Metal Ghost Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 Great article over at Arstechnica: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/08/the-surprising-stealth-rebirth-of-the-american-arcade/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GodzillaIsMyCopilot Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 *Sigh* I miss working in an arcade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simbalion Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 I just miss the arcades period. I might have tried working in one of they still existed around here by the time I was looking for a job after high school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S1500 Posted August 15, 2012 Share Posted August 15, 2012 Hey, I was at that Zap! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimefighter Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 I went to an arcade in the small town of McLean, IL just this past weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigO Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 I'm fortunate enough to have a sizable arcade(+smallish amusement park) near me, but I haven't been there in years. Probably the reason for the demise of many arcades. http://www.castlesncoasters.com/attractions "12,000 square feet of arcade space spanning 3 levels, there’s fun for everyone! We have over 200 games including a Giant Crane, Guitar Hero, dancing games, the best ticket games, newest driving games, hottest prize games featuring the best prizes in town, and pinball machines! We also boast the largest selection of classic games including Pacman, Ms. Pacman, Tetris, Galaga, Donkey Kong, and many, many more!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metal Ghost Posted August 27, 2012 Author Share Posted August 27, 2012 (edited) I can't wait for Friday. I'm taking the day off and spending some quality time with my oldest daughter. We're heading out to The Strong National Museum of Play. I'm sure that we'll hit everything there, but I have to admit that I'm most looking forward to getting into the Arcade that ICHEG has set-up upstairs. Whenever we go we either don't have time to play any of the video games, or else with my little one there too she's just not patient enought to spend any length of time at any one thing. But with my oldest getting older all the time, I wanted to spend some quality time just the two of us. I can't wait! Edited August 27, 2012 by Metal Ghost 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Helmet Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 We have two of these 'barcades' in Denver. The 1Up in downtown is the larger of the two and attracts a younger crowd due to it being in the LoDo (entertainment) district around lots of bars and clubs. The 2Up (owned by the same guy if you didn't guess that already) is within walking distance of my house. My wife and I have spend many a date night there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blacklight Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 My problem with arcades now is that none of the games they have interest me at all. They all cost a dollar or more to play and they have all crazy graphics like the XBoxes and Plastations have. They're all either rythm games like Dance Dance Revolution, racing, or shooting games. There's absolutely NOTHING creative in them any more. Back when I was younger, especially in the 80's, there was a LOT of creativity and a lot of different games that looked totally different from each other. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torr Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 I miss the Arcade they used to have here in my town, it died back around 2001-2002 when the mall it was in died. It had all sorts of eras of games, for example, it had Virtua Cop, House of the Dead, T2, X-Men, Aliens, Rampart and Ms. Pac-Man releatively near each other... The arcade machines were against the walls with a slew of pool tables right up the middle... good times and many quarters well spent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raygunn Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 (edited) In 1990, I had just moved to the Tampa Bay area from New York. I was Hired on at Fun N’ Games that January as The Assistant Manager Of the Tyrone Square Mall location ( the youngest ever hired at that time) and within 3 months, I had the Eastlake Square location as Manager ( Youngest ever hired as well- Still hold that record!) well, here’s a video I made for My Mom For Mother’s Day that year. The sound is out of sync a little, and I wish I had walked around the arcade more (and slower) but I took out the mushy stuff, and here’s whats left- ME… Manager of Fun N’ Games, Eastlake Square Mall- 1990! BTW- see how many games you can point out! Edited September 20, 2012 by Raygunn 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixelboy Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 I find the idea of barcades interesting, although I never touch alcohol so if I went in such a place, I'd only be playing games. What I find