By Jessica Mullins

"Video" Bob Albritton is about to have a lot of homeless video games. First, the Santa Venetia resident, who turned 60 this month, has to find a place for the 20 arcade games he owns in Pinky's Pizza, which will close at the end of this month.

But worse, due to the end of his lease and plans to drastically raise rent, he will have to permanently shut the doors to Starbase Arcade, a nearly 32-year-old West End fixture, at the end of August. Starbase, which the San Francisco Chronicle called "gloriously authentic" in a review last month, has roughly 40 arcade games inside it — some that were custom made by Albritton. "Just Pinky's closing was hard enough, and I've known about that for a while," Albritton said.

He said retirement isn't an option, as he has a daughter who just finished her first year of college and a son with one more year of high school left. "I'm definitely freaking out a little bit," he said.

While there are a slew of reasons for the back-to-back San Rafael arcade-venue closings, there's one common denominator — the rent is too high.

Albritton said his West End landlords had been good to him over the years, letting him pay below market value for his rent, but that's about to change now that his lease is nearly up. "I guess they want to double their rent. I can't run a cheap family business — with 50 cent games and prizes — and pay more for rent."

Albritton, who grew up in Kentfield, said Starbase's impending demise appears to be part of a trend of family businesses that can't afford to stay in Marin. "All these family businesses are going by the wayside because rent has gone up so high in Marin and that kind of business can't survive anymore," he told Patch. "The pure gamers are going to lose and the families are going to lose. Cheap entertainment in San Rafael is gone now. The real estate has gone up so much you have to go somewhere else for it."