June 26--It's not the old-school scene of kids dropping tokens into Galaga machines, but the modern version of the video game arcade would have an easier time getting the go-ahead in Chicago under a plan advanced by aldermen Thursday.
Ald. Deb Mell, 33rd, put forward the plan to protect a so-called gaming lounge that has set up shop in the Northwest Side Avondale neighborhood. Her ordinance, which the council's zoning committee approved, would allow businesses like the Ignite Gaming Lounge to operate in commercial areas near residences without needing liquor licenses.
"They don't want a liquor license. Their clientele is kids," Mell said of Ignite, which on its website resembles a hip high school computer lab with clusters of PCs and personal game systems where players can congregate to compete against each other or opponents around the world. Rather than charging by the game, Ignite has hourly rates, according to its site.
Under Chicago's existing zoning ordinance, arcades that don't serve booze are relegated mainly to strip malls, Mell said. That move came decades ago as residents grew tired of teenagers hanging around outside arcades, the warrens of cabinet-style video games that were a center of high school social life before the rise of personal gaming systems and the Internet allowed kids to compete against each other from their respective basements.
"They were smoking cigarettes or something," Mell said of those long-ago teen loiterers.
The exception for arcades serving liquor came a few years ago, in response to the popularity of the "barcade" as a center of adult social life both for nostalgia seekers who grew up before Nintendo home arcade systems took over the world and younger grown-ups who find ironic entertainment in playing archaic classics like "Dig Dug."
The gaming lounges offer another option, one Mell said Avondale residents support.
"It's a safe place for kids to hang out," she said. "People who live around there are in favor of it, and this way they won't have to go through the process of getting a liquor license they don't want."
The proposal will head to the full City Council next month.