the most interesting is the potential for expansion of such businesses. But since working original arcade cabinets are hard to come by (these old machines become defective just by looking at them) it seems this potential for expansion is limited. I'm wondering if emulation might be the answer here. I am aware that the people behind MAME are not too hot about businesses making money off their work, but let's say someone else created specialized arcade machine emulation software (a clone of MAME, for all intents and purposes) dedicated to cabinets to be installed in barcades. You'd have a modern PC hooked up to a modern screen with modern joysticks and buttons, with actual coin slots at the bottom of the cabinet for putting in quarters. Then barcade owners wouldn't be stuck with high-maintenance, 30-year-old hardware, and new barcades could open across the country with lots of machines installed. You could have cabinet variants with trackballs or steering wheels and pedals, instead of joysticks and buttons. Over the last few years, an expertise has emerged for creating arcade cabinets and hardware to put in it, which indicates that there's an actual yearning for true arcades to make a real comeback, and perhaps not just in barcades. Ordinary bars may set up a couple of machines in a corner, for casual client entertainment purposes. I remember when I was a kid, you could even find a couple of Galaga or Pac-Man cabinets near the exits of large retail stores like Zellers. Yes, I'm seing a lot of potential here for a comeback... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dauber Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 I find the idea of barcades interesting, although I never touch alcohol so if I went in such a place, I'd only be playing games. That might be why the games in these places aren't set to free play -- they know there are people like us. What I find the most interesting is the potential for expansion of such businesses. But since working original arcade cabinets are hard to come by (these old machines become defective just by looking at them) it seems this potential for expansion is limited. Thing is, though, there seems to be no shortage of these machines in working order... I'm wondering if emulation might be the answer here. I am aware that the people behind MAME are not too hot about businesses making money off their work, but let's say someone else created specialized arcade machine emulation software (a clone of MAME, for all intents and purposes) dedicated to cabinets to be installed in barcades. You'd have a modern PC hooked up to a modern screen with modern joysticks and buttons, with actual coin slots at the bottom of the cabinet for putting in quarters. Then barcade owners wouldn't be stuck with high-maintenance, 30-year-old hardware, and new barcades could open across the country with lots of machines installed. You could have cabinet variants with trackballs or steering wheels and pedals, instead of joysticks and buttons. ...which is EXACTLY what would drive me AWAY. I can do MAME at home. Only way I can see this working is if the main attraction were the actual bar itself, with the MAME cabinets as sort of a fun add-on... Personally, when I'm out in the world looking to play a game, it's gotta be an official cabinet. There's one retro-arcade (well, it bills itself as a retro-arcade but a surprisingly small percent of its games are actually retro) Inky and I checked out earlier this year and one thing that put us off was the number of "multicades" there...which, as far as I'm concerned, may as well be MAME cabinets. Case in point: why on earth would I want to play Centipede with a left-handed joystick?? And when I play, say, Ms. Pac-Man, right down to the texture of the joystick is important to me....the red, non-smooth plastic...without that, the feel of the game is just killed... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
number six Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 Emulation/Recreations are nothing new. There have been several legimate releases over the years. The Ultracade series, Namco has done several games.. the Class of '81/Reunion and the Pac-Man Anniversary. A company called Teamplay also did a few combo games.. Centipede/Millipede/Missile Command in one cabinet for example. And then of course you have the bootleg multi-cade boards, the xxx-in-1s and such which have been around for about a decade now. Those are of varying quality though but much cheaper than the officially licensed ones. Operators wouldn't run a straight up mame because of the complexity, they'd just do the bootleg boards. Of course running the unlicensed versions (which would include MAME) would be illegal.. but at this point there's little chance of getting caught in most cases. (Not that I'm saying its OK, just being realistic.. theres a lot of chinese multicades on location these days). The games aren't impossible to find but keeping the original hardware running reliably is a challenge at this point. These machines weren't built to last 30 years. Just to put it into perspective at our