group though, so maybe there’s more demand than I thought.
MasterMaq's Blog 
There’s one in West Ed – Blue Shift Gaming
Located at http://www.blueshiftgaming.ca – thanks for the heads up!
I took a look at their site a while ago. I hope they do well, but I cringe when I think of how much their initial investment must have cost.
Agreed Eric…must have cost a fortune.
Didn’t this centre close down now?
Yes, they have since shut down (AFAIK).
Yeah, it shut down. He owner was trying to find a buyer to keep the business going, but it didn’t go so well. I even attempted to make an offer for it; however after talking with people I found out that they didn’t properly license their games– or so i was told.
Dude, I went there two days ago. It sucks so much ass. All of their equipment sucks and they only have under about 20 games. You can barely play online because the ping is so high. Just don’t waste your time going there.