Wizard's Castle Arcades (and Affiliate Chains)
Attraction Type: Arcade
Location: Various (See list below)
Years Operational: Late 70's-2006
Designer(s): Various, Unknown
Wizard's Castle was Canada's largest chain of amusement arcades, active from the mid-late 70's until 2006. The chain was exclusive to Canada and owned by Janda Products/New Way Sales of Rexdale, a west-end suburb of Toronto. Janda Products was a rental company which rented out vending, video game, pinball, redemption, and change machines in addition to pool tables, jukeboxes, air hockey tables and coin-operated kiddie rides. New Way Sales was their sales division. Wizard's Castle fell somewhere between the two, being more owned by the company in general. The Wizard's brand was extremely popular, with at least over 60 locations, being as common in Canadian malls in the 80's and 90's as other mall chains like Foot Locker, Orange Julius, Music World, and Kernels Popcorn. It wasn't limited to malls however, and did also have a small handful of locations in downtown cores and suburban strip plazas.
The classic logo that appeared on most arcade cabinet stickers and merchandise.
With none of the American mall arcade chains like Time Out, Aladdin's Castle, Tilt, Fun-N-Games, Space Port, or Jolly Roger ever being franchised to Canada, Janda/New Way had near domination over the mall arcade market with Wizard's, and an even further slice of the general arcade pie with their rental and sales divisions providing games to several other arcades. The chain dwarfed the other Canadian arcade chains at the time such as Fun & Games (unrelated to American chain Fun-N-Games), Circuit Circus, Little Joe's, and Laser Illusions, being the only one to go cross-country.
Wizard's Castle token. This bold bubble-font logo could also be found on the red, light up coin slots of many of the games.
The first location opened in the back corner of the Scarborough Town Centre food court some time in the mid-late 70's and began as a mostly pinball arcade, however whether it opened with name Wizard's Castle or gained it later is unknown, with the copyright for the name not being filed until 1979. It expanded in 1979 from 16 games to 32, and would expand further in the early-80's as the arcade market hit it's peak. It featured a large orange neon sign reading "Wizard's Castle" outside, casting it's neon spell over the food court. The interior was decked out in fantasy theming, as well as wall murals and plenty more neon. The chain expanded quickly, with 24 locations by June of 1982. The chain would survive the video game crash of 1983, which in the end proved to more harshly damage the up-and-coming home console market, and reset the industry back in favor of the technologically superior arcade machines once the dust settled. Most of the chain's locations would follow the same design as the Scarborough original, which remained the chain's flagship location. Many rare and prototype games that were never mass-produced were tested at the STC arcade (which was one of the best performing arcades in the country) through Janda/New Way's industry contacts, and it was also the first place in the city for many new game releases.
Most of the chain's locations would open in the mid-late 80's, when the chain was at its peak. In 1992 the flagship location was converted to the ancient Greek-themed Games Maximus along with a handful of other locations. It was adorned with pillars and fake marble, with a general "arena" feel. This made thematic sense based on the games in arcades at the time, as games had shifted away from single-player quests and pinball, and moved more in the direction of competitive fighting, racing, sports, and head-to-head vehicle combat games. While the STC location would remain Games Maximus until the end of it's life, the rebranding never really took off company-wide as the Wizard's brand remained more recognizable, being a borderline household name in Canada at that time.
Left: The STC Games Maximus seen in the corner of the food court in this blurry 1992 VHS recording of the mall. Right: One of "The Wizard Commands" rule signs that could be found hanging in the game rooms, now owned by a private collector.