Arcade show we have about 60 or so arcade games.. and these are from collectors, in other words they are well maintained. Yet even during the course of one weekend we got our techs pretty busy keeping them up and running. I can't imagine expecting a game from 1982 to stay up week after week of constant use, not at this point. So while i agree going MAME would mostly defeat the purpose it wouldn't be a bad idea to stock as many of the faithful recreations (Reunions, etc) as you can versus the original hardware as the newer stuff is just so much more reliable. Of course anything from the Jamma era (mid-80s on) is going to be a lot better. You could slap a Street Fighter 2 on location without too much worry. I do hope the barcade thing takes hold. I've seen it tried before but it's never worked out long term (ie the places have closed). It's very sad that the arcade are gone. That's why we've started running yearly game shows as thats one of the only ways to see these original games now unless you live near one the few areas that have a full-time classic arcade left running. (and how many of those are there now?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorTat-G Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 I live by a Mall that has an arcade in their movie theater which offers a nice amount of new/retro/90's arcade games that suits my needs. Like the class of '81(Ms. Pac & Galaga) & the Atari Trak-ball(Missile Command, Centipede & Millipede) games that number six mentioned. as well as Hydro Thunder, House of the Dead 2, Daytona USA 2, Need for Speed: Hot pursuit. and so on. I go there everytime I'm at that mall (Which is a weekly occurrence). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mxyzptlk Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 In 1990, I had just moved to the Tampa Bay area from New York. I was Hired on at Fun N’ Games that January as The Assistant Manager Of the Tyrone Square Mall location ( the youngest ever hired at that time) and within 3 months, I had the Eastlake Square location as Manager ( Youngest ever hired as well- Still hold that record!) well, here’s a video I made for My Mom For Mother’s Day that year. The sound is out of sync a little, and I wish I had walked around the arcade more (and slower) but I took out the mushy stuff, and here’s whats left- ME… Manager of Fun N’ Games, Eastlake Square Mall- 1990! BTW- see how many games you can point out! Great video. How big was the camera you used? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nateo Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 I can't wait for Friday. I'm taking the day off and spending some quality time with my oldest daughter. We're heading out to The Strong National Museum of Play. I'm sure that we'll hit everything there, but I have to admit that I'm most looking forward to getting into the Arcade that ICHEG has set-up upstairs. Whenever we go we either don't have time to play any of the video games, or else with my little one there too she's just not patient enought to spend any length of time at any one thing. But with my oldest getting older all the time, I wanted to spend some quality time just the two of us. I can't wait! Let me know how the Strong Museum is, I've been meaning to get there for some time now. I was there when they had the Videotopia traveling exhibit, and it was awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metal Ghost Posted November 13, 2012 Author Share Posted November 13, 2012 Let me know how the Strong Museum is, I've been meaning to get there for some time now. I was there when they had the Videotopia traveling exhibit, and it was awesome! It's absolutely great. The museum itself is world-class. I don't know if you have a kid or niece/nephew, etc., you can go with, but I'm a big kid at heart and I have fun going through the entire place. I've seen adults going through the VG area alone, so no worries there, but that might be a bit wierd through the other areas Now, for the video game area, it's top notch.....easily one of (if not 'the') strongest collection in a museum setting in North America. Size wise i'd say that it's pretty darn big. But keep in mind that a large portion of the exhibit's floor space is dedicated to history oriented objects (i.e. non-playable), and the games (both arcade cabinets and consoles & computers set up to play specific games) are not packed in tight. Which I personally like however. I've seen their collection and they could easily place a lot more of it out on display, given what they have in archive and how much floor space they have available. But I like the tact they are taking....instead of placing as much as they possibly can on display, they instead rotate their items more frequently. The Videotopia travelling exhibit is now permanently housed at The Strong....I believe it served as the foundation for the museum's arcade cab collection, which is now growing. I wrote an article on ICHEG @Strong (http://venturebeat.com/2012/05/04/museum-presses-save-button-on-gaming-history-interview/). It's more focused on what ICHEG is doing to