Geeks and nerds might better understand my enthusiasm when I say there is a building with four stories dedicated to computer and video games in Wan Chai. If they haven't heard of it before they may even be skeptical, I was. However, the skepticism was blown away in the first minute of my first visit to the computer centre, commonly known as '188'.
It's about a ten minute walk the from Wan Chai mtr along Wan Chai road, not a deterrence in the least. When I first set foot in the place, some twelve years ago now, it was filled with copy games, shady characters, and darting glances. Over the years, for better or worse, 188 has cleaned up its act. Now the numerous shops sell the real thing. I don't know if there is a division between floors, if there is it is not obvious as each floor has a bit of everything. Game consoles, computer games, video games, both new and second hand, and accessories for the consoles. I'll go out on a limb and say that buying things from here is safe as long as you keep the receipt. With the fakes and shady characters gone so to has those trying to cheat young naive nerds. Mixed in there is a fair amount of adult stores that make me wonder, is there a correlation between gamers and people that purchase from adult stores? Some mysterious are better left unsolved.
However, my most recent visits are to the ground floor where they have a printing station that can print almost anything on anything. Pretty amazing. As age has crept up on me my visits are more to do with work than pleasure.I still pop up to the floors above to see what new Playstation is around, or which computer game is sending the younger generations mad with loss of sleep. read more