Torrence, CA 2nd Loop Arcade Grand Opening Feb 16th

[MewJAM]

hey all,

just wanted to spread the word bc they haven't exactly done a lot of advertising, looks like a new arcade called 2nd loop is opening in torrence california with, among other things, a pretty insane lineup of shmups especially for cave and psikyo fans, as well as a promise on their site of hosting weekly shmup meets where i guess they'll bring them all out for folks to play. their grand opening is on feb 16th and they'll be open from 2PM-10PM. if their poster for the event is an accurate reflection of the games they'll have running on that day, we can expect:

mushi futari, ketsui, gunbird 2, and an exa with batsugun, saidaioujou, aka to blue, and air gallet.


i don't think i can go on the day of the opening but i have some friends who are, so i'll update this thread with any noteworthy stuff about the place that they share with me. it's a little weird to me that it seems to have popped up out of nowhere but if its good and legit, it would be awesome to have an established place to go to meet up and play together

[seattlexc]

Amazing, thanks for the heads up! I'll try to be there opening day around 9pm, hopefully they don't close too early. Bad ass looking arcade, I'm a fan of the exA arcade stuff so this will be a special visit.

[CStarFlare]

I am so excited for this. Thanks for the heads up!

[Gamer707b]

I've been dreaming of this for years. Torrence is only an hour from me. I am off this Monday, but not the Monday of their opening. Does anyone know what their hours will be going forward? Hopefully I can make it out there on my next day off.

[CStarFlare]

Website says 11 am - 11 pm. Doesn't list days of the week so presumably same schedule each day.

EDIT: New schedule seems to be:

Sunday - Thursday 2:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Friday 2:00 pm - 12:00 am

Saturday 12:00 pm - 12:00 am

[ExitPlanetDust]

Oh wow, they have a VO:OT cab? That’s the dream.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Oh wow, they have a VO:OT cab? That’s the dream.

I had the rare opportunity to play on a VO:OT sitdown cab at a Japanese game center back in March of 2000 and it was quite the awesome spectacle that it really is to play/behold -- it was priced at 100 yen per credit (which was quite reasonably priced imho).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[ExitPlanetDust]

I had the rare opportunity to play on a VO:OT sitdown cab at a Japanese game center back in March of 2000 and it was quite the awesome spectacle that it really is to play/behold -- it was priced at 100 yen per credit (which was quite reasonably priced imho).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

I have never had the pleasure. I was fortunate enough to revisit the first game on a cabinet at an arcade in Austin about 10 years ago however.

[MewJAM]

i went after all!!

i wouldn't have known this myself but from some friends who are very into the game: the VOOT cabs were not like ones originally designed for the game, but candy cabs fitted with custom twin stick control panels. the one on the right was not screwed down all the way so i had to try to be really careful while playing... but i think it should be an easy enough fix!

i got the top score so far in SDOJ exa label but got nervous watching it almost get stolen by a player named UMA, who was very chill and friendly, also met some other arcade game player friends there as well as got to meet Frenetic of STG weekly! saw clears of ketsui and batrider, the latter of which they are holding a scoring competition for, with the winner earning a 30-day free pass! so competition for that is going to be steep i think...

they had a projector displaying a scrolling feed of scores coming in for different games. once you've finished your credit you can scan a qr code on the panel of the cabinet and enter your name and score along with a pic (presumably for verification.) really cool!

they also had 3rd strike set to freeplay for the night, and it as well as maimai and monkey ball were very popular. really cool to see a place like this draw lots of attention and support right off the bat from so many different niche arcade gaming communities.

pics!

[seattlexc]

Thanks for the rundown! I was hoping to visit to ight for the grand opening but I was stuck in work late. I'll try and go later in the week. The arcade has one review on Google maps and it's a 4/5 review complaining about it being too cramped inside, I guess it was a little busy on opening night!

How does the payment work? Do you get a card with credits on it? Is it $1 a game? Thanks again for the post on this place!

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Thanks for the rundown! I was hoping to visit to ight for the grand opening but I was stuck in work late. I'll try and go later in the week. The arcade has one review on Google maps and it's a 4/5 review complaining about it being too cramped inside, I guess it was a little busy on opening night!

How does the payment work? Do you get a card with credits on it? Is it $1 a game? Thanks again for the post on this place!

For seattleexc,

If you look more closer in greater detail at pictures #2 & #3, you'll see that all the candy cabs have those specialized debit card readers installed on the top right-side of the control panels themselves. Quite a cool arcade -- too bad there isn't something like it in Northern California or Central California. Perhaps if it does well business-wise, 2nd Loop Arcade could delve into expanding as a franchised arcade business -- worth a shot, right? The more locations, the merrier.

