Third places in general may also be dying because specific examples of third places have gradually disappeared. Consider arcades. For gamers, the arcades of the 1980s werent just spots to feed coins into mildly addictive dopamine machines. The arcade was where you hosted fun birthday parties, where you met other gaming geeks, and maybe even where you took a date if your date was cool. Times have changed, and not just in the U.S. According to The Japan Times , in 1986, Japan was home to 26,573...
