Stride Gum giving away $25,000 to help support struggling arcade

Let's face it: the arcade scene in America has seen better days. The availability of peripheral-based games on home consoles and the kinetic gameplay offered by the Wii have put many arcades out of business. Stride, in its continuing efforts to gain the respect of hardcore gamers, has begun an interesting new promotion called "Help Save the Arcades." The gum company will be awarding 100,000 quarters (or $25,000) to one of four struggling arcades: Arcade UFO in Texas, StarBase Arcade in California, Game Galaxy in Tennessee or Star Worlds Arcade in Illinois. Which one of these four takes the grand prize will be determined by you, the internet.

Players will have to play a free Flash game, Zapataur, to take part in the promotion. After playing, players will be able to don points to one of the four arcades. The one with the most takes the cash -- and presumably, survives for just a little bit longer.