205 replies to this topic

[rmaerz]

Lancaster Lanes - Lancaster, PA
Was torn down a long time ago

Fun City - Park City Mall, Lancaster, PA
They probably closed this down around 1983 or 84 : ] Too bad because they were busy all the time!

[Arjak]

Time-Out Arcade - Cheyenne, WY is the one I remember having fun at. For a while, there was this incredible rail shooter called Police 911. It was very unique in that it reacted to your shifting of weight, which was imperative to dodging bullets. It was so fun, and unlike anything I had seen. I wonder if that game is still there? I wonder if the ARCADE is still there? The arcade was ran by Namco. It was so awesome, winning tickets so you could buy Pac-Man merchandise. I still have a Pac-Man drinking glass with a silly straw on my dresser at home. One time, my little sister watched a guy win big at one of the gambling games and win a double armful of tickets. The guy then gave her all of his tickets so she could buy something nice. That was another awesome thing about this arcade. The clientèle was so kind and generous. That is the arcade I remember best.

[Mirage]

I can't remember the name of the best arcade I ever went to when I was a kid... it would have been starting in the late '70s and into early '80s, but it was in Minneapolis, in small mall. I probably never knew the name. It was a golden age arcade in the truest sense... dark, neon everywhere, crazy weird carpeting, all the machines loud and packed together. Took real quarters at first, and IIRC, tokens later. In the back there was a bumper car area, skee ball, a virtual golf game and a couple virtual shooting galleries. There was a pizza parlor built onto the side in the front. I had a birthday party there when I was about 8 or 9, and quite a few friends had parties there over a few year period as well. The place was huge and always packed. Ahhhhh... the memories.

Current: Flipper McCoy's in Virginia Beach, VA is actually pretty decent. They have a lot of classics. Probably 30-40 the last time I was there, maybe more. A few of them weren't in good repair, with monitor issues and whatnot, but most of them are okay. Definitely worth a stop if in the area, though it doesn't have much of that old-school arcade feel, it's about as close as you're likely to get nowadays:

http://arcadelocatio...3?code=vavirfli

[Zwackery]

Pinball Alley, Culpeper, VA

[retrorussell]

Every other weekend I'd visit my mom in Vancouver (lived with my dad + stepmom) in the early to mid eighties. Aladdin's Castle in Vancouver Mall (one HUGE mall) was my favorite hangout. Played the hell out of Kung Fu Master and Elevator Action there. And after all that video excitement, an Italian dog and Orange Julius was the PERFECT refreshment.

[kazuo]

NAMCOLAND, and, to a lesser extent, FUN CENTER.

415 holla

[STICH666]

PacManPlus, on Thu Jan 22, 2009 6:26 AM, said:

Time-Out & Galaxy in the Sunrise Mall in Massapequa, NY

Damn I miss those days...

Didn't that place close?

[CARTRIDGE STEALER]

PacManPlus, on Thu Jan 22, 2009 6:26 AM, said:

Time-Out & Galaxy in the Sunrise Mall in Massapequa, NY

Damn I miss those days...

those were mine, too. I used to work in TIME OUT in the Massapequa Sunrise mall in 89.

[CARTRIDGE STEALER]

STICH666, on Sun Mar 1, 2009 10:40 PM, said:

PacManPlus, on Thu Jan 22, 2009 6:26 AM, said:

Time-Out & Galaxy in the Sunrise Mall in Massapequa, NY

Damn I miss those days...

Didn't that place close?

the mall didnt close. it got bought out by westfield and is now called westfields sunrise mall. time out is now a pet store. i still hear the echoes of quarters dropping when I go in there!

[CARTRIDGE STEALER]

there was another arcade in the busy bee flea market but it wasnt that great. the tri county still has an arcade in its basement but the variety kind of sucks. not too many games left.

[tremoloman2006]

Dream Machine - Hull, MA
Funspot - Weirs, NH (Still going strong!)
Replay II - Weymouth, MA (Still in business!)

Funspot is great but a lot of their machines needed maintainence the last time I visited. (Dec 2008)

[keilbaca]

Around my area at my time, arcades started to die down, but the fun I had the most was at a local bar. Jay's bar in Ruffsdale, PA.

They had a Black Knight 2000, and a Whirlwind, and also an arcade machine that was buttons, but had all kinds of mixed games in it.

