Not many would consider a hole-in-the-wall shopfront in the middle of Chinatown, with missing letters on the sign out front and decades of grime pounded into the floor, as "welcoming." But it is.
This week Kotaku's Aulistar Mark visited Chinatown Fair in New York, which holds two distinctions. The first, it's the oldest arcade in the city, a notoriety that sometimes brings tourist groups to inspect its hard-bitten interior, which is anything but the clean, corporate token-and-ticket playland that's the only kind of arcade making money in America.
The second is that it's a gay-positive hangout in a culture that elsewhere in the world - online, forums, comment threads - is incessantly hostile to who they are. The hate's polished up with the usual nonsense: we don't care who you are, just don't make us aware of it - which means, in essence, don't live your life if I find it offensive.
If the lives lived at Chinatown Fair are sometimes offensive to others, it's not because of sexual orientation. "Sometimes there's drunk people [or an] occasional homeless person," says the arcade's Derrick Rodder. "Sometimes kids, you know, are kids. They get into fights, and you have to break it up - just life."
Here's the week in life, on Kotaku.
- Top Stories
Is This How Microsoft Will Fix Kinect's Couch Problem? - Kotaku Talk Radio
- K Monthly - July 2010
- Columns
Tim Rogers: 'I'm a game designer'
Stick Jockey: An MVP Hangs In There, With Los Muchachos Del Verano - Reviews, Previews, Hands-On and Impressions
Castlevania: Harmony of Despair Review
Watch Us Play With Our Privates
400 Turns Of Civilization V
In His Next Game, Batman Is A Cartoon Character
Zombrex Dead Rising Sun: The Story So Far
Super Scribblenauts And My Lost Wedding Ring
Castlevania Puzzle: Encore Of The Night Review: Alucard's Puzzle Quest
Frankenreview: StarCraft II: Wings Of Liberty
StarCraft II Heaven's Devils Book Review: Humble Beginnings - Features
Chinatown Arcade, An Unlikely Place For Tolerance - News
ModNation Racers Patch Made My Load Times Longer
Pac-Man, Tekken Dev Turns Focus to "Casual" Market
Ditching 3 Games, Japanese Developer Bets On Girl Spanking
The Last Ranker Gets Its First Manga
Five New Arcade Games To Get Excited About
The Dubai Police Want You (To Make a Game For Them)
The Most Awesome Box Art In The World
Crysis 2 Won't Make It Out This Year
New GoldenEye Feature Big Hands, Not Big Heads
Xfire Sold Off, Development Team Leaving
Kevin Butler Gets a Gift Basket of Sorry from New Zealand
Can You Mix Scribblenauts With LittleBigPlanet Successfully?
Cosplay Queen Eyes The World of Warcraft Movie - Numbers
iTunes Chart Topper: Choppers, Farms and Military Maneuvers, Vietnam In Chart Form
The 20 Most-Loved Wii Games - Sports
Backbreaker Gets A Makeover With Enormous Patch Due Soon - Perspectives
- Reactions
A Week In Comments
- Republished Features
- Kotaku 'Shop Contest: Big Head Mode