Favorite Arcade of all time

[Zonie]

Don't know if this has been covered yet.

 

What, when, and where was your favorite Arcade?

 

Mine was "Video Roundup" in Scottsdale, AZ, about 1979 to 2004. The original location on the west side of the road. Had about 200 games at one point...back in the late 70's. Got to know the owner. Brought my own kids in there. Even got my Mame cabinet carcass from it. It just closed it's doors for good last year.

 

We also had a few others like "Superfun" in two of the Malls here, and "Fun Factory III" in a strip mall.

 

It's funny, I drive past many businesses around here that used to be Arcades that I used to go to. The one I first saw Dragons Lair is a Dry cleaner now...

 

VR is a Tuxcedo shop.

[Gregory DG]

My favorite was called "Gimmie Games." It wasn't the biggest or had the newest games, but that's where my fondest memories remain mostly because of the fun I had with my friends playing pool.

 

It was located right next to the main movie theatre (of the time) and made a ton of money. Unfortunately, the parents ended up closing the place down because it drew too many rambunctious kids. The owners even hired some rent-a-cops, but it wasn't enough.

 

The place reopened in a new location a few years later, but it didn't do nearly as good considering it was a free-standing location and just outside the strip mall where the movie theatre is located. I think I went in one time, maybe?

 

Location, location, location!

[tillenterprises]

Here in the Milwaukee area, Aladdin's Castle at the local malls, Southridge and Brookfield Square left the biggest impressions on me. It was nice and dark- the way a classic arcade should be, and all the flickering lights and marquee lights looked so cool in the dark. I still remember walking in there and seeing the cool new game that just came out, Congo Bongo. A close second was a place called "Go Bananas," which was the first place I ever played Gyruss, Star Wars, Dragon's Lair, etc. It's now been converted to a Aladdin's Castle, but aside from the obligatory Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga, it's nothing like the Castle of old. Meanwhile the Aladdin's Castles at the local malls have long been closed.

[tillenterprises]

BTW, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin has a great arcade with tons of classics, called Playland. When I'm in the area on appointments, I always make time for a visit to Playland.

[Red 5]

The Spa in Brookfield CT was where I played the most as a kid.

 

As a teenager, Showcase Pizza had a great Arcade attached to Rollerland which was the local roller skating rink.

That was in Danbury, CT.

 

Here are two great arcades that are still around to this day...

 

Lake Quassapaug (now simply known as 'Quassy') is an incredibly old amusement park. The rides are all easily 25 years old or older and the park hasn't changed since I was 3 (30 years ago). However !

The price of admission is well worth it just to go to the arcade which has many of the old great games. Probably about 100 games or so.

 

But here is the most important part of this post...

The greatest arcade on earth that is still in existence

 

Is located in New Hampshire and is called "The Fun Spot"

It must literally have every arcade game and pinball machine ever made and they are all still a quarter. Pop a quarter in and go nuts.

 

Everyone who grew up in the 70's and 80's and put a quarter in an arcade game should make this a mandatory road trip.

 

Directions:

Transportation & Directions:

By Automobile: In New Hampshire take Rt. I-93 to exit 23 then take Rt. 104 East to traffic light at end. You will be across from a McDonald's. Take a right on Rte. 3 South and follow for 2-1/2 to 3 miles. FUNSPOT will be on the left. You can't miss us! If you do get lost don't panic! Call us at 603-366-4377 and we'll help you find your way.

 

Website:

http://www.funspotnh.com/

[Zonie]

I'll have to check the place out. I find myself in Portland ME, and Burlington VT once in a while, and it's on the way in between.

 

Thanks!

[yuppicide]

Here in NJ we've had 8 On The Break. It's been around since 1973 (I was born in 1973!) and owned by Edward Montross. It used to be mainly a pool hall back then, but he was the first to feature them new fangled "TV games". I believe the "TV Games" sign is still in the window. They have fuzzy wallpaper and shag carpet. In 1986 it was bought by it's current owner Chris Cotty. Very nice guy. He always stays with the times because video games times were changing in the 80's and he had to change to stay a float. The fighting games, the dancing games, etc.

 

He doesn't have as many games as he used to, but they still have about 35-50 games. Classics, new stuff, about 8 or 10 pinballs usually kept in good condition.

