Shout Out the Arcade you grew up in.

[patbb]

These are the two places I visited a lot, both closed now:

 

Friar Tucks Game Room, Calumet City IL. (A kid died playing berzerk there, try googling it)

 

 

http://hiwaay.net/~l.../cvg/death.html

Edited January 4, 2011 by patbb

[Cliff Friedel]

In PA -

 

Richland Mall's (Johnstown) arcade

Richland's (Johnstown) Chuck E. Cheeze humongous arcade o'joy

Indiana Mall's Aladdin's Castle

Indiana K-mart plaza arcade & K-mart lobby

 

I went to a lot of these same ones along with the IUP HUB arcade, the Fun 'n Games in Century III mall, one in Pittsburgh whose name escapes me, and Games 'n At on Josephine St. in Pittsburgh (Southside - still there). I didn't mention all the pizza places and department stores that had games also as that would have probably downed the server =).

[Zonie]

I have three:

 

Fun Factory III in Scottsdale AZ

Superfun at Paradise Valley Mall in Phoenix AZ

Video Roundup in Scottsdale AZ

 

All gone, but after a dentist office and a few other things, there is an arcade at the Superfun location again...

 

Found a link:

 

http://www.coinopspace.com/forum/topics/superfun-arcade-paradise

Edited January 10, 2011 by Zonie

[DaveD]

 

I live up in Milwaukee and drove down to Brookfield, IL (on the south side of Chicago) today to check out the Galloping Ghost Arcade.

 

That was a good read and possibly inspired me to do the same. I also live near Milwaukee and a friend and I are mulling over the possibility of a road trip sometime early spring/late winter. I'd love to find a route there with a minimal amount of traffic and headache though. Even if it adds more time to the drive we'd consider staying the night even.

[Cynicaster]

There was a legendary two-floor arcade on Riverside Drive in downtown Windsor, Ontario, Canada (my hometown) called "Fast Eddy's"; I spent lots of money in there, boy.

 

It was right on the river front facing the Detroit River, Ambassador Bridge, and Detroit skyline.

 

It lasted right up until 10-11 or so years ago when the building it was in was bought and torn down to make room for an office building. If Chrysler hadn't chosen that piece of land for their building, I can't help but wonder if the arcade would still be open today.

 

I'm in the process of building myself a MAME cabinet. In tribute, the name on the marquee of the cabinet will be--you guessed it--Fast Eddy.

[classics]

"The Game Room" in Barberton, Ohio. Wedged between the McDonalds and the AAA office at the foot of the viaduct.

 

They had this great special, for like $5 on Friday or Saturday night, all the games were on free play from 7pm till 11pm. Very popular place, started off as half video rental store, half arcade. Eventually became all arcade.

 

Of course the whole area only exists as a memory now. Even the bridge it used to sit at the base of has been torn down and replaced with a new one that goes through a different part of town.

 

Steve

[Atari8guy]

Wizard's in White Oaks Mall, London, Ontario, Canada.

 

I think it's a shoe store now.

[homerwannabee]

Pak Mann arcade in Pasadena, California. That place was freaking HUGE! In the mid-80's that was the spot. Sadly the closed down like so many other arcades a few years back.

[+Nathan Strum]

I always meant to get over to Pak Mann, but never did. I would've liked to have seen it in its heyday.

 

Speaking of SoCal arcade must-see's, Disneyland's Starcade was amazing in the early 80's. The entire upper floor was packed with classic games.

 

Rumor has it they may be revamping it as Flynn's Arcade. They currently have a Flynn's Arcade set up in California Adventure as part of the Tron: Legacy publicity campaign. Reportedly, they have a nice selection of classics. It's still running on weekends, so I may have to sneak down there to see it sometime.

[Krytol]

 

Speaking of SoCal arcade must-see's, Disneyland's Starcade was amazing in the early 80's. The entire upper floor was packed with classic games.

 

 

Still wasn't so bad in the the late 80s/early 90s. Used to frequent it quite a bit after school.

 

Friends worked at Disneyland.

[Michigan Pinball Expo]

So many to remember!

 

All the arcades at Paragon Park in Hull, MA. in the 1970's, though I can't recall the name of any one of them.

