Lane7 Middlesbrough

I was recently working in Middlesbrough and took the opportunity to checkout Lane7, an awesome new bowling alley which also features an arcade and bar.  It’s always great to see a new arcade opening.

I passed this cool ad whilst walking into town.  I remember seeing the game back in the day, probably down Great Yarmouth seafront, but my memory is extremely fuzzy.  I would love to know if it was a US cab or an Electrocoin cab made under license.  I’m looking forward to watching this, and I can’t wait to see George the gorilla, Ralph the wolf and Lizzie the crocodile Rampage!

Lane7 opened in December 2017 and is located inside Centre North East on Albert Road. The arcade has a nice selection of classics, more modern games and pinball tables.  Tokens are purchased from the bar.

The Space Invader and Pac-Man Ghost bowling balls behind the bar are very cool!

The arcade classics include 1942, Donkey Kong, Double Dragon, Space Invaders, Street Fighter II’ and Track & Field.  These are scratch built repro cabs, with LCD screens and running emulation. 

   

   

Arcade purists may bemoan the use of non-original hardware.  Whilst these repro cabs don’t offer an authentic gaming experience, they were being enjoyed by people hankering for some classic arcade gaming.  These cabs are perhaps understandable given the difficulty in keeping old arcade hardware and CRT’s running, and I’d much prefer to see these than original machines which have been butchered. 

The venue also has Chase H.Q.2, Crazy Taxi, Dancing Stage EuroMix 2 and The House of the Dead 4.  It was great to see Chase H.Q.2.  The game had a fairly limited release back in 2007 and you don’t see many about.  I also had a couple of credits on The House of the Dead 4, in preparation for Scarlet Dawn, and the awesome Crazy Taxi.

The pinball tables are a cool addition.  I enjoyed a couple of games on Starship Troopers.

I had a great time at Lane7.  There are also Lane7 venues in Newcastle and Aberdeen, although the bar attendant did mention that the Middlesbrough site currently has the biggest selection of arcade machines.