 

They house a lot of tournaments: Bemani tournaments are Fridays.. dancing games and stuff like that, East Coast Championships which people from from all over the place for fighting games tournaments, Namco tournaments every Tuesday, and they also have a pinball league that I forget when it runs.

 

Their current games are: Music games - In the Groove, Dance Dance Revolution 8th Mix Extreme, Guitar Freaks 3rd Mix., Beatmania 6th mix UK underground, Para Para Paradise 3rd Mix plus,

... and they have:

 

Beatmania 2Dx 8th Style BIG SCREEN (55" screen) The only one in the world!

 

fighting games - MvC2 (40inch tube screen), Soul Calibur, Tekken 4, Tekken3, Tekken Tag, Street Fighter EX2, Street Fighter 3, Capcom vs SNK2, SNK vs Capcom, Marvel Superheroes vs Streetfighter, MvC, Street Fighter 3: Third Strike, X-Men vs. Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat (2-4), Guilty Gear xx, Guilty Gear Iskura

 

As for pinballs they currently have I am not sure. Chris also rents out arcade machines and services them.

 

----

As for other locations I remember in New Jersey: Space Port in the Woodbridge Mall (I think it was in Woodbridge Mall). The whole arcade looked like a futuristic space ship inside. It housed about 25 or 30 games and pinballs. There was/still is maybe a place in Menlo Park Mall. A lot of the games were usually semi-broken, but I used to play Gal Panic there a lot. Was QIX game, but you uncovered anime girls in the background.

[yuppicide]

This place deserves a special post:

 

The Pinball Parlour in Pennsylvania:

 

http://www.pinball-parlour.com/index.php

 

Their hours are Mon-Fri 7-10 and Sat 7-11. They have unlimited free play for $15 or $6 an hour.

 

Currently there's roughly 50 pinballs. Machines from as far back as the 1940's to the 1990's.

 

There's about 33 video games, and about 8 other games. You can view most of them on their website.

[Stingray]

I don't even remember what the name of my favorite arcade was, but it was my favorite for two reasons.

 

1) It was right across the street from my school.

 

2) My dad's friend owned it. Every time I went there (often) he'd give me a big handful of tokens.

 

Good times.

 

-S

[BydoEmpire]

Fantasy Isle in Fond du Lac, WI (where I grew up). The first floor was a D&D/game shop. Then you'd go up a narrow, spiralling, iron staircase to the 2nd floor - the arcade. The walls were all done up to make it look like a cave. It was pretty dark, and very cool. I can still remember where many of the games were placed within the arcade. Plus, they had the games on free play, you just paid $1/hour, which was a pretty darn good deal.

[MattG/Snyper2099]

Doc Holiday's in the basement of Western Bowl in Cincinnati, OH. Like 1 mile from where I grew up. There is a big national bowling tournament there called the Hoinke Classic. The basement is now empty from what I can tell. They closed the "arcade" back in 2000 I believe.

 

There are a few classic games upstairs in the bowling alley still. From what I understood, they are some of the origional ones the bowling alley actually owns outright. There was a ms. pac, galaga, and a few pins last time I was there.

 

That was where I learned how to play SFII, among many other classics. :wink: They even had tokens with doc holiday himself on them. Good times!

[Atari-Jess]

Okay. Lets see...

 

I have three.

 

One was in my own hometown and it was quite large, 30 machines

and it was right in literally the middle of town.

 

CASTLE ARCADE! the building looked like a castle!

(in a town of under 1,000 it was crazy)

 

#2

 

The arcade in the local mall, about a 45 minute drive

(now you see why the castle arcade was extra strange for being there!)

and its where I played MOONWALKER ooh yeah!

 

 

#3

 

Fenelon Arcade

 

the last true arcade I had the opportunity to frequent. Sadly also attracted

too much bad stuff, like drug use. bad business....

So they turned it into a flooring store

 

All of them are gone now

[Cassidy Nolen]

"Arcade" for me eludes definition. It is a complete memory of sound, taste, visual appeal, feel and emotions that I have not duplicated as an adult. I am not very good at games, but I love them very much. For me, just getting to go and watch was as much part of the experience as playing. The reason I played the ones I did was that there was no line. Its how I actually got good at Bump N Jump!

