Gaming City’s Dancing Grid. Photo: Shane O’Brien
Jan. 3, 2025 By Shane O’Brien
Are you ready to play?
A new interactive gaming center and arcade is set to open in Astoria next week, featuring a number of state-of-the-art 4 and 5D arcade games.
Gaming City is scheduled to open its doors at 36-10 31st St. by Friday, Jan. 10, occupying a newly built 6,500-square-foot retail space. The establishment is located just steps from the 36th Avenue Station on the N/W subway line.
The arcade and gaming center is a joint venture by Q and Howard, two friends who did not wish to disclose their second names and features dozens of machines and gaming spaces for people of all ages.
The space represents a modern take on the classic arcade, featuring 4 and 5D upgrades on popular arcade games, including first-person shooter games and target shooting. Meanwhile, the arcade’s driving games feature seats that move as the player navigates their way throughout the course, requiring players to be strapped in as they race against their friends.
Target shooting at Gaming City. Photo: Shane O’Brien
Gaming City also boasts three interactive gaming rooms, allowing large groups to take on various game modes and challenges, including a variation of the “Red Light, Green Light” game seen in the hit Netflix show “Squid Game,” located in the arcade’s first interactive virtual reality gaming room, which features four projectors, three cameras with multiple sensors and a radar sensor on the floor.
Photo: Shane O’Brien
Another interactive gaming room features a “dancing grid,” which requires players to move around an interactive dance floor and avoid stepping on fast-moving red tiles.
“Eye in the Sky,” located in the third interactive virtual reality gaming room, requires players to move stealthily and press various buttons throughout the room while avoiding the gaze of a constantly shifting eye.
Gaming City also boasts two virtual reality gaming chairs, which allow players to wear virtual reality goggles and take on a number of challenges.
The arcade also boasts several arcade classics, including punching bags, hammer strength, basketball pop-a-shot, claw machines, and dart boards. Its air hockey table features game modes that introduce multiple pucks to the game simultaneously.
Photo: Shane O’Brien
It also features a virtual reality version of the popular carnival game Spray & Race, allowing players to shoot water cannons at an interactive screen in the arcade.
Single-player entry to the arcade will cost $31.99 for an hour and $53.99 for two hours. Entry covers access to all games and interactive spaces in the arcade, excluding claw machines.
Photo: Shane O’Brien
Prices for children aged six and under start at $20.99 for one hour and $34.99 for two hours, while two different family packages allow two adults and two children to enter Gaming City for $99.99 and two adults and three children to enter the arcade for $119.99.
As part of the grand opening celebrations, each customer who enters Gaming City in the first month will also receive five free tokens for the arcade’s claw machines.
Q said capacity will be capped at 50 customers per hour in order to ensure guests have access to as many games as possible, while he said a party space will also be opening at Gaming City shortly.
Photo: Shane O’Brien
The center will open seven days a week and will initially open from 12 noon until 10 p.m., although Q said the opening hours may change depending on popular demand.
Q, who acquired the space around six months ago, said he has always wanted to open a gaming space in New York City and said Gaming City will provide a new form of entertainment for adults and kids alike, especially during the cold and dark winter months. He also said the space provides an opportunity for members of the local community to socialize and also noted that several of the virtual reality games involve physical exercise and will encourage people to get moving in the New Year.
“We need this,” Q said. “We need something that people can play and also burn more calories and become more fit.”
Q said Gaming City will have a staff of around 10 people at all times and said he has encouraged all staff to “have fun” while working by teaching guests how to play the various games located throughout the arcade.
Featured Events
