arcades an adult place?

[shorthair]

The very word "videogame" inherently depicted something exciting, glamorous and - because most games were located in arcades, places where under-18s weren't allowed - slightly forbidden and dangerous too.

Where were these places? All ours were all-ages....except maybe one place that was mostly pool and pins (and they were all stoners, just about everybody smoked), but would let 16 and 17s in.

[nexus6]

in germany arcades are an adult place.
but you havent missed a lot, when you dont have seen as teen a german arcade from the inside

[ChadTower]

Arcades in many places weren't allowed to admit kids under a certain age during school hours - ages as high as 16 or 17 in some places.  They were also the place to go for low grade drugs and all sorts of crap like fireworks and ninja stars.  Dealers would show up and lurk around because they knew there were unsupervised kids there with spending money.  It was very common in the arcades I went to as a teen to be in the middle of a game and a guy would come up and quietly ask if you wanted any pills or he had something in his car to show you.

[shardian]

Arcades in many places weren't allowed to admit kids under a certain age during school hours - ages as high as 16 or 17 in some places.  They were also the place to go for low grade drugs and all sorts of crap like fireworks and ninja stars.  Dealers would show up and lurk around because they knew there were unsupervised kids there with spending money.  It was very common in the arcades I went to as a teen to be in the middle of a game and a guy would come up and quietly ask if you wanted any pills or he had something in his car to show you.

I am very glad I never experienced any of this stuff in my arcades. If a guy tried to sell me drugs in an arcade, I probably wouldn't have as fond of memories and probably wouldn't be here now.

[leapinlew]

They were also the place to go for low grade drugs and all sorts of crap like fireworks and ninja stars. 

  true!

When I was 17, I wasn't allowed in a showbiz without my parents. I drove there just to play some video games too. I was plenty pissed (being 17 and full of testosterone didn't help matters much).

[sodapopinski]

Arcades in many places weren't allowed to admit kids under a certain age during school hours - ages as high as 16 or 17 in some places.  They were also the place to go for low grade drugs and all sorts of crap like fireworks and ninja stars.  Dealers would show up and lurk around because they knew there were unsupervised kids there with spending money.  It was very common in the arcades I went to as a teen to be in the middle of a game and a guy would come up and quietly ask if you wanted any pills or he had something in his car to show you.

I remember the arcades in my area being pretty shady. My folks didn't really want me there, but i was

[ChadTower]

Yeah, the permit laws were very strict on that, and since there were so many drugs etc in them as well as money laundering, the cops would keep a close eye on many of them.

[More Cowbell]

Maybe my memory is tainted by time, but I don't remember the arcades that I frequented being shady at all. I was never offered drugs or anything else. Phoenix in the 80's must have been on the clean side.

[shardian]

The only thing being sold in my arcade were Mortal Kombat move and fatality lists - I was the seller of course.

[RayB]

Chad, let's put your comments into context. What CITY? How big was it?

I'm just feeling we're not talking about a subrurb MALL arcade here.  I experienced the same thing in downtown Montreal "street" arcades (but then there were also pushers on many street corners, so not a big stretch there).

However in my home town (small city) I never once was solicited or even knew anything like that was going on. There, arcades had no age limit until around mid-80s, then they imposed a 14+ limit.

Montreal I think was 16+ but I don't really remember.

[ChadTower]

Chad, let's put your comments into context. What CITY? How big was it?

I'm just feeling we're not talking about a subrurb MALL arcade here. 

Actually, that's specifically what I'm talking about, suburb mall arcades.  The worst I saw was in Salem, MA, in the East India Square Mall.  I think they've since renamed and completely renovated the place with artsy tourist shops.  At the time, though, it was a major mall effort that completely failed and the whole mall was dark and half empty.  The arcade was right next to a failing movie theater and off the food court.  Dark, off the strip, skeevy.  There were others in various places, too, older arcades (and this is probably after the crash but before the fighters) that were just not a place you wanted your 10 year old alone.  I saw it in MA in various places and in southern NS as well, often in old run down malls in very suburban places.

