The Definitive History of Sega World London

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eggplantUK

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rotunda said:
I wonder if it was Fun Land or Sega World which had the Ridge Racer Full Scale as it seems to not be there in this video. If Fun Land had it then the machine would have only been in operation for about 2 or 3 years... that's sad.
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Why would Sega have a very expensive Namco machine in their arcade?

There was one in The Rotunda
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robotech

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There was a sega world above the silver blades ice rink in birmingham
About 23 years ago
It took up the above the rink balcony area
it wasent that big and all the machines were standard sega stuff all on coin per play

It was pretty dead in there all those years ago
Not sure how long it was open for

robotech2019-07-15 10:21:08
 
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Tedward

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There definitely seems to have been one in Birmingham above the Blockbuster, but this is the first I'm hearing about this at the ice rink. I can't find any mention of it literally anywhere else.
 
Lardonate

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I remember specifically going to the Birmingham one above the Blockbuster and being pretty disappointed. Might've been around 1998/99ish, all i can remember is it having a mixture of older games, I specifically remember there being a Title Fight, a Last Bronx and a bunch of pretty battered looking Megalos. All I can remember was thinking it looked like an old cab dumping ground and was totally not worth the trip I'd undertaken to get there. Complete lack of new games.
 
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Tedward

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Lardonate said:
I remember specifically going to the Birmingham one above the Blockbuster and being pretty disappointed. Might've been around 1998/99ish, all i can remember is it having a mixture of older games, I specifically remember there being a Title Fight, a Last Bronx and a bunch of pretty battered looking Megalos. All I can remember was thinking it looked like an old cab dumping ground and was totally not worth the trip I'd undertaken to get there. Complete lack of new games.
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Does sound like Sega wasn't pumping much money into some of the venues towards the end of the decade- I know they closed this one no later than 2001, the Sega World's in Tamworth and Wolverhampton were also downsized + subsequently closed around this point.

From what I've heard, the locations like Bournemouth, Southampton, and Colindale (in Oriental City) did still mostly get a steady supply of new games during this time (location tests of Samba De Amigo, Naomi games, Initial D), but then Sega licenced them out to the Leisure Exchange operators after 2000. This making the amount of new games and test machines fewer, them deciding to put in casino areas as well.

By 2006, only those three aforementioned venues were left open. Basildon, Harlow, Brighton, Harrow, and a few others were all either shut down, or rebranded and became over 18's only. Bournemouth was renamed as a result of Leisure Exchange's licence on the Sega name running out, but a blind eye must have been turned to Colindale and Southampton- both of these retained it right up until their closures in 2008 and 2013, respectively, both brought on by the closing down of the shopping centres they were in themselves. They had decayed over the years, with the supply of new games slowing to a total crawl.

Leisure Exchange went bankrupt soon afterwards and sold their only remaining arcade, Bournemouth, to independent operators, who refurbished the location extensively, added a cafe in, and renamed it again to Fun Central. There are still some nice deluxe OutRun 2 cabs inside, a Time Crisis 4, and Mario Kart Arcade, but little else in the way of games, though at least it isn't that Raw Thrills sh*te.
 
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vib_ribbon said:
colindale only closed because they shut the entire shopping centre.
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Yeah, I said that- "a blind eye must have been turned to Colindale and Southampton- both of these retained it right up until their closures in 2008 and 2013, respectively, both brought on by the closing down of the shopping centres they were in themselves."
 
big10p

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I don't remember the one in Bournemouth ever being much cop, TBH. In fact, the only game I remember is a Sega Sonic cab, and that was only because I was surprised to see an arcade version of the game.
 
vib_ribbon

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Tedward said:
Wonder who owns this laserdisc now as well, would be great if a rip of it was uploaded to YouTube.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sega-World-Trocadero-Laserdisc-Disc-RARE-ONE-OFF-Segaworld-/350537450497?item=350537450497&ViewItem=&nma=true&si=MWq0X5EF%252Fw2OEP4WRnliQsHORWo%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
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pretty sure someone in these circles own the trocadero disks. i remember asking them whether they could share them but it didn't happen at the time. keep looking!
 
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Part of what I think is on the laserdisc can be seen in this video around 2:30:


Sounds like music specifically composed for the park. Might be some actual footage of the place on there too.

Tedward2019-07-20 22:08:34
 
robotech

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I really enjoyed the video exellent work to all envolved in it
Sad that i never got to go the mad cannon carts looked fun

Started watching videos about the other abandoned sega parks now :)
 
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