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Best thing about the arcades OTHER than games
DNA Dan:
There was also Alexander the Grape, Johnny Apple Treats, and Mr. Melon, which were all from the same company. Basically as much sugar as you can possibly get in the smallest form factor. God our parents must have hated these companies, then again if you're kids are "off at the arcade" for hours, who cares?
Apparently those are now called "grapeheads" or "Appleheads" in line with the lemon and cherry flavor. I guess there was some Greek uprising in the 80's I missed.
I mean really... can anyone do anything anymore without offending SOMEONE???
RandyT:
I believe the company name was Ferrera Pan (edit: looked it up and fixed it). I completely forgot they used to have different names..what have we become..... My favorite was always the little box of tiny Jaw Busters. I'm lucky I had any teeth past 16 :).
I keep trying to put my finger on something specific, other than the games, but I'm struggling. I really didn't care where the games were. I played them in bowling alleys, bus stations, pizza places, laundromats, department stores, roller skating rinks, even a bar where the bartender knew my buddy's father and said we could play Galaxian on the cocktail, so long as we didn't hang around too long.
But the arcades always had the latest games, so I guess I would have to say it was anticipation and discovery of a new experience. Nothing is quite the same as going into an arcade in the 80's, especially one I hadn't been in before, and finding games I hadn't yet heard of, or games I read about, but which weren't available at the local hangouts. Even if the games I never saw before weren't something I wanted to play, walking into a room full of these undiscovered (by me) gems is about as close to entering a "wonderland" as I am likely to experience in my lifetime. So even though the games may have contributed in a large way, it was the emotional connection to the places where the synthetic sounds, the smell of hot electronics, and new enjoyable experiences always seemed to be waiting for you, and it only cost you a few quarters to be part of it.
yotsuya:
I remember one time when I was a kid going to a discount dollar movie to see 'The Last Dragon'. We played video games in the lobby and bought boxes of Lemon Heads and Cherry Chans. During the movie, one of us dropped his box, and for the next 30 seconds, all you could hear were the candies rolling and bouncing their way towards the screen. Good times!
Xiaou2:
I dont know if this really counts... But the next best thing to being at the Arcade, was watching them being played on TV ;D
"Starcade" was one of those things that made the Hell of a crappy childhood, feel so much more bearable.
There was a lot of cheese about it, mostly cause of the poor host... but to see what was usually the newest games pop out on TV, was golden.
Bringing back the memories now. When a game was big in the arcades in the 80s... it seemed to really go everywhere. There were cartoons made about them. There were boardgames. T-Shirts. Glasses / Mugs. Even Songs written and played on the Radio! (Pacman Fever)
There were even a few movies with faked games, that inspired new creations of video games, such as The Last Starfighter, and Tron.
Man, I kinda wish the 80s never ended. :cheers:
Thenasty:
Putting your Coin/Token next in line to play and the guy playing now is taking a long time. Then when you think it's GAME OVER, he shoves another coin in :banghead:
--- Quote from: Xiaou2 on May 06, 2011, 02:52:04 am ---
Man, I kinda wish the 80s never ended. :cheers:
--- End quote ---
Ah, 80's, why did you have to end ?
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