Level 99 gaming arcade coming to Ultima Gaming at Washington Square Mall in Detroit Lakes

Detroit Lakes, Minn. (KDLM) – A new modern gaming arcade is coming to the Washington Square Mall in Detroit Lakes this holiday season.

Level 99 will feature modern and classic arcade games and will located inside Ultima Gaming, which completes a dream of Ultima Gaming Owner David Jopp.

“We’re renovating our current space,” said Jopp. “We’re still keeping our traditional offerings, but it’s something we’ve wanted to do for a long time and it just kind of lined up … and folks that were familiar when Pirate’s Den used to be in this space, they’ll kind of get a nice little nostalgic kick because we’re bringing the whole offering in.”

Jopp said he wants the new arcade area of the store to be a place kids want to come and have a birthday party. Adding, he is working out a partnership with Pizza Hut, his Washington Square Mall neighbor, to provide more amenities for any space rental.

“Families have been looking for more entertainment options as well as places to hold your birthday parties,” he said. “We’re really fortunate, we’ve got a great relationship with Pizza Hut, so we’ll be able to offer great birthday packages.”

He also said the arcade games will be coinless and instead rely on a scannable card that can be loaded up with credits online. But that doesn’t mean the new arcade will be completely modern. Jopp said he plans on having plenty of retro offerings for the parents and grandparents who remember the classics, and yes, there will be ski-ball with tickets to win cute little prizes.

“Part of me wants to bring in a couple of the retro ones because I’m a retro Nintendo guy,” said Jopp. “I think it’d be really cool for the parents and grandparents who had it at that time, but to start right now, we’re just focusing on your core family entertainment center type offering. Gaming is my passion. It’s my friends and customers’ passion, so it’s always going to be changing. It’ll be a bunch of different games, whenever we can get our hands on them, and swap them in, rotate them out.”

Jopp also stressed that even though their initial grand opening for Level 99 this holiday season won’t have 30 gaming cabinets, that is the end goal, and they plan on adding continuously to their library in the weeks and months following the opening.

“I always like to say, ‘everybody is a nerd for something,'” he said. “And mine happens to be Nintendo, guitar and football. So, that whole Nintendo love has translated to I was there when the 90s arcade was prevalent. And I want the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I want WWF, but hoping to get to that. First, we want to make sure we’re taking care of the kids and the parents.”

For more information about the new Level 99 modern gaming arcade, visit the Ultima Gaming website and Facebook page for updates.