 

Replay II in Weymouth, MA. when it was still next to Frank's Pizza.

Starland in Hanover, MA. Used to play Looping here every chance I got.

Colonial Bowl in Weymouth, MA.

Wonder Bowl in Quincy, MA.

Timber Lanes in Abington, MA.

1001 in Cambridge, MA?

 

The Fun Machine, Altamonte Springs, FL. (Used to have an excellent collection of pins)

The Fun Machine, Orlando, FL.

Deltona Lanes, Deltona FL.

Some other obscure mom and pop arcades in Orange City and Deltona as

well. One even had Farfalla which was a pretty cool pin IMHO.

 

 

Various malls around NW Atlanta GA, specifically Marietta and the

area. (Cobb center, Galleria, Cumberland Valley) These were some of

the better times I had as far as pinball was concerned. The group of

friends I hung out with were all die hard pinheads, and we spent many

a weekend traveling around Atlanta to play pins. Taxi, Swords Of Fury,

BK2000, Cyclone, Banzai Run. Earthshaker, Jokerz and many others from

the era were games well remembered!

Brunswick Lanes, Marietta, GA. - Always had the 2 latest and greatest

in the game room.

 

Now I live in Michigan and have Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum and Van Dyke Sports Lounge, along with Pinball Petes and Tilt Town.

[Texasmame]

Spent most of my youth, literally, at the "Third World" arcade on University Ave. in Lowell, MA just up the road from ULowell (now UMass Lowell). I still dream about this place sometimes, remember the layout of the games, etc. *sigh* It's now a computer repair place. Went in when I was a collector a few years back and asked to poke around the basement, HOPING the big wooden sign they used to have in the window was still down there. Alas, nothing but dirt.

 

"Astro's," "Johnny's Pizza," and "Jim and Irene's" were three fast food joints on the same strip. Defender and Jack the Giantkiller I remember from Astro's; Joust, Satan's Hollow and Cliff Hanger (!) from Johnny's and Asteroids, Battlezone mini and Missile Command from Jim and Irene's. Astro's is now a police substation, Johnny's is some other pizza joint and Jim and Irene's is some Mexican place. None have games.

 

Would also trek down to "World of Games" in downtown Lowell, which was a multi-level place. It's now a health club. Back when I collected, I went there and managed to get 5 games from their 5th floor storage space from back in the day (Star Trek cockpit, Mario Bros. Centipede, MACH 3 cockpit and Tron - all for $500 total. Pretty cool to have some of the ACTUAL games I played way back when!

 

"New England Grand Prix" in Tewksbury, MA would also be on my list, as they managed to get the newer coin-ops before anyone else. Only place I ever saw "Cloak and Dagger" and "Quantum" in the wild. Last I saw it, it was closed down - abandoned entirely.

 

And, while I never got up there back in the day, (no need given the great selection locally, really), the legendary "Funspot" up in Weare, NH I've visited many times. BTW, if you ever go up there, hit up "Hart's Turkey Farm" just up the road for dinner. Perfect, home made fare!

 

Those were the days, my friend, and we never even knew it! :_)

Edited March 6, 2011 by Texasmame

[ClassicGMR]

Aladdin's Castle in the mall in Warwick, RI. I spent many a Saturday there spending my paper route money. (Remember when kids could have paper routes?)

 

I also have been vacationing in New Hampshire for the last 34 years (I'm 39) so I guess Funspot in Weirs, NH also qualifies! I've seen that place evolve a lot over the years.

 

Here ya go Texasmame!

 

http://hartsturkeyfarm.com/

Edited March 6, 2011 by ClassicGMR

[doyman]

Bump -n- Tilt

Aberdeen, SD

 

They would have "door buster" Saturdays where you'd pay $5 and all the games were on free play. Plus bumper cars and hot dogs!

 

Now its pool for the Super 8.

[retrorussell]

Used to play at the Beaverton roller skating rink by Beaverton Mall (now called Cedar Crossing). We'd roller skate, take off our skates and walk across the carpet, touch the machines and get a good old SHOCK! Good games though.. whooped serious butt on Spectar there. Scramble and Venture.. that was a different story (I sucked).

