A LAS VEGAS ORIGINAL
built by
las vegas,
for LAS VEGAS
Game Nest isn't a franchise. It's not a chain. It's a 100% locally owned arcade started by a husband and wife from the Las Vegas community — people who live here, love this city, and wanted to give it something it was missing.
For over a decade, Game Nest has been a neighborhood fixture in Las Vegas Chinatown — a place where locals bring their families, meet their friends, and come back week after week. Before we were known citywide, the Las Vegas community kept us going. That debt never leaves us.
THE ORIGIN STORY
A Mechanic,
a Dream, and
EVERY LAST DOLLAR
Abraham Salume didn't come from money. He came from El Salvador, landed in Las Vegas, became a mechanic, and spent years falling in love with Japanese arcade culture — the kind that existed everywhere in the world except here in his own city.
Las Vegas had Strip arcades built for tourists. Flashy, overpriced, gone the moment they stopped turning profit. What it didn't have was a real neighborhood arcade — the kind you drive to on a Wednesday night with no occasion, the kind where the owner knows your face, the kind built for the people who actually live here.
So Abraham built one. He took his life savings and started hunting for machines. He repaired every broken cabinet himself, welding and rewiring them back to life the way a mechanic works on an engine. When he wanted a game that didn't exist in the United States — Initial D Arcade Stage Version 8, a racing game Japan had while the US was still on Version 3 — he found a way to import it and became the first arcade in America to have it. That one game opened the door to a direct pipeline of Japanese arcade imports that still defines what Game Nest is today.
His wife Julie Ann joined him in building the business from the ground up. Together, they grew Game Nest from a small corner of a Chinatown plaza into a 10,000-square-foot arcade that Las Vegas Weekly, 8 News Now, and Every Day Vegas have called one of the city's hidden gems.
Abraham has the Game Nest logo tattooed on him. That's how serious this is.
"Everybody who comes here knows we're not here to make a crazy amount of money. We're here to give people the joy of arcade games."
Abraham Salume, Co-Founder — Las Vegas Weekly, 2023
WHAT WE STAND FOR
THE GAME NEST
PHILOSOPHY
Every decision at Game Nest comes back to the same question: does this make it better for the people who come here? Here's what that looks like in practice.
NO TOKENS
Unlimited Hourly Play
Abraham grew up watching his cousin pump quarters into machines just to keep playing with him. That always bothered him. Game Nest runs on a flat hourly rate — ~$12/hr — so nobody has to feel guilty about trying something new or playing one more round.
Games Worth Playing
Abraham and Julie Ann refuse to fill the floor with ticket machines. Every machine earns its spot because people genuinely love playing it. The lineup rotates for a freshly picked game everyone would enjoy — he personally drives to California to swap games out and bring in something fresh.
NO FILLER
no gatekeeping
Everyone Belongs Here
Grandparents who've never held a controller. Kids on their first arcade trip. Competitive rhythm game players grinding for rankings. Game Nest works for all of them. The hourly model takes the pressure off trying something unfamiliar — you already paid, so just play.
real imports
Authentic Japanese Machines
Most US arcades never received the Japanese arcade imports that define the culture. Game Nest orders full containers from Japan, takes buying trips to find what's popular, and brings back machines that genuinely can't be experienced anywhere else in the American Southwest.
always fresh
Something New
Corporate arcades let their lineups stagnate for years. Abraham personally sources and swaps games ever so often, so regulars always have a reason to come back. If you visited last month, there's something new waiting for you.
stay local
Rooted in Chinatown
Abraham and Julie Ann deliberated about staying in Las Vegas Chinatown when the arcade expanded. Japanese arcade culture belongs in an Asian cultural hub — and Las Vegas has never had that until Game Nest. This isn't a Strip attraction. It's a neighborhood institution.
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD
WHY WE STAY
IN CHINATOWN
When Game Nest was ready to expand, Abraham had options. Bigger plazas. Higher-traffic areas. Spaces that might have made more business sense on paper. He chose to stay on West Spring Mountain Road — right in the heart of Las Vegas Chinatown.
It wasn't a difficult decision. Japanese arcade culture has deep roots in Asian communities around the world. In every Chinatown Abraham had ever visited across the United States, there was some version of an arcade — a space where that culture lived. Las Vegas, with one of the most vibrant Chinatown corridors in the country, had nothing like that. Game Nest was built to fill that gap.
The neighborhood responded. Local artists created the Japanese-style graffiti murals lining the walls. The community spread the word when things were hard. During COVID — when both Abraham and Julie Ann lost their jobs and the arcade went dark — it was the Las Vegas community that kept Game Nest alive, sharing, shouting out, and showing up the moment doors reopened.
Abraham has said it himself: "It makes me tear up a little bit, but I would also like to say thanks to Vegas for choosing us." That relationship goes both ways. Game Nest is here because Las Vegas wanted it here.
AS SEEN IN
IN THE
SPOTLIGHT
Game Nest has been featured by local and national media as one of the best things to do in Las Vegas — not as a tourist novelty, but as a genuine community institution.
FAQ
common questions
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Game Nest is owned and operated by Abraham and Julie Ann Salume, a husband-and-wife team who are Las Vegas locals. Abraham — a former mechanic originally from El Salvador — founded the arcade and spent his life savings building it into the city's first Japanese-style arcade in the Chinatown neighborhood.
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Game Nest is 100% locally owned and operated — not a franchise, not a chain, not a corporate concept. The Salumes live in Las Vegas, work in the business daily, and have been part of the Chinatown community for over a decade. When you spend money at Game Nest, it stays local.
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Game Nest has been a Las Vegas institution for over a decade, growing from a small arcade into a 10,000-square-foot destination at 4525 W Spring Mountain Rd in the heart of Chinatown. It survived the early years on determination, and survived COVID on community support.
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It was a deliberate choice. Abraham had visited Chinatowns across the US and noticed that Japanese arcade culture naturally lived in Asian cultural corridors. Las Vegas had a thriving Chinatown but no Japanese-style arcade. Game Nest was built specifically to fill that gap and become part of that community — not a tourist attraction, but a neighborhood institution.
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Abraham grew up watching the people he loved pump quarters into machines just to keep playing. That experience shaped his philosophy: an arcade should give people the joy of games without the guilt of spending. The flat hourly rate — approximately $12 per hour — removes that pressure entirely. You can try any machine, play as many times as you want, and never feel like you're burning money on a continue screen.
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Game Nest is at 4525 W Spring Mountain Rd #112, Las Vegas, NV 89103 — in the Chinatown corridor, just minutes from the Strip. Open Monday through Thursday and Sunday 12 PM to 12 AM, Friday and Saturday 12 PM to 2 AM. Walk-ins always welcome. Call (725) 780-4426 to confirm hours on holidays.
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Game Nest is at 4525 W Spring Mountain Rd #112, Las Vegas, NV 89103 — a few minutes from the Las Vegas Strip in the Chinatown corridor. Hours are Monday through Thursday and Sunday 12 PM to 12 AM, Friday and Saturday 12 PM to 2 AM. Walk-ins are always welcome. Call (725) 780-4426 to confirm during holidays.
Host your next birthday party or private event at Game Nest
come see what we built
Come experience one of the best arcades in Las Vegas. Walk in anytime or plan your visit today.