[ChadTower]

And why are there a billion more arcades in NY/NJ than anyplace else on the planet?  Hrm, let me see.

[Chris G]

Ninja stars were cool...

[ChadTower]

M-80s were a big item to be sold in that area amongst the teenagers.  I bought and used many as a kid.

[DARRYLICSHON]

Arcades in many places weren't allowed to admit kids under a certain age during school hours - ages as high as 16 or 17 in some places.  They were also the place to go for low grade drugs and all sorts of crap like fireworks and ninja stars.  Dealers would show up and lurk around because they knew there were unsupervised kids there with spending money.  It was very common in the arcades I went to as a teen to be in the middle of a game and a guy would come up and quietly ask if you wanted any pills or he had something in his car to show you.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               I never got offrered any drugs , but we always knew who was selling in the arcade

[pointdablame]

And why are there a billion more arcades in NY/NJ than anyplace else on the planet?  Hrm, let me see.

 

alright fine... I'm gonna give you that one Chad.   

[ChadTower]

I've actually had several ops say that to me... the sheer volume of arcades in that area was a direct result of the need to launder vast amounts of money on a constant basis.  That's why it is so much easier to find games there, even now, than anywhere else. 

[odysseyroc]

Arcades in many places weren't allowed to admit kids under a certain age during school hours - ages as high as 16 or 17 in some places.  They were also the place to go for low grade drugs and all sorts of crap like fireworks and ninja stars.  Dealers would show up and lurk around because they knew there were unsupervised kids there with spending money.  It was very common in the arcades I went to as a teen to be in the middle of a game and a guy would come up and quietly ask if you wanted any pills or he had something in his car to show you.

In those days, I had a $500 a day Shuriken habit.

[ChadTower]

You do know they are reusable, yes?   

[BobA]

Under 18 we could not even play pool.   Arcades were not around when I was under 18.

[Crowquill]

All our local arcades were either within malls or part of a mini-golf place. None were really that seedy.

The seediest "arcade" I ever saw was a decent-sized game room of a truck stop. My car had broken down about an hour from home and I waited for about 2 hours for my parents to get there. It's the only time I've actually seen Gal's Panic 2 on location.

[odysseyroc]

You do know they are reusable, yes?   

If Shinobi don't pick up shurikens, I don't pick up shurikens.

[Joystick Jerk]

All the ones in my local town were fairly family oriented. There was one in particular a block from my high school, and me and my friends spent nearly every lunch hour there for the 3 years I was at that school. There were only two really shady ones I can remember. One was in this dumply little secondary mall, it was definitely a product of the 70's. The whole arcade was dimly lit, done up in browns and oranges, and had a raised dais at the rear where the change guy/DJ would sit and shout things over the loudspeakers and hit on girls. The other is downtown Vancouver, and they show pornos near the back.

[ChadTower]

If Shinobi don't pick up shurikens, I don't pick up shurikens.

I can't debate that.  Good point.

[RayB]

The other is downtown Vancouver, and they show pornos near the back.

Montreal was like that. Many of them had coin-operated peepshow booths on a seperate floor (18+ obviously).

I guess I can understand if parents got nervous about arcades 

[shorthair]

PBJ: money laundering?...never woulda thunk it, but makes sense.

More Cowbell: I dunno....I remember them starting to crank down on arcades and pizza places into the late 80s, certainly into the 90s. Now, the couple/few local arcade left aren't even dimly-lit, anymore...and I think most of the kids don't even smoke.

Mostly in Tucson it was the pizza joints that were stoner hang-outs. Hell, before they expanded, the pizza place near my high school was STONERS ONLY. A jock wouldn't even think about going there. Another place right across from another hs was reportedly a huge coke den (and across the other street the other way was a police or sherrif shop), though the once or twice I went in there, I don't think I scored anything.

[ChadTower]

Because if there's anything a football player fears, it's the stoners.

[TOK]

Well, I guess I'll be the scum of this polite society and admit that my buddies and I smoked weed, listened to Iron Maiden, then played Xevious and Moon Patrol.

There was a nice arcade in the mall near my, but my best memories are from the seedy private one. 