 

And there was an arcade in Vancouver WA called "Space Gang Pizza". Played some of the weird CVS games like Dazzler and Radar Zone there.

[Mxyzptlk]

Chuck E Cheese, Malibu gran Prix, and Round table pizza.

[atarigal]

The arcades in Hampton Beach, NH and Salisbury Beach, MA. Also made it up to Funspot a couple times. My friend's parents used to go to Lake Winnipesaukee in summer. I had no idea Funspot was "world famous" until I saw King of Kong a couple years ago--guess I missed the boat on that one.

[retrorussell]

Back when the Beaverton Mall had a Pay Less in it there was a mini-arcade next to it. Had Gremlin/SEGA's Digger there, a crappy ripoff of "Heiankyo Alien", which sort of evolved into Space Panic.

[JQW]

Primrose Valley, Near Filey, North Yorkshire - 1970-something to 1983.

 

This was (and still is) a caravan site/holiday camp on the Yorkshite coast, situated a mile or so south of the town of Filey. Some friends of my parents had a static caravan on the site, and we would borrow it for a holiday once a year from about 1974 onwards.

 

There was a small amusement arcade on the site. My first memories are of visiting it when quite young to play some of the penny fruit machines and other amusements, plus the odd game on some of the mechanical machines, and maybe a bit of prize bingo. Then a few years later video games started to appear. I can remember games such as Starship 1, Boot Hill and Sprint appearing there at some point, and perhaps some others.

 

In 1979 the family acquired their own caravan on the same site, which meant our visits were more frequent. 1979 was a big year for that arcade - they acquired a whole row of electronic pinball machines, but the biggest attraction was a single Space Invaders machine.

 

1980 was the arcade's big year. In came many more machines, such as several Space Invaders Deluxe/Part II, Galaxians and Asteroids, as well as more pinball tables, with some of the older machines being dumped. There were more acquisitions the next year with the likes of Pacman (albeit labelled as Munchman), Gorf, Phoenix, Scramble and Defender. At the same time the arcade also expanded into an abandoned social-club based on the floor above, converting it into a pool room whilst also adding a row of somewhat older machines. There were further acquisitions in 1982, such as Moon Cresta, but 1983 only brought in one machine of note - Robotron 2082 - and the arcade was starting to show it's age as many notable games were now missing.

 

Some of the games they had were fairly rare, such as a Nintendo's Radarscope and Zaccaria's Quasar. Others were hastily made conversions, some obviously using bootleg components.

 

Whilst visiting the site we would also regularly visit Filey, Scarborough and Bridlington. Filey only had one arcade with a few odd games. Scarborough had a whole row of arcades on the sea front, the most notable being Gilly's and Corrigan's. One year Corrigan's converted their top floor into a free-play arcade - you would pay a modest fee to get in, but once inside all games were free. Gilly's always had a selection of the latest games.

 

Bridlington was a really tacky town back then, and many of the arcades were poor. One arcade was notably dreadful; the machines were a mixture of the really ancient early b&w ones, and some obvious bootlegs, with some machines in a really bad state - I can recall one having the casing partially open with the internal wiring exposed. The same arcade would also play taped recordings of Radio 1's Top 30 countdown show over the PA.

 

The family sold the caravan sometime in mid 1983, and I've not been back to the area since. I did look at the site recently on Google Earth and noticed that the arcade has been demolished, but there seems to be another one situated not too far away.

[Rex Dart]

Yesterdays / Power Play in Brazos Mall, Lake Jackson, TX

 

Place ran until the early-to-mid 90's. Then it shut down and a TILT opened up on the other end of the mall.

[CGQuarterly]

I have two.

 

Neon Arcade. Corner of Blackstone and Sierra in Fresno, CA.

 

Sam's Town. Right off of hwy 50 in Cameron Park, CA. In it's prime it was the best arcade I ever saw.

 

Chris

[20ohm20]

Golf N' Stuff - Norwalk, CA (it's still there, but their selection of classic machines is a fraction of what it used to be)

 

Fun World - Downey, CA (closed sometime in 1986-1987, still have a few of their tokens...I grew up less than a mile from it)

 

PJ's - Cypress, CA (I lived around the corner from it for a few years in the early-80's, it now appears to be a 7-11...the first place I ever saw Dragon's Lair)

 

Castle Park - Riverside, CA (haven't been there since around 1999, but it looks like it's still around. I remember a LOT of their machines were always broken...)

