Entry No. 45 — the Anchorage file — filed under: arcade-play
Ian's Game Paradise
A retro-gaming shop tucked into the downtown 5th Avenue mall, where the front is stacked with vintage consoles, cartridges, and collectibles. The back of the store hides a row of about seven classic arcade cabinets plus a pinball machine you can actually play. It's the kind of place where browsing for an old SNES game turns into a quarter-fed Galaga rematch.
The story
You wouldn’t expect a pocket of pure quarter-era arcade culture to survive inside the Anchorage 5th Avenue Mall, but Ian's Game Paradise operates on its own vintage logic. Up front, it presents as an independent, locally owned buy-sell-trade shop—shelves stacked with physical media, glass display cases packed with retro cartridges, vintage consoles, and obscure gaming collectibles.
Walk past the trade-in counter and game bins, though, and the back wall opens into a compact alcove housing about seven classic arcade cabinets alongside a pinball machine. It’s an unpretentious setup that turns a casual trip for an old SNES cartridge into an impromptu, CRT-lit high-score showdown right in the center of downtown Anchorage.
What it's like
You'll enter through the standard mall storefront into a space dense with boxed consoles, loose cartridges, and collectibles. Keep walking past the shop counter to find the back-room row of classic cabinets and pinball. Because it sits inside a commercial shopping mall, don't expect a late-night bar vibe—it keeps standard daytime retail hours, making it an ideal mid-afternoon pit stop when you want to warm up and burn through a handful of quarters.
The move: Dig through bins of retro cartridges together, then duck to the back of the shop to trade high scores on the classic arcade cabinets.
📍 Before you go It's primarily a game store, so the arcade is a small back-of-shop row; daytime shop hours, not a late-night spot.
- 📍 Downtown
- 💸 $
- ⚡ Big night
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 320 W 5th Ave Ste. E40, Anchorage, AK 99501
Hours: Added 2026-06-23 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- Alaska Escape Rooms — Swap retro button-mashing for real-world puzzle-solving just a block away off 5th Avenue.
- Anchorage Lightspeed Planet Walk (the hunt for Pluto) — Step straight out of the mall into a scale-model solar system walk that begins right in downtown Anchorage.
- Thomas Planetarium at the Anchorage Museum — Trade cathode-ray arcade screens for full-dome planetarium visuals two blocks down at the Anchorage Museum.
Good to know
Where is the shop located inside the mall?
It's inside the Anchorage 5th Avenue Mall downtown at 320 W 5th Ave.
Is Ian's Game Paradise an arcade or a store?
It's primarily an independent retail store that buys, sells, and trades retro games and consoles, with a mini-arcade row tucked into the back of the shop.
How many playable machines are in the back?
The back row typically features around seven classic arcade cabinets plus a pinball machine.
Can I bring in old video games to sell or trade?
Yes, they actively buy, sell, and trade retro and modern games, consoles, and accessories.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: iansgp.com · Yelp · arcade-museum.com · simon.com · kineticist.com
last checked: 2026-06-23