 

I don't think one could be called my "favorite". My year was split between my Mom's and Dad's places growing up. Summers at Dad's, and the rest with Mom. In Virginia, with Mom, my favorite would have to be Chuck E. Cheese's. It had one little upper "room" that had Bump N Jump, Reactor, Centipede and a few others I would give ANYTHING to remember. They also had a Crossbow and a Dragon's Lair at different times. Man, those were good days.

 

At Dad's in Dallas, I got to go to Six Flags over Texas once or twice a summer. Once, my Dad actually went there with me. We played in an arcade called Galveston Gus' Arcade. It was more or less the middle of the park, and I dont seem to be the only one that remembers it (check RGVAC for better descriptions than I recall). I recall playing Pole Position (cockpit), Speed Freak (to this day the ONLY one of these I have ever seen), and a bunch of other classics that get muddy in my memory.

 

I wish we had a way to index memories; so we could snapshot things for later. The details of what games were where really matters to me now. I can remember going to the first Dave and Busters back in 85. It was amazing to see so many of the same arcade together (imagine a row of Pole Position cockpits together). I can't remember all the specific games. I wish I could.

 

If any of you guys have any idea the order that these arcades had games set up, I would love to know. Rebuilding them even in my mind would be great.

 

So, a long way of sharing my .25 cents, there were 3 big ones for me. Geez, these sound like love affairs.....

 

Cassidy

[Artlover]

Chuck E. Cheese's.

 

More like Suck E. Cheese's now adays. Atleast the ones around here.

[Cassidy Nolen]

Suck E Cheese, true that. Now its like a snot corral. There are little gates to keep kids in. Sort of disturbing how it resembles a stockyard to me...

 

I agree. CE.C back in the day (to a 10 year old) was mecca. I was born in 74, so I never noticed the crash. I just thought it was cool Pole Position only cost a quarter after 85!

 

C

[NovaXpress]

The "family fun centers" of today bear no resemblance to the old arcades. Chuck E Cheese always sucked. A real old school arcade had at least 75 machines and no gian mice. They also tended to be dimly lit and populated with drug abusers. You know, the good old days.

 

The best I've ever seen was the Old Towne Arcade in Toledo, Ohio. It was a shopping mall that went out of business and became an arcade. Instead of a Hot Topic, you'd have a room with a dozen Defender machines. It was pretty much pitch black inside except for the pizza counter. A perfect atmosphere for gaming.

[monkeyd]

There are tons of arcades out here in SoCal. My favorite are the Nickle Nickles, Camelot (looks like a castle too), Fun and Games, and Golf Land. Almost all of them carry old arcades and the Nickle Nickle ones have free play as well.

[Zonie]

One I forgot to mention, Golf-n-stuff in Mesa AZ was and still is a pretty big arcade. They actually still have a lot of the older stuff, and a row of pinballs. It's dark in there too. If they would just trash the dance machine, it may just sound right in there.

[Atariman]

Suck E Cheese, true that.  Now its like a snot corral.  There are little gates to keep kids in.  Sort of disturbing how it resembles a stockyard to me...

 

I agree.  CE.C back in the day (to a 10 year old) was mecca.  I was born in 74, so I never noticed the crash.  I just thought it was cool Pole Position only cost a quarter after 85!

 

C

 

Showbiz Pizza was the place to go when I was a little kid. They still had a pretty good selection of games when they converted over to Chuck E. Cheese's, but today there are barely enough games to cover the tiny amount of floorspace they are alotted now. It seems that about 50% of the space where the games used to be is now more seating. The show is still made up of the converted Rock-A-Fire band (now some combination of Chuck E Cheese characters) but hardly anybody seems to watch the show anymore.

 

But - in the same parking lot, there is also a place called Mega Play - a place with laser tag, miniature golf, and an arcade with probably around 40-50 video games and around 10-20 pinball machines (numbers may be slightly inflated, but this place is HUGE) The sad thing is that the games that were getting the most use were the DDR machines

[That80sGuy]

Alladins Castle, Barrel-O-Fun, Galaxy World, Putt-Putt Golf and Games

All closed and gone. The only places left are the UpChuck-E-Cheese and two Mini Amusement parks with new games and crappy redemption stuff.