preserve video gaming history, but it will give you some background on the video game collection at Strong as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghsqb Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 Let me know how the Strong Museum is, I've been meaning to get there for some time now. I was there when they had the Videotopia traveling exhibit, and it was awesome! I learned about this museum here on AA about a year ago. I live 4.5 hours away in Canada, and we are members there, that's how awesome the place is. As a matter of fact, I just did the drive this past weekend to bring my kids to meet Dora & Diego and to visit the museum. The museum itself is brilliant, even without the arcade. With the arcade....epic. I hope they put their Dragons Lair out to play soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nateo Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 That is all sooooo good to hear. The wife and I really need to just buckle down and make a day of it. I think I will miss the "real arcade" atmosphere of the Videotopia exhibit, but from what I've heard from you guys and others have been nothing but good things. I also loved that interview, Ghost; it's really encouraging to hear that they're not just concerned with the preservation aspect, but making sure it's available to people as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goochman Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 My biggest push back from current arcades is the price - I dont have $40 to give each of my kids to spend 30 minutes playing games. Everything is $1+ and the fun stuff $2 a round. That $80 is better spent on other things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jagman Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 (edited) Soooo happy to have moved to a city that actually has a good arcade culture. Here in Chicago there has been TWO Barcades that have opened this year; Emporium, and most recently Headquarters. They both are heavy emphasis on 80's machines and HQ even has all the games set to freeplay. We also have a great record store called Logan Hardware with an awesome arcade room in the back with all the games fully restored in amazing condition by the owner. The games here are free play as well they just suggest that you buy something from the shop. This is usually my go to spot as they have several pins and do a great job of keeping the games working in full order, not to mention as much as I love and appreciate the barcades, it gets loud in there with music and everything so it's almost impossible to hear the sounds of the arcade machines, so that's another great reason why Logan Hardware rules. I have yet to venture out to the suburbs, but that's next on my list, Galloping Ghost ($15 to get in, and all games set to free-play) ! Chicago rules! Edited December 9, 2012 by Jagman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixelboy Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 Soooo happy to have moved to a city that actually has a good arcade culture. Here in Chicago there has been TWO Barcades that have opened this year; Emporium, and most recently Headquarters. They both are heavy emphasis on 80's machines and HQ even has all the games set to freeplay. We also have a great record store called Logan Hardware with an awesome arcade room in the back with all the games fully restored in amazing condition by the owner. The games here are free play as well they just suggest that you buy something from the shop. This is usually my go to spot as they have several pins and do a great job of keeping the games working in full order, not to mention as much as I love and appreciate the barcades, it gets loud in there with music and everything so it's almost impossible to hear the sounds of the arcade machines, so that's another great reason why Logan Hardware rules. I have yet to venture out to the suburbs, but that's next on my list, Galloping Ghost ($15 to get in, and all games set to free-play) ! Chicago rules! That's it! I'm moving to Chicago! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dauber Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 We also have a great record store called Logan Hardware with an awesome arcade room in the back with all the games fully restored in amazing condition by the owner. The games here are free play as well they just suggest that you buy something from the shop. This is usually my go to spot as they have several pins and do a great job of keeping the games working in full order, not to mention as much as I love and appreciate the barcades, it gets loud in there with music and everything so it's almost impossible to hear the sounds of the arcade machines, so that's another great reason why Logan Hardware rules. Welcome to Chicago from an Andersonvillian, Jag. I was just at Logan Hardware on Friday. When I first went there I kind of had a negative impression...couldn't find anything worth buying in the store until I realized they had a CD I've been meaning to get, and the games they had seemed to be a lot fewer than listed on their site