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Formerly |
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Company type | Private |
Industry |
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Founded | 2012(as Cineplex Starburst) |
Founder |
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Headquarters | , |
Number of locations | 25 Offices (2017) |
Key people | John Kolliniatis (VP & General Manager) |
Products |
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Services | |
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Website | www |
Player One Amusement Group (P1AG), formerly Cineplex Starburst, is a Canadian arcade game distributor. The firm also owns Playdium, a large amusement centre in Mississauga, Ontario.
Formed in 2012, it was created via the successive mergers and acquisitions of Starburst Coin Machine, Brady Distributing, Premier Amusements, Sega Amusement Works, Tricorp Amusements, and Dandy Amusements.
After controlling the distributor, Cineplex Entertainment sold P1AG in 2024 to OpenGate Capital.
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Origin Timeline: [1]
An amusement arcade, also known as a video arcade, amusements, arcade, or penny arcade, is a venue where people play arcade games, including arcade video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, merchandisers, or coin-operated billiards or air hockey tables. In some countries, some types of arcades are also legally permitted to provide gambling machines such as slot machines or pachinko machines. Games are usually housed in cabinets.
Bandai Co., Ltd. is a Japanese multinational toy manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Taitō, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Toys & Collectables America and Bandai UK, are respectively headquartered in Irvine, California, and Richmond, London. Since 2006, Bandai is the toy production division of Bandai Namco Holdings. Between 1981 and 2001, Bandai was a manufacturer of video game consoles.
Namco Limited was a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Namco Taiwan in Kaohsiung, and Shanghai Namco in mainland China.
Loews Cineplex Entertainment, also known as Loews Incorporated, was an American theater chain operating in North America.
Playdium is a family entertainment centre chain owned by Cineplex Entertainment. It consists of three locations.
Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. is a Japanese global conglomerate formed from the merger of Sega and Sammy Corporation in 2004. Both companies are involved in the amusement industry.
Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American global mass media and entertainment company. Originally a Canadian company, it was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, and is currently headquartered in Santa Monica, California. In addition to its flagship Lionsgate Films division, its other divisions include Lionsgate Television and Lionsgate Interactive. It owns a variety of subsidiaries such as Summit Entertainment, Entertainment One, Debmar-Mercury, and Starz Inc.
1985 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such as Super Mario Bros. and Kung Fu, along with new titles such as Commando, Duck Hunt, Gauntlet, Ghosts 'n Goblins, Gradius, Hang-On, Space Harrier, Tetris and The Way of the Exploding Fist. The year's highest-grossing arcade video games were Hang-On and Karate Champ in the United States, and Commando in the United Kingdom. The year's best‑selling home system was the Nintendo Entertainment System (Famicom) for the second year in a row, while the year's best‑selling home video game was Super Mario Bros.
Banpresto Co., Ltd. was a Japanese video game developer and publisher headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. It had a branch in Hong Kong named Banpresto H.K., which was headquartered in the New Territories. Banpresto was a partly-owned subsidiary of toymaker Bandai from 1989 to 2006, and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings from 2006 to 2008. In addition to video games, Banpresto produced toys, keyrings, apparel, and plastic models.
Meadowvale is a large suburban district located in the northwestern part of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, just west of Toronto. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Meadowvale Village in Toronto Township was established nearby and named for the meadows along the Credit River. By the 1970s the village would diminish with the current area to the west selected to be the site of a "new town" for the newly (1974) incorporated City of Mississauga and took the Meadowvale name, while "Village" was added to the historic community. This newer section comprises the bulk of the district today, and includes Lisgar, another former hamlet of which no trace remains today. Another extension of the district at Derry Road is referred to as Meadowvale West.
Cineplex Inc. is the largest cinema chain in Canada.
Mastertronic was originally a publisher and distributor of low-cost computer game software founded in 1983. Their first games were launched on April 2, 1984. At its peak the label was one of the largest software publishers in the UK, achieved by selling cassette-based software at £1.99. As well as supplying leading retailers such as Woolworth's and Toys "R" Us, Mastertronic sold software in outlets such as newsagents which had not been previously associated with the software market.
Bandai Namco Holdings Inc. is a Japanese entertainment holding company founded in 2005 by the merger of Namco and Bandai. The company specializes in toys, video games, arcades, anime, restaurants, and amusement parks.
Hayao Nakayama is a Japanese businessman and was the former President and CEO of Sega Enterprises, Ltd from 1983 to 1999.
Electro-mechanical games are types of arcade games that operate on a combination of some electronic circuitry and mechanical actions from the player to move items contained within the game's cabinet. Some of these were early light gun games using light-sensitive sensors on targets to register hits, while others were simulation games such as driving games, combat flight simulators and sports games. EM games were popular in amusement arcades from the late 1940s up until the 1970s, serving as alternatives to pinball machines, which had been stigmatized as games of chance during that period. EM games lost popularity in the 1970s, as arcade video games had emerged to replace them in addition to newer pinball machines designed as games of skill.
Periscope is an electro-mechanical arcade shooting submarine simulator. Two companies developed similar games with the name. The first, initially called Torpedo Launcher, was designed by Nakamura Manufacturing Co. and released in Japan in 1965, as the first arcade game Masaya Nakamura built. Sega Enterprises, Ltd. also built and released Periscope in Japan in 1966, as one of its first produced arcade games.
Scotiabank Theatre is a Canadian banner of multiplex cinemas owned by Cineplex Entertainment. The brand was established in 2007 as part of a wider partnership between Cineplex and Scotiabank on their new Scene loyalty program.
The Rec Room is a Canadian chain of entertainment restaurants owned by Cineplex Entertainment. It first opened in Edmonton in 2016 and its locations feature entertainment and recreational attractions such as an arcade, driving simulators; recreational games such as darts, bowling, archery, and virtual reality; as well as restaurants and bars, and an auditorium with a cinema-style screen, which can be used for concerts and other live events.
An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games or merchandisers.
Namco Funscape, formally known as Namco Funscape County Hall, was a Namco amusement arcade located on the ground to basement levels of County Hall, Westminster, London. Originally opened as Namco Station in August 1997, it operated as one of the capital's leading family and corporate entertainment centres for 25 years, closing permanently in August 2021 due to redevelopment plans blocking a lease renewal.