Princess Hotel has invested $2 million in its ‘Fun City’ family centre, which includes a movie theatre and video arcade and Minister of Culture Dr Frank Anthony believes the new attractions will offer an international experience.
“This is taking entertainment to another level and giving people here an international experience… The price is affordable as not only is it about making it accessible to people but making the cost affordable,” Anthony told Stabroek News in an invited comment.
The Princess Hotel’s Fun City features more than 120 attractions and includes a state-of-the-art movie theatre, restaurant, video arcade and the already open Next Nightclub.
Anthony dismissed lingering concerns in some quarters that video games, like those being offered at the Fun City, distract youths from conventional games like cricket, as he outlined its benefits.
“As technology advances you will have people wanting to move from traditional games to electronic games we just cannot blank it out and say it doesn’t exist. The younger people will want to go in this direction and we have to afford them that opportunity,” he said.
“I don’t think traditional games will be replaced, there is a role for both. Traditionally people used to feel that because you don’t expend a lot of energy was not good but that has changed now. Look how that has changed. As I walk around most of the games are very interactive and allow people to enjoy being active as well,” he added.
The minister said the video arcade will also serve to foster socialisation among children as they interact with each other and will be beneficial to family, given bonding times taken to visit the entertainment centre. “Apart from having an arcade like this, people have nintendos all these other gadgets and games at home, so this is just an extension of that. But children can now come out with their friends and there is a forum here for them to socialise,” he said.
Management of Princess said the investment was as part of the hotel’s corporate social duty and the affordable prices of various items are reflective of this. “We took the country’s economy into the pricing factor. This is a very long-term investment.
It is our social project and we don’t intend to make our money back until maybe next ten years,” said General Manager Eray Kanmaz.
Cards will be swiped to access games, Architect and Designer of the arcade Hande Mutlu informed. This is in keeping with safety mechanisms for children who might be prone to put coins or tokens in their mouths and other body cavities.
“We kept the game price very low. We take every situation into consideration and want to give everyone the same opportunity to experience the games,” he explained.
For $1000 patrons can access and play any of the array 117 video games available, which include Call of Duty, Rambo, Need for Speed and others.
There are two movie theatres and a 7D theatre which caters to seating capacity of 90 and 7 persons respectively. World premiere films would be shown and yesterday saw a packed theatre with Ironman 3 fans. Before the end of the year their will be a 3D theatre also.
Tickets cost $1,500 for adults and $1,000 for children and the theatres will be open seven days a week from 12 pm to 1 am.
Six Grade Mae’s student Jada (only name given) described it as “heavenly” and informed that she was “having the time of my life” yesterday as she sampled games in the video arcade.