 

Starcade - @ Disneyland (I worked at Disneyland from April of '88 until March of '92 - they always had the oldies up on the second level - the only place I've ever seen a Steeplechase machine)

 

Bullwinkle's - Upland, CA (this was like a Chuck-E-Cheese, but with a Bullwinkle and Rocky theme...I worked here for about 15 months when I was in high school...their arcade was quite good...looks like it's still there but with a different name/theme? There was a mini golf/arcade place next door, but the name escapes me...I got mugged in the parking lot there when I was 18...bwahaha)

 

I also vaguely remember going to another (small) arcade on the north end of Downey, CA that had a large amount of bootleg games...it was only open for a couple years and closed in 1986ish. I also remember an arcade in the Buena Park Mall where the entrance was a long corridor filled with multi-colored lights and made up like you were walking through a space ship or something. It was extremely impressive when I was 12-13 years old...

[Mxyzptlk]

Golf N' Stuff - Norwalk, CA (it's still there, but their selection of classic machines is a fraction of what it used to be)

 

Fun World - Downey, CA (closed sometime in 1986-1987, still have a few of their tokens...I grew up less than a mile from it)

 

PJ's - Cypress, CA (I lived around the corner from it for a few years in the early-80's, it now appears to be a 7-11...the first place I ever saw Dragon's Lair)

 

Castle Park - Riverside, CA (haven't been there since around 1999, but it looks like it's still around. I remember a LOT of their machines were always broken...)

 

Starcade - @ Disneyland (I worked at Disneyland from April of '88 until March of '92 - they always had the oldies up on the second level - the only place I've ever seen a Steeplechase machine)

 

Bullwinkle's - Upland, CA (this was like a Chuck-E-Cheese, but with a Bullwinkle and Rocky theme...I worked here for about 15 months when I was in high school...their arcade was quite good...looks like it's still there but with a different name/theme? There was a mini golf/arcade place next door, but the name escapes me...I got mugged in the parking lot there when I was 18...bwahaha)

 

I also vaguely remember going to another (small) arcade on the north end of Downey, CA that had a large amount of bootleg games...it was only open for a couple years and closed in 1986ish. I also remember an arcade in the Buena Park Mall where the entrance was a long corridor filled with multi-colored lights and made up like you were walking through a space ship or something. It was extremely impressive when I was 12-13 years old...

Golf n Stuff, was'nt that the arcade/golf/hydrotube place that was in the Karate Kid? If it was, that place looked truly incredible.

[20ohm20]

Golf n Stuff, was'nt that the arcade/golf/hydrotube place that was in the Karate Kid? If it was, that place looked truly incredible.

 

I forgot about that...they did film some of The Karate Kid there. They filmed some music videos there too, but not until I moved out of the area.

 

On a slightly unrelated note, I have memories of my dad taking me to Golf N Stuff on a Saturday afternoon between for a round of mini golf or a few laps on the Lil' Indy, some video games, then we'd hit the Burger King down the street on Firestone. Good times.

[+darryl1970]

Hucky Finn's (Later became 'Nickelodeon", at Canton Centre Mall (Formerly 'Mellett Mall' in Canton, OH -- Now half torn down to build the WalMart and become a strip mall/call center.. lol). I was able to walk there.

 

When I was able to drive, I would head to North Canton where Aladdin's Castle was located.

They had a sister arcade about a block from the mall. Arcades were sure popular and plentiful back in the day.

 

I would find myself playing at the local corner stores more than the arcades. I met one of my longest friends at a small arcade/mini-store called "JB's." They were about a block away from my Jr. High School. We would stop in the morning. The machines were set for two credits per quarter. It was pretty awesome to play battle Mario Bros on one quarter. I remember seeing my first Pengo machine, Phoenix, and Super Pac-Man there. A lot of great memories.

 

It's been about 4 years, but Cedar Point, in Sandusky, OH used to be the best place left to experience Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Red Baron, Berzerk, and a herd of CLASSICS.

Edited June 24, 2011 by darryl1970