cimerians Posted April 22, 2009 Share Posted April 22, 2009 Does it still exist? What games did they have? Mine was Friar Tucks game room in Cal City IL. and Lincoln Mall if I remember the name in the Chicago area. Lincoln had a huge game room with the oddball Universal and Exidy titles. Tucks was completely decked out with fake armor, a pond and fake trees to simulate sherwood forest. The arcade games were mostly the most popular games newly released games. There were other local candy stores that had arcades around town but those two places had at least 50 to 100 arcade machines (and pinball games). Our local Sears also had a big arade room on the 2nd floor where I first saw Joust and Gorf. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STICH666 Posted April 22, 2009 Share Posted April 22, 2009 FYE Arcade in the South Shore Mall in Bayshore, NY. It just closed down 2 years ago. The last freaking arcade on Long Island with an Initial D cabinet!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom-Lynx Posted April 22, 2009 Share Posted April 22, 2009 Union South in Madison, WI Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2600Lives Posted April 22, 2009 Share Posted April 22, 2009 When I was a kid, there was a small independently owned place called Arcade Pizza. ALL of the tables were cocktail type arcade machines, and if I remember right, each table was a different game, too. They had a HUGE area in the back for the arcade proper, too. I remember tossing coins into Galaga like no tomorrow, lol. The pie wasn't bad, either. Nice and thick Chicago style. They're no longer around, in fact, they closed shop before I even left the town they were in, but man, it was fun to go there while it lasted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moycon Posted April 22, 2009 Share Posted April 22, 2009 I don't even remember the name of the place now. There was a hole in the wall arcade in an old strip mall. They served food there, stuff like hot dogs and frozen pizza (I don't think I ever ate there but might have gotten cokes) and they also rented VHS movies. Every week I'd get my allowance and bike up to that place and get $5 worth of tokens. This was a great deal because you got like 24 tokens for $5 but only 4 tokens for $1. I'd usually spend a few hours there till the $5 was gone then bike it home to play Atari. I'm certain it's not there anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryanw Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 The only one I ever really hung out at one the one at the local mall, I went there after school once a week with my grandpa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jboypacman Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 The Dixie Bowl in Valley Station,Kentucky and while we had a few other arcades in town the Dixie Bowl was the place to go play arcade games for us. Crazy Climber,Moon Patrol,Gauntlet,Omega Race,Donkey Kong,Battlezone and many others called the Dixie Bowl there home and got more than there share of coins from me. I have not been back there in years but from what i have been told from a old friend of mine that still lives in Kentucky that the Bowl is still there(no ideal on what if any games they have anymore). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StoneAgeGamer Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 (edited) Used to hang out at one originally called "Area Code 313". It was eventually bought and its name was changed to "Game Station". I think its still there. Edited April 23, 2009 by StoneAgeGamer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost Soldier Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 (edited) We had two arcade's in our mall in Terre Haute, Indiana. One was called Galaxy and the other was Time Out. Galaxy was the hangout spot. It was dark, with neon's, and glow in the dark carpet. When you walked into the area you where cut off from the rest of the mall. It ceased to exist in the dark glowing room. Time Out was bright with lot's of window's and more kiddie games. You also had ticket machine's in Time Out. Sadly only Time Out remains and they still have kiddie games and DDR Machines. Galaxy went out of business in the mid 90's and is now a Verizon phone area. Edited April 23, 2009 by Ghost Soldier Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinball22 Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 The original arcade in my hometown, which was called 3PO's, went out of business with the crash. The pool hall/arcade (Jokers') in a nearby town that we went to all through middle and high school moved to a smaller space with a new name about ten years ago... I haven't been in in a long time, but I don't think they have many machines. The one I played at constantly in college (The Electric Wizard), which always had three pinball machines and cheap beer, has been gone for at least five years. And the two other ones in town have gone away in the last few years, so there's no real arcade here at all anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckwalla Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 Our local 7-Eleven two blocks from my house. Throughout Jr. High a bunch of us would watch and play before school, and many times after school - that is until my mother laid down the law and put an end to the after-school hijinx. That store had two arcade machines at any given time but they were always top games like Defender, Stargate, Phoenix, Galaxian, Zaxxon, Asteroids, Space Invaders, Pac Man, Ms. Pac Man, etc. Watching some of these guys play the games was even more fun than playing myself , especially when someone can master arcade Defender and Stargate - that was pretty intense to watch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BydoEmpire Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 (edited) Fantasy Isle in downtown Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. The first floor was a D&D shop, which was cool in itself, but if you took the spiral staircase up to the 2nd floor it was an awesome arcade. They did up the walls in paper mache or something to look like a cave. It was dark, it had a great selection of games for being a smaller place, and they'd have occasional deals like Sunday afternoon $5 to enter with all the games on free play. I loved that place, but it's long since been out of business. The Alladin's Castle in the mall lasted a long time, well into the 90s, but I have no idea if that's around any more. I went because it was there, but it was a typical bright mall arcade, and didn't have the mojo of Fantasy Isle. Edited April 23, 2009 by BydoEmpire Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BydoEmpire Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 Here's a little something to jog everyone's memory: http://bpulliam.smugmug.com/gallery/4918209_3RCNf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectorGamer Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 Fun City at the Park City Mall in Lancaster, PA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectorGamer Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 Here's a little something to jog everyone's memory: http://bpulliam.smugmug.com/gallery/4918209_3RCNf I see a lot of those arcades had it right - low lighting and let the games themselves provide the lighting. Had to anyway to keep glare off of the screens but I see some of the arcades were too bright. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lendorien Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 (edited) Fantasy Isle in downtown Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. The first floor was a D&D shop, which was cool in itself, but if you took the spiral staircase up to the 2nd floor it was an awesome arcade. They did up the walls in paper mache or something to look like a cave. It was dark, it had a great selection of games for being a smaller place, and they'd have occasional deals like Sunday afternoon $5 to enter with all the games on free play. I loved that place, but it's long since been out of business. The Alladin's Castle in the mall lasted a long time, well into the 90s, but I have no idea if that's around any more. I went because it was there, but it was a typical bright mall arcade, and didn't have the mojo of Fantasy Isle. Heya... The Aladdin's Castle isn't there any more. I lived near FDL about 8 years ago. I do remember that there was a niche with some arcade machines for a bit, but it was pretty empty... I don't think it had that name. I'm fairly certain it's gone now, but I haven't been in that mall for about 4 years. Incidentally, there was a recent thread about this about 2 months ago: http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?s...=137872&hl= Edited April 23, 2009 by Lendorien Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectorGamer Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 Here's a little something to jog everyone's memory: http://bpulliam.smugmug.com/gallery/4918209_3RCNf Is this your site? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixelboy Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 When I was a kid, there was an arcade I went to, simply called "Pinnochio", where the machines were put on free play for a few hours during the week-ends, and all you had to pay was a flat fee at the entrance. You could try all the games they had in an unlimited fashion, although it was a pretty popular place, so all the most popular machines were always taken. Still, I loved to go there. Good memories. Today, not only is the arcade gone, but the whole shopping mall has been torn down! It's nothing but a huge vacant lot now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rik Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 Back in the early 80's i used to go to this arcade located in a strip mall which is still there,not the arcade though.Pretty hilarious at times.There was these two brothers that used to go there probably 9-10 years old.Their father used to come over almost everyday and grab them and give them heck for wasting ther money there.I used to go at night and play Jungle King,Dig-Dug and Gorf,those were my favorites.Arcades are history,at least where i live,zero to be found.Arcade quality home video gaming has killed arcades Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Climber Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 Here's a little something to jog everyone's memory: http://bpulliam.smugmug.com/gallery/4918209_3RCNf Thank you so much for that link, now please provide a time machine Seriously, I miss those days Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STICH666 Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 LOL I would love to go back and plop an Initial D machine into one of those and watch everybody's faces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemmi Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 Mr. Billiards in Allen Park was the best place to hang out the arcade games were crammed into the place along with many pool tables. the games were comming and going so fast in that place it was hard to get used to just one game because it could be gone the next day the funny thing is that my mom used to work there when i was a very very little kid another place was a drug store that had about 7 games in the back area where the bottle returns were placed this was the first place i could get to easily on a BMX in the early to middle 80's. it had the star wars game and many other classics like donkey kong/Jr and popeye and even crazy kong i think and jungle hunt (it might have had a different name tho). i didnt spend much there because you could lift the plastic screen covers up and out on 4 games then stick your hand down and hit the credit button another place i spent alot of time at in the 90's was called Cushion Cue (i think thats the name) it was above a bowling alley called The Thunderbowl. it onlt had a handfull of games but it had the Golf Tee game with the spin ball. the bowling alley also had some game in it to. i remember playing Rampage alot there then the 50 cent a game time came into play which killed almost all the places above. Mr. Billiards was the first to do this and then alot of the games disapeared being replaced by more pool tables and a pool stick store thingy where the games used to be Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 I don't have the slightest idea what it was called but it was in Sidney, Nebraska. Yeah, I had a choice of 1 actual arcade, Space Invaders in a bar, or a couple games in any of the bowling allies. Not exactly a tough choice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectorGamer Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 Here's a little something to jog everyone's memory: http://bpulliam.smugmug.com/gallery/4918209_3RCNf Thank you so much for that link, now please provide a time machine Seriously, I miss those days I hope there's room for a few more in that machine... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoon Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 My place was FunSpot in Dover, NH. It's not there any longer, though, so I travel to the FunSpot in Laconia. The only arcade that still exists from when I was a kid is Playland in Hampton, NH. Great memories of that place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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