[shorthair]

Because if there's anything a football player fears, it's the stoners.

Actually, the stoners in my school were a lot tougher, then. They might not've been as fit, but they fought dirty, if they didn't outright have a gun on their person. I hung out with or knew these people, later on in high school. (Actually, I could be wrong, but it was an interesting thing that after expanding all-of-a-sudden everybody thought it was okay to go....maybe it was the bright decor.) Then there were some who were in both camps. Though most never knew it, there was this one guy who was a star on the football team....not only did he smoke dope, he sold 16lb bales of it. He did have guns.


TOK: what, no Metallica or Slayer?!...or perhaps you're a few years older than me.

[TOK]

Yea, Metallica and Slayer too, along with fifty other 80's bands... Megadeth, Anthrax, S.O.D., Venom, Testament, Dio, Motorhead, and Judas Priest and Accept for mellow days.   

[shorthair]

Mellow days? Hmm. I guess if I didn't want to listen to something heavy, which wasn't that often, I'd listen to Zep. One guy I hung out with loved Floyd; another was really into the Dead. I didn't that much like, and would've rather listened to 80s country or classical than, either of them, but didn't gripe too much. Maiden and Priest weren't heavy enough for me. Hey, how bout some DRI? (WHAT ARE YA DEAF?! - SHUT UP!....SHUT THE ---fudgesicle--- UP!.....heheheheh.)

[Spaz Monkey]

I remember spending several hours at the local arcade "The Game Room".  I could just watch guys on the SF/MK/KI games for hours.  Only got offered drugs once, it was at the Greyhound Bus Depot downtown.  Dude comes up to me and says, "Want some weed?"  I told him no, he wondered off.

[ark_ader]

All our local arcades were either within malls or part of a mini-golf place. None were really that seedy.

The seediest "arcade" I ever saw was a decent-sized game room of a truck stop. My car had broken down about an hour from home and I waited for about 2 hours for my parents to get there. It's the only time I've actually seen Gal's Panic 2 on location.

Are you sure?  Don't you remember Bobos Arcade?   

[Donkey_Kong]

I was a unsupervised regular in our small town arcade from about age 7 (1982) on.


Guess now you all know what happened to me.  :

[bfauska]

I suppose it could be considered relative whether or not the arcade is an adult place.  Compared to the casinos that housed them the arcades I used to play in were made for kids.  I spent many hours in arcades on my family trips that would take us through Vegas or Tahoe.  I was probably 12 or so and my folks would give me some money for my quarters and then get some quarters of their own and we would meet back somewhere after a few hours.  I usually ended up running out of quarters well before them so I would venture out to find them and get another roll.  Good times if you ask me, and I turned out just as normal as the other people here in the home... I mean um... I'm normal, at least thats what the voices say.

[Naru]

Hmmm, back then I was 7 or so.
I remember arcades being pitch black
and hot as hell, there were lot's of people
bigger than me. It might have been a scary
place with drugs and what not, but
I was too focused on Ring King and Donkey Kong Jr.
to notice.

[topher0002]

I dont remember ever being solicited or ever hearing anyone talk about drugs.   We were in the suburbs of Kansas City so not your "BIG" city atmosphere, maybe thats why.   Luckily there was this arcade within walking distance of my house that was actually pretty awesome.  It was 2 stories and had a couple hundred games, even had a Gym and you could rent basketballs/ping pong/ hit in the indoor batting cages.   My parents went with me until I was about 10 then I started going by myself.  They closed down after about 5 years but it was great, they were very cheap, everything was a quarter. (this is like 1988-1994ish)   I never remembered my parents being worried about me going by myself, but in those days kids werent being abducted ever 10 minutes.  We rode our bikes everywhere in town,  left at noon or so didnt come back till way late,  if it was my kid these days Id be freaking out.   Times have changed.  Im glad I didnt have to deal with any of that...in HS there was an arcade in our local mall and one of the coin pushers would let pennies go in...they had poker chips in there with like 10, 25, 100 tokens on it and if you got one of those they would give you those tokens...i put a penny in there (yes i know this is bad) and got the 100,  it was a great day...no cameras back then.  lol.

