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what were your local arcades like?

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ark_ader:
Arcades in Southern California (SE LA) was like gas stations. 

You could ride your bike for 10 minutes and pass 4 or more.  I could go to 20 full sized arcades in my area alone.  All making money, all token based.  Heck I could play when I was cutting class.  Later on they clamped down on it.  Bowling Alleys, Small Arcades, Pizza Huts with full arcades, even a pet store had one (Astro Blaster).

Arcades in Blackpool, England was very similar.  As I was brought up on both sides of the Atlantic. Flip flopped back and forth.  And the money I spent....My allowance was $25 a week.  In the end my Dad built me a cab around the Atari 2600 just to save cash.  My friend in the UK used to get boards from the machines and rig it up to his TV, when we were 15.  So you could say we were BYOAC pioneers back then.

I used to go to the Amusement Parks (Disneyland, Knotts, Marineland) just to play the video games.  The coastal amusements like Redondo, Santa Monica, Seal and Huntington Beach had arcades.  I won't even mention Buena Park or Anaheim.

Yeah you could say I was spoilt for choice.  ;)

Ummon:

--- Quote from: ark_ader on October 19, 2008, 06:07:47 pm ---Yeah you could say I was spoilt for choice.  ;)

--- End quote ---

Popluation density and loads of cash.

crashwg:
"Largest arcade in the world."   To this day is wicked sweet and a ~45 minute drive!  That's right...  I'm talkin 'bout FUNSPOT!

Todd H:
We had two back in the 80's.

The first one was called Rocky's Arcade. It was a dark, dingy place that had a great assortment of games. It's where I played Gorf, Wizard of Wor, Tron, and Donkey Kong for the first time. I used to ride my bike there all the time and play all day. It wasn't really a family type place, as the people there seemed to be a little older and shadier. It eventually closed down.

After Rocky's closed, we got another arcade. I can't remember the name of it, but it was more family friendly. It was brighter, had a snack bar, and catered to a younger clientele. I remember practically owning the high scores on just about every machine there at one time or another. It lasted a couple of years and then closed down.

After that, the only arcade games I got to play were the occasional machines in convenience stores. After a few years, those disappeared as well.

There is an arcade in a local mall about 30 miles away in another town. I'm always amazed that it has managed to stay in business for the past twenty years. Whenever my wife and I go to the mall, I'll always stop in to play Galaga for an hour. Most of the machines are newer machines. The last time I talked to the owner about finding an empty cabinet to MAME, he said he didn't know how much longer they would be around.

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