, stylized as ROUND1, is a Japan-based amusement store chain. In Japan, the amusement centers offer bowling alleys, arcade games, karaoke, and billiards. Select larger locations also include SpoCha, which is an abbreviation for “Sports Challenge”, which offers a variety of items and indoor activities such as batting cages, basketball, volleyball, tennis,

futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

, driving range, etc. Round One Entertainment Inc. is an American subsidiary of Round One Corporation. The amusement centers in the U.S. offer a variety of

bowling Bowling is a Throwing sports#Target sports, target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a bowling ball, ball toward Bowling pin, pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). Most references to ''bowling'' are ...

karaoke is a type of interactive entertainment system usually offered in nightclubs and bars, where people sing along to pre-recorded accompaniment using a microphone. Its musical content is an instrumental rendition of a well-known popular song. I ...

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

arcade cabinet An arcade cabinet, also known as an arcade machine or a coin-op cabinet or coin-op machine, is the housing within which an arcade game's electronic hardware resides. Most cabinets designed since the mid-1980s conform to the Japanese Amusement Ma ...

s and

redemption game Redemption games are typically arcade games of skill that reward the player proportionally to their score in the game. The reward most often comes in the form of tickets, with more tickets being awarded for higher scores. These tickets can th ...

billiards Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue stick, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as . Cue sports, a category of stic ...

darts Darts is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, projectiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dartboard. Point ...

, and

ping pong Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of two, players ...

while serving a variety of

food Food is any substance consumed by an organism for Nutrient, nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or Fungus, fungal origin and contains essential nutrients such as carbohydrates, fats, protein (nutrient), proteins, vitamins, ...

and beverages.

History

On December 25, 1980, the owner, Masahiko Sugino, founded a company called Sugino Kosan that featured a roller skate facility with arcade games. A few years later, the facility expanded to include a bowling alley which became very popular. This company later became the first Round One arcade in 1993. Since then, the company quickly expanded all across Japan. Before 2010, the company first attempted to expand to the United States, when the company established Round One U.S.A. Corp, but after not finding a good location for their first overseas location this subsidiary closed down in July 2006. The subsidiary was relaunched in 2008 as Round One Entertainment Inc., and successfully opened up a Round One-branded location at

Puente Hills Mall Puente Hills Mall, located in City of Industry, California, United States, is a major regional shopping center in the San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County. It is most notable for serving as the filming site for the Twin Pines/Lone Pin ...

City of Industry The City of Industry is a city in the San Gabriel Valley, in eastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is almost entirely industrial, containing over 3,000 businesses employing 67,000 people, with only 264 residents as of ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

in 2010. In Japan, there are currently 107 stores open. In the U.S., there are currently stores open in 27 states. More locations are planned to open in

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

, and

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

. As of 2019, Round 1 plans to expand at a rate of 10 stores per year. The brand also plans to open stores in the Asia-Pacific region. There is currently a location open in China, and a former location in Russia, which was divested in 2022.

Arcade games

In addition to American arcade games, Round One locations in the United States offer many exclusive Japanese arcade games, which is something that other arcades rarely or cannot offer. These include ''

beatmania IIDX (IIDX) is a series of rhythm video games, that was first released by Konami in Japan on 26 February 1999. ''Beatmania IIDX'' has since spawned 32 arcade releases and 14 console releases on the Sony PlayStation 2. It is the sequel to the '' b ...

32: Pinky Crush'', '' Dance Dance Revolution World'', ''

Sound Voltex is a series of music games developed and published by Konami. The first release of the game, ''Sound Voltex Booth'', was tested in various cities in Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the nort ...

EXCEED GEAR'', ''

Groove Coaster The series is an iOS / Android and arcade rhythm game franchise developed by Matrix Software and published by Taito. The first ''Groove Coaster'' was released for iOS on July 28, 2011. This rhythm game follows a roller coaster ...

'', ''

Wangan Midnight is a Japanese racing manga series written and illustrated by Michiharu Kusunoki. It was first serialized in Shogakukan's '' Big Comic Spirits'' in 1990, but was later serialized in Kodansha's ''Weekly Young Magazine'' from 1992 to 2008. ...

Maximum Tune 5'' (addressed as ''Maximum Tune 5'' for its American release; currently released as its updated form ''Maximum Tune 5DX+''), and ''

Initial D Arcade Stage The ''Initial D'' (D) video game series, known in Japan as ''Initial D Arcade Stage'', is an arcade racing game series developed by Sega, based on the anime and manga series '' Initial D''. In the United States and Europe, the game series is si ...

8''. They also exclusively offer the special 20th anniversary golden cabinet for '' Dance Dance Revolution World.'' Round One and

Dave & Buster's Dave & Buster's Entertainment, Inc. (stylized in all caps) is an American restaurant and entertainment business headquartered in Dallas. Each Dave & Buster's location has a full-service restaurant, full bar, and a video arcade; the latter of w ...

are the only two entertainment centers in the United States that have e-AMUSEMENT, an online service integrated into some

Konami , commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...

arcade games. Round One also offers UFO catchers, a popular type of claw machine in Japan.

References

{{Reflist

External links

ラウンドワン
Official Website (Japan)
Round One Entertainment Inc.
Official Website (USA) Entertainment companies established in 1980 Japanese companies established in 1980 Amusement companies of Japan Companies based in Osaka Prefecture Companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange