Giles N

This may not seem like much, but for a birthday (1981 I think),   my parents gave $5 in quarters to me and $5 to my best friend and then just dropped us off at the arcade in the mall (Time-Out).  The main reason it sticks out in my head so much, was that the Frontier Mall was brand new, as was the arcade, and up to that point, I think I'd only played a game here, a couple of games there;  Not 20 games in a row!

Late teen for this-

At Carowinds(theme park), early 90's, they had a pedistal version of Street Fighter 2-I was decent, but didn't consider myself especially good.

They were playing, obviously, "Winner Stays".

I couldn't lose for some reason(Chun-Li), and my buddy had to drag me away from the game or we'd have spent the whole day in there, I think!

Playing one of the rare ones, Warrior by Vectorbeam/Cinematronics at the local Bowling Alley/Pool Hall/Ice Rink/Arcade in the late 70's with my older brother on Saturday mornings when my sister had ice skating lessons.