I played an Arkanoid clone for at least a half hour+ on one credit. Mom kept on wanting me to stop so they can go home, but I just didn't want to die. XD

Black Knight 2000, this was the first time I ran into this fantastic pinball. I didn't like it that much, deemed it too hard.

Whirlwind on the other hand was a different story. First time I ever hit the wizard mode on the pinball. Put up grand champion, won two specials, a replay, and 3 credits for first place. The owner came back to see if something was wrong with the pinball, there was so much knocking going on. XD

[gamerz]

Aladdin's Castle in Warren, PA. After I graduated I ended up being manager there for over 7 years.

[CARTRIDGE STEALER]

about 10 years ago, they opened up a huge arcade next to massapequa high school. it was the former spot of a gym that twisted sister's frontman Dee Snyder owned. the arcade lasted a couple of years and now its a gym again.

[Saldo]

Dream Machine - South Hills Mall, Poughkeepsie , NY - Long gone. The mall has recently been leveled to build another mall!!

Space Port - Newburgh Mall, Newburgh, NY - Closed probably within the last 5-8 years.

The Boardwalk in Wildwood, NJ - That was a yearly trek made with my family in the 70s and early 80s. Don't remember the arcade names now. I haven't been down there in about 14 years.

Lloyd's Shopping Center - Newburgh, NY - Closed in the 90's - I think this is where I played my first video game...PONG and later Space Invaders

Also, like others have stated various shops and diners which all seemed to have a game or two. One local diner was only about 2 miles from my house, so it was an easy bike ride to pump some quarters into their Asteroids machine!

[AdeptRapier]

Hey everyone!

"Harolds Arcade" was an arcade on a street corner with a front that looked a LOT like "Flynns" out of TRON...really cool!

"Saturn's Ring" was an arcade in a local open air mall near my house had a lot of games, pretty cool place also.

Both were located in Medford Oregon and are long gone...bummer.

AdeptRapier

[AdeptRapier]

retrorussell, on Wed Feb 18, 2009 12:58 AM, said:

cougar302b, on Tue Feb 17, 2009 10:22 PM, said:

retrorussell, on Tue Feb 17, 2009 2:07 PM, said:

cougar302b, on Fri Jan 23, 2009 10:24 PM, said:

PLEASE anybody who remembers these in the Beaverton, Oregon area give me a shout.

Innerspace - The best, and a hotty by the name of Candy operated it.
Electric Palace - Great while it lasted, in the Beaverton mall.
Chuck E. Cheese - Hi Molly. Uncle owned the Beaverton franchise and she always hooked me up with tokens.
Malibu Gran Prix - Still going strong. but games most of their games suck now.
Wunderland - Still going strong, but caters mostly to little kid gambling (tickets).

Hey Cougar302B,
I remember all those except Innerspace.. there was a couple others in the area I remember that were around for a very short time. One was in Raleigh Hills by the ice rink, that was where I first played Space Panic and Mr. Do. They used to have Hydrotubes at Washington Square with a great arcade; they turned it into a Wunderland, now it's Wells Fargo. But before all that there was an Engine House Pizza more in the center of the lot with a great arcade. Other arcades I recall were Astrocade at Canterbury Square, Pac Pals in Garden Home, the Chocolate Chipper Mini Golf Course in Milwaukie, and there was some nickel arcade over on Sandy in NE Portland. I played at MANY Wunderlands back when they started; the ones I frequented were in Beaverton and in NE Portland on Halsey. I have perhaps the best memories from Malibu Gran Prix, playing Crazy Climber and Dig Dug to death. Now I have a Dig Dug cabinet in my bedroom, and a Neo Geo and Phoenix in my living room. I still want to have a cocktail Ms. Pac Man or Crazy Climber some day.
Thanks for the memories! Nice Thayer's Quest av, by the way.

I completely forgot about the hydrotubes arcade. That place was awesome. They closed it down after a few kids bumped their noggins. Torgar Halverson's dad owned it, right? I also vaguely remember an arcade by Raleigh hills, was it right by an old Sentry market? You did'nt by chance go to Sunset H.S. did you? I am class of '88.

Have you been able to get over to Ground Kontrol yet? If you have'nt, you should. It is not Malibu in in its heyday, but it is pretty close.

