April 22, 2023 - SC3 Invades Y2Kade!

How does the weather always know?

Most of this year had been unseasonably cool in Southern California. It rarely gets truly cold here, but temperatures had been below average for months. Then the day of SC3's latest event arrives and it's 90 degrees outside. While most of our setup work was being done on black asphalt. Oh well, at least the temperature became pleasant by the time the sun went down.

This was SC3's first-ever event in Cerritos, and our first appearance at Y2Kade, a privately owned assemblage of arcade machines from the '70s, '80s and '90s (plus a few pinballs). With Over 130 machines, most of which are in good repair and operating order, it may be the best kept secret in all of Cerritos. But Jim, the owner of Y2Kade, hopes to change that. He's been opening his electronic playground to the public every couple of weeks on average, and contacted SC3 to help get the word out.

He didn't have to ask us twice, because once we became aware of Y2Kade we immediately wanted everyone else to know about it. This is a place out of a dream, where black-and-white Atari cabs from 1976 intermingle with Street Fighter II machines, and Sinistar's screams ring out while projections of Berlin videos cover the walls. So yes, we were more than happy to be at this venue. Y2Kade had the arcade experience more than covered, so SC3 brought along our complement of decade-spanning home consoles and multicarts. Thanks also go out to William D., who once again set up his amazing, RGB-ready Neo Geo rig, and Camille R., who handed out delicious cupcakes to anybody who could answer a trivia question.

Over 100 folks attended the event, which was a bit smaller of a crowd than we'd hoped, but we were glad to see many familiar faces – and a lot of new ones. Maybe it was the new city or the new venue, but a surprising number of guests said that this was their first time coming to SC3 or to Y2Kade, which is always great to see. Overall, we had a great time and would definitely return to Y2Kade anytime Jim wants us to. (Or maybe even if he doesn't, because we can't keep ourselves away from a place that has Pleiades, Satan's Hollow and Ice Cold Beer machines.)

All that said, there were certain aspects of this event we weren't entirely happy with. First off, there was no raffle. We know a lot of people look forward to it and we suspect that alone might have caused a few folks to skip this event. Unfortunately, we tried to get one together but it just didn't work out. Another problem was food. We didn't expect that we'd be able to have food available and advertised as much. But amazingly, Jim managed to line up Taquizas Jiminez to be on hand – which was great – but the details were't finalized until late and we didn't really get the word out. Lastly, the parking situation could be improved, especially for attendees who have mobility issues. These are concerns we noted and will address at future Y2Kade events.

We'd like to thank Jim and Y2Kade, and encourage everyone to visit Y2Kade's Facebook page where you can keeps tabs on its opening schedule. Even if you couldn't make it to SC3, we urge you to visit Y2Kade the next time it's open!

Thanks once again to Jim, William D., Camille R. and all our attendees! We'll see you all at the next SC3 event!

Photos