There were several other arcade chains owned by Janda/New Way such as Sky Games (which had an airplane hangar theme), The Games, World Cup, and Video Gym, with some of these theorized to be rebrandings of former Wizard's locations. It's also unlcear if any of these were pre-existing brands absorbed by Janda/New Way. Around the turn of the millennium, several of the company's older games from the late 70's/early 80's were phased out along with many of the pinball machines both new and old, also leaving the company's rental/sales inventory. The early-mid 2000's would be the last hurrah for arcades until the retro/nostalgia trend would begin nearly 20 years later. Games like Marvel Vs. Capcom 2, Big Buck Hunter, Initial D, Gauntlet Dark Legacy, Arctic Thunder, Soul Calibur III, Out Run 2, Dance Dance Revolution, and Tekken 5 would be the last wave of popular money-makers until the industry would be faced with the option to either become entirely redemption arcades or go the wayside by the time the 2010's hit.
Frank Pavlovic (left) and John Paul Wright (right) play Midway's "Mortal Kombat 2" at the Conestoga Mall Wizard's Castle in March 1994. This photograph was taken for a now somewhat-comical Waterloo newspaper article on rising violence in video games.
The Fairview Mall (North York) Sky Games in Februrary of 1998.
Underperforming locations began closing around the early-2000's, with most of the Wizard's Castle/Games Maximus/Sky Games/other locations being shuttered by the time Janda/New Way went out of business in 2006, save for a small handful. The few remaining locations at the time the company disappeared included the flagship STC Games Maximus, the West Edmonton Mall and Kingsway Garden Mall Wizard's Castles, and the Sky Games locations in North York's Fairview Mall and Rexdale's Woodbine Centre. The reason the Woodbine Sky Games lasted so long despite there being another arcade and an amusement park in the mall, may purely have been due to its proximity to Janda/New Way's offices, which were located just behind the mall (one of the roads into the mall even being named Janda Way.)
After the final locations were shuttered, Janda/New Way was sold to rival machine rental company and F.E.C. chain Playdium, with the Janda family leaving the company behind and New Way becoming a division of Playdium, which itself was later sold to Cineplex. Upon the Cineplex acquisition the final assets and records of Janda/New Way (and Wizard's Castle with it) were absorbed into the mega-corporate fog, and lost to time. You can still find games all over Canada in arcades, private collections, and even being rented out by Playdium/Cineplex that have a Wizard's Castle sticker, or more commonly the logo printed on the coin slots. The chain is remembered by it's dedicated fanbase of former patrons and staff, however it lies largely in obscurity in terms of documentation with the only known photographs of bonafide Wizard's Castle locations being one of the Barrie location in the Kozlov Centre (albeit after the arcade was cut down to half the size and it's original signage was removed), and one of the STC food court where the original Wizard's can be seen in the background, glowing in all it's neon glory.
Above: The Kozlov Centre (Barrie) Wizard's Castle around 2004 after it was significantly downsized. This space was quite deep, and the white temporary wall with merchandising slats seen here previously didn't exist, with the location originally occupying the adjacent unit as well. Many of these games would be shuffled around the food court by the mall in later years, with the lack of branding seen here hinting that the mall likely bought out the location from Janda back when it downsized around 2002.
Confirmed Locations
Above: The iconic Wizard's Castle neon can be seen in the back-right corner of this photo of the STC food court, 1983. Wizard's locations either had this sign or a similar, smaller neon with script font. This space became a variety of takeout restaurants over the years following the closure of Games Maximus in 2006, and is currently the large Jollibee location with it's own dining area.
Toronto
Wizard's Castle (later Games Maximus)
Scarborough Town Centre, Scarborough (1977? - 2006, became various fast food places over the years, now Jollibee)
Wizard's Enchanted Castle
Yorkdale Mall, North York (1979? - mid 2000's)
Wizard's Castle
Dufferin Mall (early 80's - early 2000's, now a McDonald's)
Wizard's Castle
Cloverdale Mall (early 80's - mid 2000's)
Wizard's Castle
Agincourt Mall (? - early 2000's)
The Wizard
Centerpoint Mall (? - mid 2000's, affiliation unconfirmed. May have been GTA test for separate Ottawa chain "The Wizard")
Wizard's Castle
Fairview Mall (1983? - late 90's)
Sky Games
Fairview Mall (separate location from Wizard's Castle elsewhere in the mall?) (? - 2006)
Sky Games
Woodbine Centre (1986 - 2006)
World Cup
North York Sheridan Mall (? - mid 2000's)
Greater Ontario
Wizard's Castle
Meadowvale Town Centre, Mississauga (1981 - ?)
