By Chuck Darrow
Historically speaking, Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City hasn’t been particularly concerned with attracting the under-21 crowd and as such, the oldest of the city’s three bayside casinos has hewed pretty rigidly to its mission of being an adult playpen.
But that was then and this is now. And now, Harrah’s is the home of The ARCADE, a 5,300-square-foot rec room boasting 61 electronic games and the type of sensory-overload atmosphere that kids love, thanks to an excess of blinking neon and high –volume sound ef
fects. It had a “soft” opening Nov. 1, with the official debut taking place nine days later.
The games themselves run the gamut from classic Boardwalk favorites like Skee-Ball, air hockey and ring toss to “Rabbids,” and other stations that utilize cutting-edge virtual-reality technology. Actually, even the ostensibly low-tech games (e.g. basketball and the above-named vintage activities) are digital in nature.
All the games are played using cashless, re-loadable players’ cards (credit cards and cash are accepted when buying credits). Instead of the traditional, old-school, raffle-style ducats awarded to those achieving various levels of success on the machines, points are accumulated on the magnetic cards—the same exact manner in which gamblers accumulate comp points on the casino floor.
According to Gregg Klein, the gaming hall’s senior vice-president and general manager, the property’s newfound focus on the family trade is a no-brainer, based on the kind of visitors it’s welcoming on an increasingly frequent basis.
Harrah’s, said Klein, “attracts a variety of guests, including families and dance, cheer, and athletic competition teams,” said Klein. “We knew that we needed more amenities to do a better job servicing these guests and ensuring that they have a great experience for all ages. The opening of [The ARCADE] is the next step in our plan.
“Next year there will be several other new openings designed to appeal to all of our guests. We are very excited that guests of all ages will now be able to have a fun experience staying and playing at Harrah’s.”
Harrah’s is hardly the first local gambling den to take the kiddie-fun plunge. In 1987, Showboat (which, as a non-casino complex, today is completely geared to families with its enormous Lucky Snake Arcade and equally massive Island Waterpark) opened as Showboat Casino Hotel & Bowling Center, while the defunct Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino housed both a Warner Brothers merchandise store and the Rainforest Café, which is still doing business on the site.
The town’s boldest casino-era attempt to target families occurred in 1988 when the then-7-year-old Tropicana Atlantic City was rebranded as “TropWorld,” which had as its theme turn-of-the-20th-century AyCee, and which boasted a multi-acre, indoor amusement park called “Tivoli Pier.”
By 1996, that experiment had failed and the complex once again became the adult-oriented Tropicana Atlantic City.
Yuletide revelry at Resorts
It looks like Resorts Casino-Hotel is trying to rival the North Pole when it comes to holiday activity.
On Nov. 25, the nation’s oldest legal temple of chance outside Nevada kicks off a month of seasonal cheer with a performance by the Sharpe Family Singers, who have garnered a whopping four billion social-media views and who were featured on both “America’s Got Talent” and “American Idol.”
Their program is billed as a combination of Broadway hits and popular holiday tunes.
The Sharpes will be followed on Dec. 9 by “Michael Martocci Presents: Sinatra’s Birthday Bash,” which will celebrate what would have been Ol’ Blue Eyes’ 108th birthday as well as the holiday season.
The next night, a slew of locally based performers will stage an evening of comedy and song. The talent roster includes: Jim “The Singing Lifeguard” Craine; the Atlantic City All-Star Band; Besty Daily and the Tony Grant Stars of Tomorrow Alumni Dancers; singer Suzie Neustadter and TV host/singer Michele Dawn Mooney.
Admission is free to all who bring with them a new, unwrapped toy, which will be donated to the local Toys for Tots campaign.
Rounding out the schedule is the “The Modern Gentlemen Holiday Show” on Dec. 16th, which will fill the Superstar Theater with seasonal traditional and more contemporary seasonal selections.
For tickets to all performances, go to www.ticketmaster.com.
Four Seasons of confusion?
Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, the legendary North Jersey-hatched vocal group that was one of the few American acts to rival the 1960s popularity of The Beatles, last month launched what is called “The Last Encores” tour. That implies that the unit’s June 22, 2024 gig at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City will be the last chance to see them live here in town. But then again, maybe not.
Despite the road trip’s moniker, the 89-year-old Valli has been telling reporters that’s not necessarily the case. For instance in a recent interview published in the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury-News, Valli had this to say about his act’s future plans:
“Everybody is thinking that it is my last tour. And I don’t know when my last tour is, personally. If I can continue to do this, as long as I’m not feeling ill, I’ll do it.”
However, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame-enshrined megastar did allow there will be some changes in his schedule:
“After this year, we will slow down on the amount of things that we do,” he said. “Instead of 70 or 80 or 90 things a year, we will probably cut it down to like 30 or 35.”
For tickets to the June 22 Hard Rock show, go to www.ticketmaster.com.
Chuck Darrow has spent more than 40 years writing about Atlantic City casinos.
