Abandoned arcades, decaying arcade machines (Make Arcades GREAT Again)

[Newsdee]

It's nice that there are artifacts from these old days still around, and I respect those who restore and maintain these old things.

Let's not forget those that document them so they can be rebuilt from scratch. It's trickier with a pinball or specially-made cabs, of course.

[Keatah]

Let's not forget those that document them so they can be rebuilt from scratch.

 

ESPECIALLY the circuit boards and information stored in memory. While we may not use 74LS TTL (and similar) in the future, we'll still have the gameplay saved to a respectable degree of accuracy in MAME.

[schuwalker]

 

Absolutely totally agree here on this point. 1 game takes up way too much space. Let alone a home arcade of 5 or 10. You can do much better on space savings, reliability, customization, consistency by doing emulation and a custom cabinet or set-top-box. Grim, perhaps. But it is the hard reality.

 

Personally I don't care what they once were, or were not. First and foremost they were money makers. Even the article says so. Once you understand that the whole picture changed. Anything surrounding these hulking cabinets like the 80's, the good times, the challenges, the arcade atmosphere, was what you created in your head... None of it was considered when a game was designed and manufactured. Their only goal was to take your money.

 

Personally I don't care what happened to the arcades of yore most of the times. Oh sure a bit of nostalgia rears its head now and then. But by and large good riddance. I'm just happy the programs in those bulky beasts of burden have been preserved. That's what counts!

 

It's a hard to argue on your first point. These amusement pieces due take up space - lots of it. This is coming from a person who has over 100 pieces (including pinball).

 

See while some of you guys look at them as amusement pieces; I look at them as pieces of art, paintings if you will. Pieces from the mid '70s to early '80s were absolutely gorgeous in the artwork department. I have to admit, games in the jamma era lost that mystique.

 

Keetah, I believe you reside or did reside in the Chicagoland area. We did have our perks here for sure as arcades go since many companies found their home here. I found out later on from an operator that the Aladdin's Castle I used to go was a testing location for their games. What a cool detail to find out later own - probably played some prototype machines or got to play them first before they hit worldwide. Thats a feeling I will never get back. Even payed a visit to Galloping Ghost (one of the biggest arcades) it was still missing something.

 

You're entitled to your opinion... as weird as it sounds, a little bit of me died when those arcades died out. I am so glad/blessed to live in that time period. As you can tell, I would do it again in a heartbeat from that nostalgia thread.

[Keatah]

Yup. Chicago suburbs. I remember PinPan Alley, next to DataDomain, getting new Bally/Williams stuff to test out. Got to participate and get interviewed on some of the games even. To a shit-faced kid, that was the best! Imagine me, shaping the future of an arcade game. Just wow. So much bigger than life itself.

 

I don't necessarily appreciate arcade cabs as art. But I can understand others doing so. I would first appreciate and enjoy the redemption games' and all their glory with motors and flashing lights. And now with new LED lighting and interfacing to the mainboard, they're really getting it on. And that's how we like it!

 

Having practically lived in the arcades during their heyday around the Tron timeframe, and before - I can truly and honestly say I have not seen a modern arcade get it right today. Always something off, something missing, or simply wrong.

 

--

 

Then all the fun and mystique disappeared when I applied for a tech job at Galaxy World. And when the Jamma fighting games came out. It was then that I closed the book on arcade gaming. I transitioned into PC gaming and never looked back - somewhere in the early 1990's I suppose. Assault and Super Space Invaders '91 were the last games I seriously got into.

 

I'm happy to have closed the book on that chapter. And I re-read it from time to time with fond memories. Going further would only dilute the experience.

[HoshiChiri]

 

Having practically lived in the arcades during their heyday around the Tron timeframe, and before - I can truly and honestly say I have not seen a modern arcade get it right today. Always something off, something missing, or simply wrong.

 

 

I'm not old enough to have experienced the true heyday of arcades, so I tend to be fine with modern ones- even though finding on in any capacity is quite hard. Really need to try and get out to Round One in Tukwila... stopped in a couple months ago just for a look-around, and it's easily the biggest/nicest arcade I've run into around these parts. It's better than Gameworks up in Seattle, that's for sure. I don't recall seeing any vintage cabs, though... then again, it's supposed to have bowling & billiards too, and we didn't find the billiards tables. Maybe they're stashed.

 

Anyway- I feel like modern arcades can't match the old school feel because games themselves have changed. We've moved away from the simple, quick, quarter-munching games to story-driven experiences with clear endings. Those are harder to successfully put into a cabinet. Pair that up with Game Boy & its kin, plus almost everyone having a game-capable phone in their pocket, and the reason to even bother paying for an arcade machine is diminished greatly. If the game doesn't require some sort of non-standard input, it's going to be hard to attract an audience. Thus, the arcade becomes more like a cheap amusement park. You let your kids bang on plastic legless horses and stomp on floor arrows, usually without putting any money in the machine. Then you play a round of ski-ball, get some tickets, buy a cheap toy and be on your way. *sigh*

[TheObscureGamer]

The computer space on the right hand side of the top floor of this busted ass barn is just wrong.

 

Where is this barn so I can fucking steal it?

[Rick Dangerous]

I am lucky to have a decent arcade/bar in my area:

 

http://www.thearchivesbar.com/

 

And retro themed games mostly at that!

[Polybius]

It's saddening, yet eerily Heartbreaking, like looking at an abandoned car, or closer still, an abandoned amusement park. Is it odd I find a strange beauty in ruins?

[enoofu]

Hopefully the boards were recovered

 

Sad that Cabinets always die do to weight. wear, and size

[Mitkraft]

Where is this barn so I can fucking steal it?

 

I'm pretty sure that's an old picture and a member of the arcade forums actually rescued that computer space. I don't have a KLOV link to his thread but a google image search pulled up this page: http://www.computerspacefan.com/BarnFind.htm

[Mitkraft]

Found the thread on KLOV about the computer space barn find: http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=58835

[R.Cade]

Found the thread on KLOV about the computer space barn find: http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=58835

 

From one barn to another. Let's check his garage in 20 years.

[R.Cade]

I wonder how many of the games turned on and worked that were on that docked ship. They looked like time just stood still, but most were not wet, just ignored for 25 years.