Heading for the fast lane -- Ace Driver is one of the
new computer games on offer.St Petersburg at last has its first Western-style amusement arcade complete with American computer war games.
Depending on your point of view, these purple-penny arcades are enormous fun for adults and youngsters alike or can prove a complete waste of money, attracting the town's ruffians and riffraff who have little else to do but hang around them smoking and being abusive.
Whether you're taking the flight and fancy or fright and flight view, remember it was bound to happen sooner of later -- the familiar amusement arcade seen at the end of every Western pier and in every fair has arrived in Russia's second largest city -- 30 years after they arrived everywhere else in Europe.
The Russian managed New Entertainment Center which opens this month at 4 Ulitsa Potiomkinskaya, has all the familiar favorites from Ace Driver and Desert Tank for teenagers and adults to Funky Monkey for younger children.
And if you come to the center with your kids and don't fancy pitting your wits against the Space Invaders then why not relax and enjoy a coffee in the company of other parents in the center's small but cozy bar.
Alternatively you can play a battle of wills against them or struggle alone with these safer-by-far gangsters then the one's you might meet in the St Petersburg streets at night and into the bargain you can reminisce about your own childhood.
One thing's for certain, some of these games require concentration and once absorbed in defending your score against the enemy, you'll soon forget your problems outside.
If you're one of those people who take a while to figure out how to use the attractions, don't worry, there are attendants on hand to explain the name of the game, albeit in Russian.
One of the most popular racing games on offer is Cruis'n USA which is much more than just another racing game as its name might lead one to believe.
The modern high-tech game produces amazing simulated effects, adding new meaning and definition to the world of virtual reality. The fun and excitement starts the minute the driver takes to the wheel to begin his coast to coast race.
Cruis'n USA's system guarantees that players actually feel every twist, turn or bump in the road, while its Ultra Graf X texture-map, advanced computer graphics and high resolution screen give the players a completely new sensation of actually being there.
Another amazing, new motoring game called Ace Driver was hailed at its launch at the international computer games fair, the Jamma Show in Paris in 1995 and if that doesn't fire your imagination then there's Killer Instinct, Secret Task and you can always play at one of the center's numerous pinball tables where every 15th token is free. Not only that, every 100th visitor gets the right to three free goes on one of the games and the 1,000th visitor gets a special prize.