Wizard's Castle
Kozlov Shopping Centre, Barrie (August 1986 - early 2000's, became increasingly downsized mall-run arcade lasting to 2012)
Wizard's Castle
Heritage Place Mall, Owen Sound (1987 - early 2000's)
Wizard's Castle
Conestoga Mall, Waterloo (? - ?)
Wizard's Castle
Seawway Mall, Welland (? - early 2000's)
Wizard's Castle
Bramalea City Centre, Brampton (early 80's - mid 2000's)
Wizard's Castle
Westdale Mall, Brampton (? - ?)
Wizard's Castle
Centre Mall, Hamilton (? - mid 2000's)
Wizard's
184 Dundas St., London (early 80's - 2006)
Wizard's Castle
Downtown London (separate location which operated simultaneously to Dundas St.), location unknown (early 80's - ?)
Fx5 (formerly Wizard's Castle)
Pickering Town Centre, Pickering (? - 2006?)
The Wiz (affiliation unconfirmed)
White Oakes Mall, London (? - ?)
Skygames
Markville Shopping Centre, Markham (? - 2006)
The Games
Lime Ridge Mall, Hamilton (1981 - mid 2000's)
The Games
Eastgate Square Shopping Centre, Hamilton (early 80's - mid 2000's)
The Games
Erin Mills Town Centre, Mississauga (1989 - mid 2000's)
Admirals Cup
Masonville Place, London (January 2, 1985 - mid 2000's)
Saskatchewan
Wizard's Castle
Circle Park Mall/The Centre, Saskatoon (?-?)
Wizard's Castle
Lawson Heights Mall, Saskatoon (? - ?)
Alberta
Wizard's Castle
West Edmonton Mall, Edmonton (1985 - 2006, now Newplay)
Wizard's Castle
Millwoods Town Centre, Edmonton (1988 - mid 2000's)
Wizard's Castle
Heritage Place Mall, Edmonton (June 1988 - mid 2000s)
Wizard's Castle
Northgate Mall. Edmonton (? - early 2000's)
Wizard's Castle
Londonderry Mall. Edmonton (? - ?)
Wizard's Castle
Capilano Mall, Edmonton (? - ?)
Wizard's Castle
Deer Valley Centre, Calgary (1981 - early 2000's?)
Wizard's Castle
Park Place Mall, Lethbridge (1988 - ?)
Wizard's Castle
St. Albert Centre, St. Albert (? - ?)
Wizard's Castle
Bower Mall, Red Deer (? - ?)
Wizard's Castle
Downtown Red Deer, location unknown (early 80's - ?)
Wizard's Castle
Lloyd Mall, Lloydminster (? - ?)
Wizard's Castle
Southcentre Mall, Calgary (? - mid 2000's)
Wizard's Castle
Kingswood Garden Mall, Edmonton (? - 2006)
Wizard's Castle
University of Alberta Hub International Marketplace, Edmonton (? - mid 2000's)
Wizard's Castle
Marlborough Mall, Calgary (? - mid 2000's)
Wizard's Castle
Chinook Centre, Calgary (? - early 2000's)
Wizard's Castle
Circle Park Mall, Calgary (? - ?)
Wizard's Castle
Market Mall, Calgary (? - ?)
Wizard's Castle
Sunridge Mall, Calgary (? - ?)
Video Gym
Southgate Shopping Centre, Edmonton (? - 2006?)
British Columbia
Wizard's Castle
Richmond Square Mall, Vancouver (? -?)
Wizard's Castle
Rutherford Village, Nanaimo (1980 - ?)
Neon sign, roughly four feet in diameter, theorized to be from a Wizard's Castle. This sign appeared briefly in the background of an arcade collection in an episode of "Canadian Pickers". This art style and neon aligns with the murals and lighting that could be found in the locations.