I like the awesome retro-vibe of the classic "black 'n' white" checkerboard titled floor -- you don't see those type of floors very often, especially let alone in an indy arcade nowadays (as it's mostly carpeted in the bigger FEC {Family Entertainment Centers} types like Dave & Busters, Boomers, John's Incredible Pizza Place, Chuckie Cheese, etc).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[CStarFlare]

How does the payment work? Do you get a card with credits on it? Is it $1 a game? Thanks again for the post on this place!

Yeah, I think I paid $25 for 100 credits, and the shmups were 4 credits/game - so that's $1 per play. There were probably discounts for loading higher amounts of credits at once, I didn't pay too much attention.

Had a great time on opening day - great crowd, great games, and great location. Big upgrade to LA's arcade scene.

[Gamer707b]

If all goes well, I should be there tomorrow. Been waiting the last couple weeks to get some days off. Is it 2-10 PM everyday?

[Some-Mist]

I just saw this pop up on the Exa instagram, and had to come here to see if it was being talked about. I’m traveling to Cali in April and hope to stop in for a bit

It’d be so cool to be a local at this place with the monthly shmupmeet (from what I’ve read)

[Gamer707b]

Was there this past Monday. Got to talk to some cool folk, including the owner. Nice, chill spot. Small, but a really nice selection of games and super clean. Also, for anyone not from the immediate area, or coming out of State, Torrance is a nice city with plenty of nearby restaurants and things to do.

[Gamer707b]

I just saw this pop up on the Exa instagram, and had to come here to see if it was being talked about. I’m traveling to Cali in April and hope to stop in for a bit

It’d be so cool to be a local at this place with the monthly shmupmeet (from what I’ve read)

Well, don't you guys already have Ghost Arcade? I mean, it's not a dedicated shmup arcade, but it is a retro arcade gaming haven. Went there for my second time on an Illinois trip last year. The locals were super cool to talk to.

[Some-Mist]

I just saw this pop up on the Exa instagram, and had to come here to see if it was being talked about. I’m traveling to Cali in April and hope to stop in for a bit

It’d be so cool to be a local at this place with the monthly shmupmeet (from what I’ve read)

Well, don't you guys already have Ghost Arcade? I mean, it's not a dedicated shmup arcade, but it is a retro arcade gaming haven. Went there for my second time on an Illinois trip last year. The locals were super cool to talk to.

We do, and we're lucky to have it as it's a fantastic place (we held a couple shmupsmeets there ourselves), but I'm much more local to logan arcade which is a couple miles away and a lot more accessible.

I've been really wanting to play a lot of exa releases and haven't been able to so far, and 2nd loop seems like the best opportunity for me to do so. I was about a 4 hour round trip away from save point in Maryland last year, but couldn't work it into the trip itenerary :/

of all the releases, I really want to give p-47 aces mk II a go, but that one will have to remain evasive for now

[maximo310]

I went on opening day & had a great time trying out all the cabs along with talking to jepjepjep, mikehaggar, Frenetic & saw MewJAM as well. Since then, I've gone there these last two Saturdays to game & show the place off with some local friends. I'm pretty amazed at the cab selection & being able to play so many shmups at a local arcade, which I hadn't been able to do since the local pier arcade closed several years ago.

They also just announced that their first shmup-o-rama/meet is gonna be on March 21st, so I'll likely be there for that as well.

[seattlexc]

They also just announced that their first shmup-o-rama/meet is gonna be on March 21st, so I'll likely be there for that as well.

I'll be out of town that weekend so I'm going to miss their first shmupmeet. I'll try and be there for April's, I hope people here can make it this month and post some pictures. What a cool arcade to have in town! Their daily pricing seems like a steal too

[StarMask]

Thank you, MewJAM, for making this thread. I just found it as I was coming to the forum to post the flier for the event maximo310 mentioned.

Yes, SHMUP-O-RAMA: THE FIRST FLIGHT takes place Saturday, March 21st, 12PM - 12AM. I will make a post about it now.

[GaijinPunch]

5 years I went to Torrance once a month to visit my son. Then they come out w/ this...

[seattlexc]

Round 3 of the shmupmeets at 2nd loop is coming up next week. Now instead of 1 day it's 6 day extravaganza from May 21th-26th, with a different shmups being featured everyday. I'll try and be there at least one night, maybe two, mostly for Chaos Field