 

Back in the Day tho MY favorite games to play were Joust, Robotron, Galaga and Spy Hunter.

[jeepnut24]

Mall <- When I was allowed to go to it....

Chuck E. Cheeses <- Rocked the house....

Space Invaders at the local community center

 

Top three games (Im a bit young I know)

1) Asteroids

2) Super Offroad

3) Terminator 2

[dwh]

Besides the fact that arcade games were everywhere--7/11,pizza joints,grocery stores--I went to a place called The Great Entertainer in Fremont,CA.The front third of the place was vidio games and the more 'adult' area in the back there were pool tables.My favorite game here was Star Castle;also got to play that huge pinball Hercules(it cost a buck to play the damn thing though)--also had my bicycle temporarily ripped off too;found it hidden around a corner.Later this same building was turned into a dance club until there were just too many knife and gun fights...

The multi-plex theaters in Fremont and across the freeway in Newark had a good selection of vidio games and still do--both places are listed online when you look up where to play the classic coin-ops.

Once I went to the original Chuncky Cheese place in Milpitus or San Jose.Three stories of vidio games--can't forget a place like that!

[Zonie]

Yeah, A.J. Bayless, the Grocery store near me had one game in this order IIRC: Asteroids Deluxe, Defender, Polaris. Cant remember anything else. Was the closest game location to me (about 3 mi) but worth riding my bike in 115 degree heat to go and play (or wait as it was always busy)

[KAZ]

I'm going to actually chime in on this one.

 

It probably wasn't the best arcade ever, but it was in my hometown.

 

I grew up in Marshall, MN

 

It is quite a small city (relatively speaking). And it had only one arcade for years and years. Oh sure, the college (SSU) had some games there, well actually I suppose you could've called that an "arcade". But it didn't have the feel of an arcade like the one that was in the tiny mall.

 

This was the smallest mall ever built. One time it had a great amount of stores. Nowdays, there's so much space, and no shops.

 

Well to the point, this arcade was known as:

 

"Tivoli Arcade".

 

I guess the arcade will live on in my memory only, as it is now extinct.

 

It is really too bad, because the arcade still kept the faithful classic games in pretty much the same locations in the arcade.

 

It is where I was introduced to Kung Fu Master.

 

And of course the game that I actually "conquered"....

 

Karate Champ! By today's standards, the game is completely laughable, but it doesn't matter to me, it ranks as my top 5 favorite arcade games ever.

 

Defeating Dan's on that game is quite easy once you get the hang of it.

 

Can you believe it that the first three stages are actually HARDER to me than the rest of the stages, even the ones that go ultra fast?

 

Why is this? Well it is because the later stages always have Dan's attempting to perform "full-point" moves on you. So you just stand there doing nothing, until the Dan decides to launch a nasty full point move. You simply wait till the grunting noise, press back on the controller, then from that blocking motion, you press up on the other joystick, and hit with a lunge punch to the face. You get 600 points, and a full point.

 

Then you just waltz up to the guy again, and stand until the clock expires, or the dan decides to do yet another full point move.

 

 

Sometimes you do have to improvise with some clever moves, like a well timed crouching reverse punch for 800 points.

 

By conquering the game, I mean that I was able to cycle through all the main stages, and was able to get back to the first stage again.

 

For years I actually thought that the kung fu master had "no hands" on the first stage, but silly me, it was just the background. Why or why did they have the hands the same color as the background on the first stage of all things.

 

Once in a blue moon I'm able to kill all the bulls. 50% of the time I can kick all the wood planks. But I've NEVER been able to dodge all of the thrown objects bonus stages. How in the world can this be done. I just can't react fast enough to all of them. I usually can duck one, and somersault over another, but then one hits me from behind or something.

 

 

Ok, it is obvious that I like this game.

 

Farewell Tivoli Arcade, someday I'll bring it back to life.

[NovaXpress]

Shit, I am old. The first arcade I ever went to was Mad Anthony Wayne's at the Glenwood Mall in Ft.Wayne Indiana. The top games were Anti-Aircraft and Fireman.

 

Space Invaders was still two years away from being released.