What was the first Arcade game you played?

[jeremysart]

I am just curious. Of all the games I played growing up, I loved it most when my family went out to eat somewhere (or to the laundromat) and there were arcade machines.

The first arcade game I can recall was a Mrs Pac-man/ Centipede cabin, although I was too young to really play. But the first and most memorable Arcade game I remember playing was a cocktail Arkanoid.

Man, what a great game. The spacey theme and cool sound fx kept me playing. It was at a pizza restaurant called Roma's.

A few years down the road when my sister when through heart surgery, we stayed at the hospital for a few days. There was an Arkanoid cocktail at their little Cafe. It was really cool, it kept me from worrying to much.

 

Its sad to be seeing less and less of these.. I almost never see them in restaurants anymore, and rarely even see them at malls. I would LOVE to own a cocktail arcade machine.

[desiv]

Well, it wasn't Computer Space, but it was Pong.

I think it was at a Pizza place (might have been Shakeys, but I can't remember. It was a while ago.. .

 

It was fun, but it Space Invaders was the first Arcade game I was hooked on. :-)

 

desiv

[Retro Rogue]

Arcade game or video arcade game? I played EM's as well as video.

[VectorGamer]

Pong was my first.

 

Cocktails were nice because you could put them in a Pizza Hut and play Space Invaders and they wouldn't take up as much space. They would put them close to the dining tables as long as they had an outlet to plug into.

[Retro Rogue]

Pong was my first.

 

Cocktails were nice because you could put them in a Pizza Hut and play Space Invaders and they wouldn't take up as much space. They would put them close to the dining tables as long as they had an outlet to plug into.

 

 

There was a resteraunt near me at the time (early 80's) that actually used the cocktails as dining tables.

[rpgfaker]

Pong was the first game to show up by the pinball machines at the bowling alley it was pretty fun and Missle Command was soon to follow.

[pinball22]

I don't actually remember what the first arcade game I played was... the first one I clearly remember playing was a cocktail Space Invaders at the Pizza Hut, but I think I had played something before that. I just don't remember what.

[cimerians]

I cant remember the first game I played but it might be Space Invaders at some now extinct unknown arcade by my childhood house. I remember playing arcade games a lot at a bowling alley called Penguin Lanes in the same area.

[kirin jensen]

It would have been either Space War or Death Race, I no longer remember which was first.

[shadow460]

Tempest and Asteroids stood next to one another at Shotgun Sam's Pizza here in Oklahoma City. I do not remember which one I got to play first, but that's my very first memory of any arcade games. There were three or four other games in there with them. Tempest was on the far left, with Asteroids just to its right.

[jboypacman]

Space Invaders Deluxe i had to stand on a molded plastic chair to play it because i was so small.

[Tr3vor]

the Star Wars Arcade.

my dad owned it. too bad its gone now.

[Dan Iacovelli]

Wizard of Wor comes to mind

but got hooked on tempest at my friends party at showbiz.

(I also played a couple games at a department store I think it was at an old zayers store.

[accousticguitar]

I remember playing Sea Wolf when I was quite young. It may have been the first.

[Gabriel]

My first arcade game was probably something like Tank by Atari/Kee Games. I dimly recall playing one at a carnival.

 

But Space Encounter was the first one I really loved.

[TwinChargers]

The first one I remember playing was Punch Out. Theres a chance it could have been Demolition Derby or Arch Rivals though. I just remember the line up at the bowling alley when my dad would go in the mid-eighties.

[Trinity]

Space Invaders.

[jeremysart]

Wizard of Wor comes to mind

but got hooked on tempest at my friends party at showbiz.

(I also played a couple games at a department store I think it was at an old zayers store.

 

Oh man! I remember back when it was called Showbiz Pizza! They did have some good arcade machines there too. The last time I was there as a kid, I remember getting down on Sega's Jurassic Park arcade where you get inside the jeep and get chased by the T-Rex.. great rail shooter!

[Asaki]

The first arcade game I played was Pac-Man upright, at a bar...had to stand on a chair to reach it.

 

The last time I was there as a kid, I remember getting down on Sega's Jurassic Park arcade where you get inside the jeep and get chased by the T-Rex.. great rail shooter!

 

They have that at my Chuck E. Cheese, but it's always in various states of disrepair >_< Last time I went, the joysticks didn't really work at all...they didn't even bother putting an "out of order" sticker on it.

[retrorussell]

I played so many throughout my life, I can't be sure about the very first one I played.. but I'll take a stab at it. I think it was Sprint 2.

[STICH666]

Arkanoid in 1993. They had a machine it the snack room in my camp when I was 3 years old. It was a rich kids camp and it ruled!! I don't know if anybody here is from Long Island but it was at Camp La Salle which is a military academy. I just rode my bike there recently. The place is now in disrepair but amazingly the arcade machines are still in the building. It doesn't look like anybody has been in there in a very long time seeing as there's a tree growing out of the vent on the roof. I would love to get permission to go in there and save that machine as it's also the first videogame I have ever played.

[gdement]

The first arcade I went to was Showbiz in Wichita. I don't know which game I played first, but I remember Donkey Kong was a hot item. That game had a crowd around it and I think it had the overhead 2nd screen, but of course it's a vague memory from when I was little. Maybe it just loomed over me.

I thought it looked awesome, and some much older kid let me in to play. I only managed to reach the 2nd girder as I remember it.

 

Other than that, I was mostly in an adjacent room with less popular games in it. I played a bunch of those BB gun games, and also what must have been Sea Wolf.

Out front, they had Dragon's Lair. Never played it.

[slosu]

PONG was my first too.

 

Steve

 

http://atari-man.xanga.com/

[Asaki]

I would love to get permission to go in there and save that machine as it's also the first videogame I have ever played.

 

Wow...there's gotta be some way to get those out of there...

 

Maybe when nobody is looking, you can just sneak in and...put it in your pocket?

[Retro Rogue]

I would love to get permission to go in there and save that machine as it's also the first videogame I have ever played.

 

Wow...there's gotta be some way to get those out of there...

 

Maybe when nobody is looking, you can just sneak in and...put it in your pocket?

 

 

If there's a tree growing out of the chimney, I'd had to see what's nested in those coinops.