If you find yourself in The Woodlands, TX driving north on I-45 from Houston, and you exit and turn left onto Sawdust Rd., and you see a Walgreens on the left about half a mile down, do yourself a favor and turn in. Go past the Walgreens, past the Radio Shack and past the FedEx store, and you’ll see a curious sight: an actual arcade.

In the world of Xbox Live and PlayStation Network and Steam, this is a rarity in itself, but what makes The Game Preserve really intriguing is what you’ll find inside. No tokens, no change machines, no giant rat suits and no tickets to spend on stuffed animals that should cost about two dollars but you actually spend about 20 in order to win. Just games.

And not just the games that you’ll find in any modern arcade. Yes, you’ll find Dance Dance Revolution and Golden Tee. But next to the DDR you’ll find Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man and Galaga. Twenty feet from away, you’ll find Battletoads, Mortal Kombat II and Killer Instinct. On the opposite wall of the main room, you’ll find a row of pinball machines including Back to the Future and The Addams Family. In the next room over you’ll find Doctor Who pinball, X-Men and NBA Jam in the next room and the early mechanical pinball machines in the next. 

Existing in its current location since March 13 of this year, and previously in other nearby locations, The Game Preserve is equal parts arcade and museum, a place where collectors and gamers young and old can come in and play all day for just $15 dollars and never have to spend a single quarter.

Co-owner, President and COO Rusty Key says the Game Preserve started out as a much different idea.

“When we first started out, we saw it more as a co-op of arcade collectors,” Key says. “We’d all pay a little bit and we’d keep a place open and pay the rent and the expenses and everyone would have their machines in one place and we’d come and play and share. We wanted to preserve the games and preserve the old arcade feel. So we started out with four owners and put it all together. What we found out was people really wanted to come play the games more than they wanted to bring their games and set them up. It kind of evolved into a membership-based thing. It’s not as much a for-profit business, although it is, as it is a membership thing where people who pay and join kind of take ownership.”

The Game Preserve currently houses more than 130 games and the owners also possess approximately 300 in warehouses that rotate on and off the arcade floor in order to keep things fresh. Weekly tournaments are also held comprised of both video and pinball games.

“Right now the oldest game we have is a pinball machine in the electrical-mechanical room called Ice Revue from 1962,” Key says. “We have games all the way through 2009-2010 and we do expect to see more new games coming in but we do tend to gravitate more to the machines from the 1980s.”

Key says great thought goes in to not only what games make the cut but also to where in the arcade they reside.

“When you come in and walk through the main arcade floor,” he says, “all the Atari games are together, all the Williams machines are together, all the Nintendos are together. We try to show people what each company generated. As for the pinball machines on the main arcade floor, we have the machines from 1978 to 1999 arranged in the order they were produced so you see how pinball evolved from the 70s to the 90s. We have another room with just the newer pinball machines from the 2000s and then in the mechanical room we have machines that go from 78 back to 1962. I think people that come in appreciate that and see that it was an evolving process.”

According to Key, part of the appeal to members is the mix of common yet iconic games and the opportunity to discover something new or something rare from their past.

“Everybody has their favorite game,” he says. “Most people know Galaga, Pac-man, Defender, Killer Instinct, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, the real common ones because they made 10 or 20,000 of the machines. They were everywhere. But then you get those folks who come in and they go ‘Oh my God, you’ve got Toobin’ or ‘You’ve got Crime Fighter’ or these other oddball games because that’s what was at the 7-Eleven across the street or where their mom worked and they see these games they haven’t seen in years. We have several unique games in and out on the floor. We have some games they made less than 300 of. Right now on the floor, Food Fight is a pretty rare game, Joust II is also. We do try to have a mix of the iconic ones everyone knows and the rare oddball games.”

The quarter-less membership structure of the business is not only a draw for gamers but also eliminates complications for Key and the business.

“We looked at various options,” he says. “If you do coin-operated or tokens or however you do it, you’re saddled with a tax structure that makes it a bit difficult to change out games. Every time you change a game, you have to get a new tax certificate before you can bring that game out to play. And then you have to deal with the coin breaks and the sticks and the constant coin jams and you have to have coin changers. And what we find is, by having things on free play, people get an opportunity to learn to play games they may have never played or would not play. You drop a quarter in, you lose your guy after three hits and you think ‘Well that’s dumb. I’m not going to put another quarter in.’ but if you don’t have to pay a quarter, you can learn how to play the game and experiment more. They don’t mind challenging players because they’re not losing any money so they’re more willing to try new games.”

Beyond the gaming experience, Key says a major appeal of the Game Preserve is the social aspect and an environment in which families can come and have fun together.

“I think in our environment here,” he says, “people come in and interact with other people they haven’t met and games they’ve never played. People challenge each other and you play a game and friendships develop. That’s the appeal. What’s really funny is Dad comes in with the kids and the kids are good at the Xbox and they smash Dad at any game on there. They’ll come in here and assume they’ll destroy Dad at any game in here and the trash talk starts. And then Dad kills them on the game. You see a lot of bonding and parents playing the games with the kids.”

In addition to the $15 day pass, The Game Preserve also offers individual and family monthly memberships and offers the arcade for party rental.

The Game Preserve is currently located at 473 Sawdust Rd. in The Woodlands, TX. For more information, check out www.gamepreservehouston.com and www.facebook.com/thegamepreserve or call 281-353-5189.

For a fun and safe family or social outing and the opportunity to gain a further appreciation for the evolution and history of video games, you can’t go wrong with The Game Preserve.

Colby Primeaux

While some might consider him young for the retro genre, Colby Primeaux has been playing video games since he was old enough to pick up a controller and eagerly seeks out games from before his time to study and appreciate. Primeaux is a sportswriter from Houston, TX.