This site is devoted to the major games arcades in Akihabara, where you can kick back and relax and play all the latest and the greatest in electronic games. Of course, there are plenty of places where you can try out new games and new platforms for free, and I will tell you about those places and what is currently playing there. But in my experience there are four major games arcades in Akihabara -- the two Sega complexes, hey and s@y. Of course, there is more to Akihabara than just playing games, and you will find plenty of other pages on this site, on subjects as diverse as Maid Cafes and Doll Cafes, role playing game suppliers and even fast food joints. If you are interested in buying games, there is a different site for that -- click here. This site here though is strictly for the playerz... and if you are most interested in electronic gaming when you go to Akihabara or are merely curious about just how cool games arcades can be, read on. This is your electronic lifestyle!

Gamers Main Store: 外神田１−１４−７宝田ビル.
(Takarada Building, 1-14-7 Soto Kanda.)
Phone: 03/5298 8720. Web: web: http://www.broccoli.co.jp/gamers/honten2/main.html. Map: http://www.broccoli.co.jp/gamers/honten2/map.html.)
Gamers (of Broccoli and Di Gi Charat fame) has a bunch of stores throughout Tokyo. Their 8-story main store is located in Akihabara.
Store hours are from 11am to 8.30pm Mondays to Saturdays, and 10am to 8pm on Sundays.
One foreign visitor said: "Eight floors of anime goodness. This main store is located just outside the Electric Town exit of Akihabara Station."

Gamers Second (Akihabara Outlet) Store: 外神田１−１５−６ミツウロコビル2F.
(2nd floor Mitsu Urokobi Building, 1-15-6 Soto Kanda.)
Phone: 03/5298-2015. Web: http://www.broccoli.co.jp/gamers/honten3/main.html. Map: http://www.broccoli.co.jp/gamers/honten3/map.html.
Located across the street from the main Gamers store (down the My Way 2 alley), this store is much smaller than the other Akihabara store, but it seems to contain a lot of close-out and sale items.
Open from 10am to 7.30pm daily.

hey (Hirose Entertainment Yard): 外神田１−１０−５廣瀬本社ビル.
(Hirose Honsha Building, 1-10-5 Soto Kanda.)
Phone: 03/5294 3380. Web: . Map: http://www.necca.ne.jp/~akihabara/a/t/map.htm.
Along with Sega, this is one of the gaming highlights of Akihabara. Inside the Hirose Entertainment Yard there are a couple of floors of arcade games, and on top of it all, Necca Akihabara which may or may not be a maid cafe, the definition is vague. However, one thing you will notice at hey is that all the female staff are dressed as maids -- they won't spoonfeed you like at the real maid cafes but at least they make the effort to look cute. Apart from that, this is a typical shoot-'em-up, kick-'em-in-the-ass video arcade. The machines in use here are pretty much Egret III's or Egret II's. The games are just as neat.
When you get tired of playing you can retire to Necca Akihabara, on the fourth floor of Hirose Honsha Building. There are a range of items on sale up here including spaghetti, coffee and cake and alcohol.
Getting here from the station: ＪＲ秋葉原駅電気街口徒歩２分, 中央通りソフマップ１号店さん２軒隣, クレーンゲームがあるエスカレーターで４階.
Necca Akihabara is open from 10am to 11.30pm.

Ishimaru Game One: 外神田１−１５−４.
(1-15-4 Soto Kanda.)
Phone: 03/3255 1600.
Open from 10am to 8pm.
This is one of the ten Ishimaru stores in Akihabara -- for more information on this chain click here. Ishimaru Game One is a good place for the gamer to begin his or her tour of Akihabara. For one thing, it is close to Akihabara Station. For another, there are plenty of games on the first floor you can try out and play. When I went there earlier tonight (February 27 2006) I was thrilled to find Mario Kart rigged up on a handheld Nintendo DS -- cool. I played a round on the 50CC mode (I am pussy I know) and won. Elsewhere on the floor, I noticed games like Rumble Roses (some kind of femme wrestling game) and Monster Hunter 2 (which was retailing for 5980 Yen). On the upper floors, games give way to anime, and it gradually becomes pornographic the higher you go. On the top floor in an events hall. I will endeavour to keep you updated on the events being held there over the following months and years!

Laox
Operating eight stores in Akihabara, including the Main Store, Computer branch, Duty Free Akihabara branch and Watch & Camera Branch, the Mac Shop, the Gakkikan branch for music instruments and three Asobit City branches for hobby and game related products. Open daily 10am to 9pm. Some branches have longer opening hours.
(Please note: for the sake of confusing readers the Mac Shop is listed seperately. While being owned by the same parent company, this store has enough of an independent personality, to warrant an individual listing.)

