This is the last of my series on the arcades in Niagara Falls. I previously covered the Great Canadian Midway and Marvel Super Heroes Adventure City. Today I will be posting about the Skylon Tower Fun Centre.
Probably the biggest problem with the Skylon Tower Fun Centre is that it is so big. If the place isn’t full of games, it looks empty. I have been there a couple of times in the last week preparing for this postings, and I was actually surprised with how many games they do have. It’s just that the area is so large, the ceilings so high, and you enter it from an upper level, it appears that it is almost empty. It’s also probably unfair to be doing these sorts of postings when there aren’t so many people around, and the staffing levels are low.
The Skylon Tower Fun Centre has the same types of games that the other arcades have. There is a good selection of games for young children. There are also many sports games, including a few bowling lanes. There are also the common “pusher” games, air hockey, and some classic arcade games.
They have a large redemption centre where you can trade in your tickets for prizes. During the off season, the redemption area is closed, but one of the retail stores upstairs can help you.
There are several well-known fast-food chains (Mr. Sub, DQ Orange Julius, Pizza Pizza) that have a location in the food court. I have never seen them open, but admittedly have never been in there on a weekend in the summer.
Based on comments in previous post, people have fond memories of what the games area used to be like, and they long for those days. There have been no announced plans for any improvements.
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I just want the Sega R360 back! Unfortunately I have been able to confirm that it was sold many years ago to a guy in Quebec, and most likely disappeared after that.
I have a really good memory of playing this machine in the Skylon a long time ago, around 1995 and unfortunately since I did not have the internet I did not know what it really was and how special it was. Its a really big flight simulator that turns upside down and everything and its the only arcade game ever that people are actually afraid to go on!
I am searching for a photo of the R360 in the Skylon tower, if anyone out there has one, contact me. I have pictures of the R360 in general I just really want a picture of the machine located in the Skylon tower!
What people don’t realize is that the Skylon Tower possesses an extremely rare collection of Sega arcade games. They have one of the only operating Galaxy Force II Super Deluxe machines in North America, I challenge you to find another one of these machines in working condition, it is not easy. It is not easy to keep these machines running and it really takes a special type of person with a lot of patience to work on these difficult-to-fix machines. Unfortunately I have not been able to check on the machines in a long time so I do not know what the situation is like down there but I will be visiting very shortly.
How did I guess you’d be the first one to chime on in, Sara… if it’s an arcade, you’re right there!
I got nothing truly against the “Fun Centre”… but it’s not what it once was, or what it could be. Don’t they have like half of it closed off? Weren’t there actual rides in there? Now they just have a lot of dated games & some ticket-redemption games.
They could use a little rennovation… especially with the fierce competition on Clifton Hill… this place needs a boost in the arm. Every time I’ve been there, it surely wasn’t bustling… and the times I’ve visited were warm sunny tourist-filled days!
Rob, it’s closed off in that the fast food places create a wall that divides the room in half. Back when they had rides down there (I seem to remember a go-kart track or bumper cars or something similar) they didn’t have the room divided like that and things stretched towards the Murray Hill wall of the building.
I was there last June on a weekend but I dont remember the restaurants being open. I think the days of the arcade have come and gone.. (well, massive ones at least). Its far too much space for something like that.
I think if the Skylon has so much space maybe the should fellow suit and possibly do something like a indoor mini golf or possible add something you do not see that the younger crowd might like and that is Laser Tag or possibly Roller Skating
The Skylon does have a lot of space. It would look better if they either installed more machines, or possibly put in an amusement ride, even just one ride would help fill the space. I think there is a problem with staff in the arcade though, in order to run such an attraction, they would have to hire people to staff it, which would cost them money. To my knowledge there is only one person doing maintenance on all the games and ticket machines. If they don’t even have the food places open on a weekday in the summertime then installing an attraction that requires staff seems out of the question as you wonder how much it would actually be open.
To be fair the arcade looks A LOT better than it used to. A few years ago it really did look like a run down dungeon however since then the floor has been painted and they put up a huge wall to sort of fence off the back room of the arcade, before they just had an amusement ride type fence for this area. Overall it looks much better than it used to.
It is true the arcade used to house amusement rides, the last I remember were bumper cars, wooden electric gokart track, small kids carousel and mini golf course. I have heard in the past that there was a roller rink and a huge ferris wheel in there as well. I don’t think laser tag would work as that works better in a group and you usually have groups booked for it, skylon needs attractions that people could just walk up to and participate in. A good idea would be to install an electric bumper car arena like many FEC’s have, but again this requires staff to operate.
I went on a Saturday a few weeks ago using a coupon for $24 I believe and it included 80 tokens and a large pepperoni pizza and four drinks. Pizza Pizza opened by 12:30 but was the only one of the four that opened. The one thing I did enjoy was the TV in the foodcourt was on the Comedy Network and they were playing Just For Laughs. The service was good as I believe she was a manager came and checked on me while I was watching the coats and the young man in charge of the redemption center was nice. If we lost tokens to a machine he refunded us no questions asked.
The actual arcade isn’t bad looking, quite clean I thought. It was just the place was too open and too many of their games were not operating. I thought maybe if they leased out space to let’s say Ripley’s Niagara to build a mini-putt, then there would be another attraction to bring people in and a revenue source. I really hope the arcade becomes something because it seems to have a lot of potential.
Hey there, Yes I know this page is more than 6m old but maybe someone will still be able to help. I just discoved this blog and I’m liking it.
The Skylon offers a kids birthday package that includes 40 tokens for each guest. The kids are 8ish and I’m wondering 40 tokens would last for any length of time or do the games require a lot of tokens for each play ?
Do you think the Fun Centre would be a good place for a kids party ?
Thanks.