Virtualand (Bugis+)

Virtualand at Bugis+ has two cabinets you will struggle to find anywhere else in Singapore: a beatmania IIDX Lightning Model and a Nostalgia piano. Racing takes up most of the rest of the floor — twenty Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune cabinets and four Initial D machines.

The rhythm row is broad rather than deep: six maimai DX cabinets and four CHUNITHM, then one or two each of taiko, jubeat, SOUND VOLTEX, DanceDanceRevolution, GITADORA guitar and drums. Light-gun games are covered by House of the Dead: Scarlet Dawn and GunBullet X, and a bank of Pokemon MEZASTAR machines gives younger players something to work through. The machines themselves are well looked after.

Counter service is the weak point and the staff are gruff, so it is better to expect that than to be surprised by it. Ventilation is the other thing, and you feel it on maimai DX or DanceDanceRevolution far more than in a racing seat, so bring water and a towel if you are playing hard. Play the Wangan gearboxes cleanly, because there is a damage charge posted on the cabinets. The arcade is on level 5 of the mall, a couple of minutes’ walk from Bugis station.