Arcades never disappeared — they evolved

The Lost Arcade is part documentary and part eulogy for the iconic New York video game arcade Chinatown Fair in all its messy, beloved neon glory. People would embark on pilgrimages there to play the games they loved in a community that some described as family. Battles were fought through classic fighting games like Tekken, and rivalries were born. When Chinatown Fair shuttered its doors in 2011 after nearly 30 years, it felt personal for a lot of people.

And it was personal — then-owner Sam Palmer was reluctant to sell and said that the arcade was where he belonged. Filmmakers Kurt Vincent and Irene Chin captured the emotional fallout in an intimate way in The Lost Arcade. They also showed that the arcade business is not what it used to be and — despite the sentiment some people attach to it — at the end of the day, it’s still a business.