On April 3, 2024, it was reported that the holding company of Sugai Dinos, which operated amusement facilities in Hokkaido, had entered bankruptcy proceedings with debts of approximately 1.8 billion yen. In the past, Sugai Dinos operated game centers, bowling alleys, movie theaters, and other facilities, and played an important role in the development of Hokkaido's amusement industry.

Dinos Norbesa Bowling alley

Sgai Dinos has its roots in a playhouse opened in 1917, and in 1954, the company founded Sgai Kogyo Corporation, whose main business was movie exhibition. During the 1950s and 1960s, the company was involved in opening movie theaters and managing bowling alleys, expanding its amusement business mainly in Hokkaido. In particular, the Sapporo Sukai Building (later to become Dinos Sapporo Chuo Building), which was newly opened in 1968 after the demolition of the Sapporo Theater, attracted a great deal of attention at the time as a large leisure complex building equipped with a movie theater, bowling alley, sauna, billiard room, and table tennis hall.

Dinos Sapporo Chuo Retro Game Corner

In 1978, in response to the changing times, Dinos Sapporo Chuo converted the tenant in the Sapporo Sukai Building into a game center. The company embarked on a new game arcade management. This was in response to the decline of the bowling boom at the time and the rise of the game industry.

Dinos Cinemas Sapporo Theater Interior view

In the 1990s, Sugai Dinos took a new step forward in the movie theater business: in 1995, it renovated a movie theater in the Sapporo Sugai Building and opened "Sugai Cineplex Sapporo Theater" (later "Dinos Cinemas Sapporo Theater"), the first full-scale 7-screen cinema complex in Hokkaido. This was a strategy to meet the diversifying needs of moviegoers and proved to be a great success. The movie theater business by Sugai Dinos continued to expand with the opening of the Cinema Complex Muroran Theater in 1999, followed by Sugai Dinos Asahikawa in 2003 and Sugai Dinos Tomakomai in 2005.

Dinos Sapporo Chuo Store Closing

In the 2000s, Sugai Dinos sought to diversify its business: in 2000, the company entered into a capital and business alliance with GEO Corporation to enter the rental and recycling business; in 2005, it became a consolidated subsidiary of GEO Corporation; and in 2009, it began developing café and fitness businesses.

Dinos Cinemas Sapporo Theatre, Yosemite at the time of closing

However, the slump in the amusement business in Hokkaido and other diversified businesses, and the spread of the new coronavirus infection followed suit. 2018 saw the sale of the Dinos Sapporo Chuo Building, which had been a symbol of Sugai Dinos, and the sale of the Dinos Sapporo Chuo Building, which had been a symbol of the company. Many fans gathered to mourn its closure. Then, in May 2022, Sugai Dinos initiated civil rehabilitation proceedings.

Quoted from the official X of Sugai Dinos

However, the light of culture created by Sugai Dinos still remains. The genes as Dinos Cinemas Sapporo Theater have been passed down to "Satsugeki" ("Satsugeki" is an old nickname for Dinos Cinemas Sapporo Theater), which continues to show movies in Raccoon Shoji 5-chome. The amusement and bowling businesses were transferred to GENDA GiGO Entertainment, Inc. of GiGO, which operates approximately 190 game centers nationwide, and the Dinos sign is successively changed to GiGO.

The history of Sugai Dinos, which led the industry for over 100 years, can be said to be the history of the development of Hokkaido's amusement industry itself.

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