Main > Main Forum
What Was The Name Of Your Arcade Growing Up? Describe it.
drventure:
@Dazz and Zeppo
Forum 303? ;D I used to work in that mall. The arcade there was a big hangout for me (I used to play Targ and Spectar way in the back),. Good times. What was that? Late 80's?
Yeah, last time I drove through there, it was a big empty concrete farm :(
drventure:
As for my arcade growing up. I used to hang out at Wizards (Bowen and Division).
A total dive, but definitely an old school arcade (I don't believe they even had a skeeball). Dark, purple carpet, tinted windows. I think it's now a biker bar :)
chrisdfw:
It was the Aladin's Castle at Monmouth Mall in New Jersey.
I distinctly remember the darkend room with the Dragon's Lair in the middle facing you just as you walked in with Venture, Zaxxon, Wizard of War and many others on the right side, DK and Crazy Climber in the middle near DL, and Warrior, Lunar Lander, Space Wars and a few others on the left side.
I thought the coolest thing about it was the 5 tokens for a dollar.
If I was there alone I would probably play the Lunar Lander, Asteroids, or the Venture game.
I always tried to make sure a friend came along, because my favorite games were Space Wars, Armor Attack, Rip Off, Space Duel and Wizard of War. I even remember playing Warrior, but it was just too slow so didn't get played very often.
I was a huge fan of the vector games.
It wasn't until a couple years later that I moved to Atlanta and found a dedicated Major Havoc that I became addicted to. I must have spend hundreds on that game.
FrizzleFried:
Family Fun Center, Montclair CA - Your typical miniature golf/bumper boats/arcade type place. Think Karate Kid and you get the drift. The arcade portion was HUGE...I'd guess in excess of 100 games. But it was brightly lit unfortunately. There was also a mix of non-vids... a couple air-hockey games, a row of Skeeball games, etc... plus a Pinball row. This is where I'd play the newest games to come out. They always had them first.... and they usually had at least 2 or 3 of the new titles. This is where I played Star Wars cockpit, EDOT, and other "rare" games.
James Games, Upland CA - This was the local "teen" arcade. Basically, I didn't visit much as I was only 10ish or so during the hey-day of arcades and this arcade, situated next to Upland High School, was always filled with bigger kids willing to kick the ass of little kids if they felt like it. I must have been to James Games 50 times and saw at least a dozen fights there. It was the "seedy" arcade of the area. My understanding is that it's actually STILL THERE?!
Sega Time Out, Montclair, CA - Time Out was in the Montclair Plaza mall. It was small compared to Family Fun Center...actually, it was smaller than even James Games. It was wide enough to have games run down each side and a row in the middle facing each direction. There was a little "L" shaped area at furthest inside where the change guy was and most of the classics where. They only had a pin or two and the rest were vids. It was small, cramped, and the change guy was always an ---uvula---. I got hooked on Hard Driving there though when i was 16 and working at the B. Dalton Bookseller in the same mall.
Aside from those "arcades", I'd also play games at a lot of local places... like the local Chevron gas station had 2 or 3 games... Yum Yum Donuts had a game (cocktail Ms Pac)... Charlies Liquor always had 3-4 games... Stu's Liquor had 3-4 games... Ace Hardware always had 3-4 games and 1-2 pins... even the local Chinese takeout place had an Omega Race.
SG Jaycurl:
--- Quote from: ultrageek on June 12, 2009, 10:45:51 am ---I spent a lot of time in a mall arcade called Aladdin's Castle. The tokens were octagonal, not round and it was 5 tokens for $1.
--- End quote ---
That was our main arcade in Wausau, Wisconon, too. I actually had a birthday party there once, and I remember blowing a huge wad of money on Rampage. I also spent a lot of time playing Altered Beast, NARC, and Two Crude Dudes - a somewhat humorous ripoff of Bad Dudes.
For a short time, we also had an arcade called "Yang Youfou's" (I might be off on the spelling there). It was started as a hangout mainly for the Southeast Asian community (the youths, at least), but they were originally welcoming to folks of all races. This is where the bulk of my arcade time on Street Fighter 2 was spent. However, after a number of months, it became known as a hangout for gang members, and the populace got significantly less tolerant of folks of other races hanging out there, so that halted my patronage of that place. Still have some good memories of it, though.