I had heard some kids got hurt but I didn't know all the details. I didn't know who owned Hydrotubes. But it was fun while it lasted. Good sized arcade there.
I don't remember what stores were near the Raleigh Hills arcade. I just remember it was right near the bowling alley and ice rink. Not too many games, as the place wasn't very big. All the shops in Valley Plaza are of the hole-in-the-wall variety. I remember Grizzly Bear Pizza up the street a ways further was pretty sweet for arcade games too. My sister and I pumped many quarters into Wizard Of Wor there.
I split my HS education between Oregon and Washington. 1 year at Beaverton HS, then moved to Federal Way and attended Thomas Jefferson HS for the other 2 years. Graduated in '89. Then 2 years later came back to Portland, still live here.
Definitely heard of Ground Kontrol. Will check it out sometime. In the meantime I'm happy with my emulator programs and can play pretty much anything on them.
Good chatting with you man.

Hey, Do check out "Ground Kontrol" when you have a chance..it is like a timewarp back to the 80's..extramely cool!

AdeptRapier

[retrorussell]

Yeah, I need to swing by Ground Kontrol sometime. As I said earlier, I can play all those games on my CPU. But there's something to be said for the sound of the coin dropping into the slot, the feel of the joysticks and buttons, the sounds of the other machines playing around you, etc.

Pietro's Pizza, Farrell's and Rico's Red Lion Pizza and Ice Cream Parlor (now Round Table Pizza) all had pretty good mini-arcades. My dad bowled league on Monday nights at Kellogg Bowl in Milwaukie, and next door was a Pietro's. They had OUTSTANDING thin crust pizza back in the day. Played LOTS of Bagman there.

[Giltygear]

Ive moved around a lot so there were a few - I'll try to go in chronological order (forgive me if i don't remember the names of some of them.):

A bowling alley on Sothern Artery in Quincy, MA - the first arcade I ever went to. started my obsession with "Rolling Thunder" and "Hang-On" - long since closed down

The Brunswick Bowling Alley in Burlington, MA - Started going here when MKII was new, also played my first neo geo here.

Fast forward about a decade...

Good Times Emporium in Somerville, MA - Getting drunk, saying rude things to fat chicks, and playing third strike on shitty cabinets... also closed down

[STICH666]

CARTRIDGE STEALER, on Sun Mar 8, 2009 8:11 AM, said:

there was another arcade in the busy bee flea market but it wasnt that great. the tri county still has an arcade in its basement but the variety kind of sucks. not too many games left.

Yeah it's terrible other than the DDR machine and Guilty Gear.

[STICH666]

CARTRIDGE STEALER, on Sun Mar 8, 2009 8:07 AM, said:

STICH666, on Sun Mar 1, 2009 10:40 PM, said:

PacManPlus, on Thu Jan 22, 2009 6:26 AM, said:

Time-Out & Galaxy in the Sunrise Mall in Massapequa, NY

Damn I miss those days...

Didn't that place close?

the mall didnt close. it got bought out by westfield and is now called westfields sunrise mall. time out is now a pet store. i still hear the echoes of quarters dropping when I go in there!

But if it was called the Massapequa mall then why is in Bayshore? Also you know what sucks? The arcade that opened up by the food court is now closed. They had one hell of a variety. Not just rows of Crusin' USA and DDR. Watch this.
-ijheu64zP0

Edited by STICH666, Sat Apr 18, 2009 7:48 PM.

[Giltygear]

Stitch: is that arcade still around????

my gf is from farmingdale and we usually go down a few times a year... would love to see that raiden fighters candy...

[STICH666]

Nope. Closed a year and a half ago. FYE was the owner and they went out of business. That was the last decent arcade in Suffolk County. The mall lost so much business after that, that some of the stores started closing and ever since the mall has slowly died.

[TwiliteZoner]

STICH666, on Sun Apr 19, 2009 1:08 AM, said:

Nope. Closed a year and a half ago. FYE was the owner and they went out of business. That was the last decent arcade in Suffolk County. The mall lost so much business after that, that some of the stores started closing and ever since the mall has slowly died.

Galaxy Games and The Fun Factory.

[STICH666]

TwiliteZoner, on Sun Apr 19, 2009 1:22 PM, said:

STICH666, on Sun Apr 19, 2009 1:08 AM, said:

Nope. Closed a year and a half ago. FYE was the owner and they went out of business. That was the last decent arcade in Suffolk County. The mall lost so much business after that, that some of the stores started closing and ever since the mall has slowly died.

Galaxy Games and The Fun Factory.

What does that have to do with my post?