Atari arcade tokens?

[sirlynxalot]

I've seen atari arcade tokens on ebay with the atari logo.  Did atari have a chain of arcades similar to how Namco and Sega had their own sponsored arcades?  Googling is giving me surprisingly little information on this.

 

[Shaggy the Atarian]

Yep, they were real. It was essentially an "Atari Store" that would have focused on every aspect of the company including their computer lines. They were better known as Atari Adventure Centers. I once came across one of the tokens for it when I was working at an arcade in 1999

 

Here's a video:

 

 

Edited October 11, 2020 by Shaggy the Atarian

[sirlynxalot]

Interesting.  I was kinda wondering if the Atari "family entertainment centers" token might be a different kind of establishment to the adventure centers in light of the fact that there is another type of atari token that specifically says adventure on it.

 

[Clark Otodus]

On 10/10/2020 at 8:08 PM, Shaggy the Atarian said:

Yep, they were real. It was essentially an "Atari Store" that would have focused on every aspect of the company including their computer lines. They were better known as Atari Adventure Centers. I once came across one of the tokens for it when I was working at an arcade in 1999

This is really cool, I had never seen one of the Atari Adventure Centers. Really enjoyed that video!

Looks like the St. Louis location has a couple of nice photos on Google Images, though I wish there were a few more quality photos of these other locations, they look very clean and fun!

Here's a list of pretty much all of them according to https://mcurrent.name/atarihistory/adventure_properties.html

1. Atari Video Adventure at Marriott's Great America, Santa Clara CA  
   (not verified; I (mc) suspect this location may not have been included in the transaction.  Who can verify??)
2. Atari Adventure Amusement Center in Seaports of the Pacific at Disneyland Hotel, 1150 W. Cerritos Ave., Anaheim CA  Distant view of the entrance
3. (The Atari Adventure at Northwest Plaza, St. Ann, MO (St. Louis area) had closed by this time.)
4. Atari Adventure at Crestwood Plaza #240, St. Louis MO.  Family entertainment center including Atari 800XL computers (required for local zoning compliance)
5. Atari Adventure in the Olympic section at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas NV
6. Atari Adventure at The Riviera, Las Vegas NV
7. Atari Adventure at Gwinnett Place Mall, 2100 Pleasant Hill Rd., Duluth GA
8. Atari Adventure at 208 Duval St., Key West FL
9. Atari Adventure at Northpark Mall, 1200 County Line Rd. E., Ridgeland MS (near Jackson)