Laox Asobit H.
Phone: 03/5298 3581. Web: http://www.laox.co.jp/english/laox_store/asobit_h.html. Map: http://www.laox.co.jp/english/images/map.gif.
The "H" in this department store name means "hobby", and this in my opinion is one of the best places in Akihabara for a serious hobbyist to get his or her rocks off. Gamers will also find plenty to entertain. It is certainly well stacked and stocked, up-to-date, and there are plenty of consoles where you can try out the latest games. I can imagine how cool it would be for a gamer in Japan to spend a few hours in this tower, slowly moving from game to game and floor to floor. But games are only the start of the fun here. There is even a shooting range where you can fire off a few rounds on the seventh floor. How cool is that! The first floor is devoted to the Gundam phenomenon while on the first floor there are the Playstation 2's and some girlie Nintendo models. The last time I was here, they were promoting the impending release of Final Fantasy XII, which is a big deal in Japan -- it is due to come out on March 16 2006. They were also promoting the Japanese martial arts adventure game Sengoku Musou which will come out on February 24. There were plenty of guys trying out the new games, and the atmosphere inside the store was electric, to say the least.
From the third floor up, hobbyism takes over. There are plastic scale models of various weapons of war, car and railroad models and then the gun floor on level six. Just a short escalator ride will take you to the shooting range on the seventh.
One Akihabara visitor remarked: "I remember passing the Asobitcity construction site a hundred times earlier this year, wondering what they were building. According to Watch Impress, the store is both owned by LAOX, who owns, like, 99.999998% of all the game stores in Akihabara, AND it has an indoor shooting range. AND an entire floor of computers on which you're actually permitted to play online games. And of course a WALL of capsule toy machines. Plenty of photos at the link.
"Looks like it might be the kickassest store in Akihabara -- better even than the old LAOX Sofmap, which is just a forty-five-second walk away? Still too close to call. If its stupider name (Asobi = "play") is any indication, it might win by a nose.
"Man, I had some craaazy nights at the LAOX Sofmap... it is, seriously, the stuff dreams are made of. Plus wall-to-wall used Super Famicom games for thirty cents each on floor three. They had Parodius, and I got mine. God bless LAOX."

Liberty: 外神田４−４−３.
(4-4-3 Soto Kanda.)
Phone: 03/5295 2427.
I owe this following information to The Duff Fields (check his site for a good guide to good shops in good Tokyo, especially those on the laser disk tip): "There are four of these in Akihabara. They carry new and used LDs (laser disks), CDs, etc and have seiriken. Their new CDs are discounted and the turn around on some of the used stuff is amazing. I've seen used LD box sets in Liberty the same week they were released. They're all on the northwest side of the station. Akihabara station can be tricky, so be good luck. I recommend Liberty 4, because it's the easiest to find and has the most room to shop in. If you're looking for LDs, be sure to take the little elevator to the other LD floor. To get there, first find Chuo Dori. Just walk west from the station, it's the monster street with all the lights about 1 long block west. Take Chuo Dori north about 10 minutes, depending on how well you navigate the crowds. Liberty 4 will be on the east side of Chuo Dori, on the corner of a narrow street. It'll probably have a couple displays of LDs out front."
Open 10am to 10pm.

Messe Sanoh: 外神田３−１４ー８.
(3-14-8 Soto Kanda, on Chuo Dori.)
Phone: 03-3255-3229. Web: http://www.messe-sanoh.co.jp. Map: http://www.messe.gr.jp/shopmap.htm.
This is one of the legendary games and DVD chains for Japanese youth (and yes, plenty of mature folk dig Messe Sanoh as well!) They have a whole bunch of stores around Akihabara's main drag, Chuo Dori, or in some of the back streets. Included in the chain are the two Overtop stores, Overtop and Overtop II, Consumer Soft (soft being Japanese-English for "software"), the evocatively named Chaos Shop which is a good resource for gamers, PC Gamesoft, Doujin (dedicated to you know what), and the Boys Love store. Boys Love sounds like it should be a dance party at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Festival, but it is actually a popular store selling raunch products to Japanese game and anime freaks. At the moment they are selling a romantic DVD called "Dessert Love".
All of the Messe Sanoh stores listed above are basically open from 10am to 8pm -- on some days they open a little later (like 30 minutes), on some days they close 30 minutes earlier. But like most stores in Akihabara, these are basically 10 to 8 deals.