and on Aurcade.com...but I've been back a few times, and you know what? They're really, really good people. Very friendly, very helpful. But right now, I only have two gripes: 1) the turbo Ms. Pac-Man machine is set to high difficulty, and 2) the Food Fight machine is gone! I hope they bring that back soon... After I left Logan Hardware on Friday I checked in on Foursquare and noted that one of the comments said a minimum $10 purchase is required...oops, my purchase was under seven bucks! Same as last time! I apologized to them on their Facebook page and the owner replied and said that there's no minimum purchase amount, just a purchase, PERIOD -- and in fact that's why they sell candy and other accessories, so that even if you didn't find any records/DVDs/CDs/etc. you want, you could at least drop a buck on something without wasting it -- they WANT you to visit the arcade. I've particularly become infatuated with Klax over there! Apparently they're going to have a video game tournament shortly after the new year. To be fair, they're limiting game play to an hour per game so that you don't have that billion-scoring Nibbler situation... I have yet to venture out to the suburbs, but that's next on my list, Galloping Ghost ($15 to get in, and all games set to free-play) ! They have a lot, but close to half their games are two-in-one cabinets, and Dragon's Lair is actually the PS3 version, not the original. You'll have fun, though. And apparently they're VERY helpful to the other arcade owners in the area. Also, they're going to be offering workshops on repairing vintage video games, etc. If you can make it to East Dundee off I-90, definitely check out Underground Retrocade. It's small-ish, but the owner is extremely friendly and welcoming, and the atmosphere is very homey. (And it's the only place within about a 20-hour drive that I know of with a Turbo Jr. Pac-Man!)....it's also classic Atari heaven there -- lots of Atari games, including Atari Football. And your first check-in on Yelp gives you a free drink out of the fridge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dauber Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 (edited) I know this thread hasn't been posted to in about three weeks, but something's been going through my head about these retro-arcades that are popping up... A friend of mine commented about how these places typically charge around $10, $15 for free play on all the machines. He pointed out how it sounds like a lot when you think about it, but thinking back to the '80s, it was very common to drop over $20 on all the games you'd play, so what arcade charge now is a bargain. However...what about people like me? Yeah, back in the day, my games would be over in a few minutes. I was 8, 9 years old when arcades were huge, and I was given one dollar to spend when we went to the mall. And if I happened to find a stray token on the ground, I wouldn't be stopped from using it. But nowadays? I'm a much better gamer on the ones I used to play frequently as a little kid. (Except Donkey Kong. I always sucked at that. To this day I can't make it to the pie factory level! In fact, I suck at ALL of Nintendo's Donkey Kong games and Popeye as well, which I suspect was basically a re-programmed Kong game.) Particularly the Pac-Man games. As a little kid in the early '80s, I'd consider it a good Pac-Man game if I made it so far as to get an extra life and see a cut-away, ditto Ms. Pac-Man and Super Pac-Man. In the '90s, I'd consider it a good game if I got past the banana on Ms. Pac-Man. But now? My Pac-Man games typically rack up about 200,000 points (I know, nowhere near Billy Mitchell!). Ms. Pac-Man, nearly 300,000 on the high-speed variants. And when I went to Underground Retrocade in the northern Chicago 'burbs, I was there for over an hour, but played THREE GAMES -- Jr. Pac-Man Turbo, Ms. Pac-Man Turbo, and then back to Jr. Pac-Man Turbo. Thing is at this point I'm a decent gamer, so that's how long it takes me to play a complete game. The fee at Underground? $5 for a half hour, $10 for unlimited. I figured I'd be there for more than half an hour (took me an hour to drive there, after all!) so I paid a full $10...so $10 for three games. At Bally's Aladdin's Castle, that would have been three tokens: 75 cents! Yestercades in Red Bank, NJ is $8 per hour, and you pay on your way out via wristband number, that's how they can tell how long you've been there. (The guy there told me they do have the occasional customers who run out, claiming they have to feed the meters, then they're never seen again!) I was there two hours. Played maybe five games. $16 for five games. So do I feel ripped off? Actually, not at all. When you think about it, $10-$15 is not a bad deal to have full access to all the games you want for all day long. (They usually allow same-day reentry.) And it's a small price to pay to keep these wonderful classics alive and well. However, it does occur to me that the more you suck at the games, the bigger the bargain is. Edited January 9, 2013 by Dauber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.