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How Many Different Places Did You Play Arcade Games?

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RetroACTIVE:

I grew up in rural NH... there was not much...

Mostly @ home.

We had family friend with a camp on Lake Winnipesaukee... we would take his boat over to Weirs beach and there were two Penny Arcades on the main street and 1 on the pier.  I was very young then '76-'80 (6-10yrs)... I just remember it being very huge! (Nowadays its quite puny, still fun)

Local roller skating rink where my older brother would take me... where I first played Tailgunner and Missile Command.

When I was in 6th grade ('82) my best friend had a b-day party at this place called Funspot, Weirs Beach NH... I did not get out much, my parents were home-bodies... when we got there my jaw hit the floor... My friends Dad gave each of us 10 bucks worth of tokens!... I ran around the place like a freak!  It really was special.

Local pizza joint (walking home to friends on several Fridays before weekend)... Phoenix and cocktail Ms. PacMan

Local convenience store (bike ride)... Scramble and PacMan

Mall... (while Ma grocery shopped) Defender and Donkey Kong

ahofle:

Did anyone ever eat at a place called 'Pipe Organ Pizza'?  We had one in Memorial City Mall in Houston.  Really cool pizza place with a MASSIVE pipe organ that some guy would be playing while silent movies were going on the screen.  I saw Boot Hill, Sprint, and Space Invaders there for the first time.  I remember watching the Space Invaders attract mode for what seemed like hours, marvelling at the little alien that would come out and shoot the extra 'C' in 'CCOIN'.  Ah the memories.

quarterstringer:

I started at the local bowling alley where I played Space Invaders and Asteroids. That's when I learned the quarter stringing trick on Asteroids. Also played Defender, Q-Bert, Missile Command, Centipede and Stargate there.

Only a bike ride down the street was the Golfland - a miniature golf place where I played Galaga, Robotron, Joust, Mario Bros. and the Donkey Kongs. The Golfland and the bowling alley never seemed to have the same games which was a good thing.

Then in 1980, my parents bought a small bowling alley, when I first saw the place all they had were two video games - Clowns and Carnival. So my parents let me pick which video games to request from the vendor. They couldn't believe these games were each earning $200 to $400 a week.

For some reason Tempest wasn't a great moneymaker. Then the other teenagers showed me the trick that gave them 40 free credits. Some of the hottest games we had were Ms. Pacman, Galaga, Defender, Dig Dug, Pole Position, The Simpsons, Gaunlet, TMNT, Star Wars and Tetris.

GGKoul:

Here's what I rememeber:

- My godfather ran an arcade and snack bar so I remember playing Galaga cocktail, a Chicago Coin's Big League pitch and bat, Boot Hill and Sega Periscope ALOT!!

- Played alot of hockey in the 80's and most hockey arenas used to have a good assortment of games.  But I remember playing Mr. Do, Astroids, Mikie, Missle Command, Pole Position, Jungle Hunt, Battle Zone and Q-bert.  Plus my dad used to love playing pinballs, so I played a lot of pinball games with my dad while we waited for my brother to finish up his hockey game.

- There was a department store in my local downtown area and I remember my mom taking me there when I was very young and playing Space Invaders and some other shotting type game.

- In the city I live there used to be lots of arcades.  The 2 big malls had one and  there was 2 in the main downtown area.  And I remember playing in one of the downtown ones  and they had a Star Wars sit down and lots of classics.  I used to love playing Return of the Jedi, Gauntlet, Tetris and Ring King

- In one of the mall arcades I used to  Track and Field and Hyper Sports alot.  And I STILL love that game!!

- Another place I used to play alot of games was the local variety store.  And there is one game to this day that whenever I play it, I remember being 10-14 years old and saying when I get older I want this game for home... and that was Mat Mania!! 

So those early years of gaming framed my gaming life today.  As when my dad comes over, he can sit still because he wants to go downstairs and play my pinball machines.  And because of his love of pinballs, I'm looking to acquire 1 or 2 more.  And whenever I fire up the MAME machines, chances are that I will play one of the games listed above before I shut down.



farmecologist:


Wow, excellent post!  Really brings back the memories.

I grew in in what I would call a 'semi-suburban' area in St Louis Park, MN, near the high school.    We had plenty of places to play arcade games.  I spent way too much of my money on them.  It was all worth it though.   ;D


The closest place was the gas station down the street.   They actually had a small arcade in the gas station!   Probably 5 or 6 games at any one time.   They had pretty good turnover too.  Looking back on it, the owner of the gas station must have been a huge gaming fan.   We often saw him playing the games while we were there!   He probably did well with it because the high school was right across the street.


Next, probably about 3/4 mile away was a "Zares shoppers city" department store ( anyone remember those )?   They had a *HUGE* arcade in there for about four years or so..until the store folded.   My friends and I often had it all to ourselves. 

Next, about 1 mile away in the other direction was the 'park tavern' pub and bowling alley.  Small arcade there.   

Next, probably 2 miles away, was Knollwood mall.  They had a really large arcade there.  This was often the 'place to be'.   The arcade was a victim of the 80s slowdown.   :'(

Luckily, my dad was also a gaming freak.  We would often go to other malls and such just to visit the arcades.  NONE of the arcades we used to visit currently exist. 

In my opinion, the arcade of the late 70s and 80s was often more of a social thing rather than just playing games.  You would meet your buddies at the arcade, goof off, play a couple games, goof off some more, etc...  Ahh..the good old days.












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