[ElGwako]

M-80s were a big item to be sold in that area amongst the teenagers.  I bought and used many as a kid.

I made some good money selling fireworks back in the day.
there was a lot of stuff i remember seeing going on as a young lad in the 7th grade at the local arcades here. A local arcade in a town i lived in had an arcade right outside the middle and high school. I was the 7th grader selling fireworks to the high school kids.
I even found a bag of pot back then...first place i thought of to go to unload it was the arcade. No big city atmosphere here, a very small town in Southest MA with one traffic light that is cosidered the center of town. Just a piss poor location. Great for the Owner but just asking for trouble.
 Best thing they ever did, looking back now as an adult was to ban arcades from within 1 mile of a school. Was that a MA or Nationwide law??
didn't help much i guess, the arcade moved to a location that had apartements above, one apartment had a drug dealer another had a pervert.

[NightGod]

In the town I grew up in (about 600 people) there was an arcade called "Grandma's Place" that had 30 or so games in it, closed down around 1984 or so, just as I was getting old enough to be allowed to go there by myself-my parents didn't like the place because it was where all the high school druggies hung out-it was bad enough that the local cop (note the use of the singular there) was there pretty much any time he wasn't out answering a call. They never made it age restricted, but the village eventually managed to close it down by raising the per game fee for a gaming sticker from $25 per year to $500 per year if you had more than 5 machines on location. Then the father of one of the kids I went to school with bought out the local ice cream shop and threw in a few games (usually 4 games + a pool table) that rotated pretty quickly. Spent a LOT of money there when I was growing up.

And Topher0002, I hear you about riding our bikes everywhere and never being home. We used to be outside from basically the moment we woke up (or noonish on Saturday, since you had to watch cartoons until Storybook Classics started, then it was time to head out) until dinner, eating lunch at whoever's house we happened to be nearest to about noon. Kinda wish my kids could have experienced that, to be honest.

[ChadTower]

I was pretty much like that too minus the going someplace for lunch part.  We usually didn't bother.  No one knew where we were from probably 10am to 7pm all summer long.

[topher0002]

These two videos really bring ya back to the old arcades...check these out if you havent seen them.





Good stuff.

[SavannahLion]

I suppose it could be considered relative whether or not the arcade is an adult place.  Compared to the casinos that housed them the arcades I used to play in were made for kids.  I spent many hours in arcades on my family trips that would take us through Vegas or Tahoe.  I was probably 12 or so and my folks would give me some money for my quarters and then get some quarters of their own and we would meet back somewhere after a few hours.  I usually ended up running out of quarters well before them so I would venture out to find them and get another roll.  Good times if you ask me, and I turned out just as normal as the other people here in the home... I mean um... I'm normal, at least thats what the voices say.

That was where I grew up. Right around the Tahoe/Reno area.

My dad took me to some pretty sleazy places.  Some so bad, the bars that were our regular stops looked pretty good. Arcades were pretty decent places. Sure, more than a few were dark, but I don't recall ever encountering drugs, stars (if I had, I would've bought them) or anything of the sort. The worst was probably the old Circus Circus arcade. It was in a room below the main floor with basement portals that looked out onto the floor. I was too short to reach the bars and look through up girls skirts up at the circus show when it played. It had bare flourescent lights, no carpet, a bored teenager changer maker and machines packed in like sardines.

It was a great place.

[Ummon]

These two videos really bring ya back to the old arcades...check these out if you havent seen them.





Good stuff.

Yeah, those videos get passed around occasionally.

[StephenH]

My answer to this is yes and no.   I have never heard of illegal activity at the arcades, but I have heard of some applying age limits during certain hours.   Some arcades in my area (San Diego) used to kick kids out at cerfew.  I know Dave & Busters is an adult arcade, where kids are not admitted unless accompanied by a parent during certain hours.   When I was visiting Reno once as a kid, they did not allow kids in the arcade under 14 during school hours.   

There are some without age limits, too. At Nickel City where I go now to play, I beleive there is no age limit.   I don't think Boomers has an age limit, but I could be wrong.