What Was The Name Of Your Arcade Growing Up? Describe it.

[wachin]

My arcade of choice was called Tewksbury Grand Prix in Tewksbury MA. 

Hey, I went to that place as a kid!  I lived the next town over and always intended to drive the karts once I got my license... of course that never happened...  Honestly it's been probably over 20 years since I've been there so my memory of the place is hazy...  I don't even remember them going out of business

My grandparents live up on the North Shore so we would frequently visit Salem Willows in Salem, MA when I was younger.   I went back there a few summers ago and they still have some classic games but most were in disrepair.  But I did manage to impress my wife with my skills on their filthy, dilapidated Galaga machine... and by impress I mean played for 10 minutes on one quarter before I walked away because we couldn't stand the stench of body odor any longer...

[bobdslob]

1001 Plays / America's game just outside Harvard Square in Cambridge MA.  We just called it "thousand and one".  I can't believe I found an old picture of this place.

http://homepage.mac.com/aglee/2001/2001-02-11-old-cambridge/1001-plays.jpg

One big room with two smaller adjacent rooms, one of which was dedicated to pins, black carpeting on the walls (I think) and tons of games.  I never had much money but could stretch out a buck or two for a long time just hanging out in there.  Play a game I'm good at for a while, walk around and find someone rocking out different game for another long while.  Blasteroids, Space Wars and Hat Trick were my favorite games here.

Right in the square was Elsie's Sandwich shop.  They had a little dump of a room right next to their sandwich shop jam packed with video games.  I topped a million here on Galaga a bunch of times along with my brother and another friend.  Space Duel, Defender and Tron all next to each other... :  Empire City 1932 was another one of my faves, tucked right in the corner.  My last two attempts at this game were each abandoned after a good 1.5 hours.  It's my greatest regret in life leaving these games unfinished.  I'm useless in this game today in mame.  

http://homepage.mac.com/aglee/2001/2001-02-11-old-cambridge/elsies.jpg

People rave about their sandwiches to this day, and it's amazing to think that I spent hundreds of hours on their premises and bought food there only once.  Money was better spent on cigs and video games after all.  

And there was a place on the Harvard Campus on Quincy St. that I used to go when cutting class in HS.  I thought it was called the Harvard Freshman's Student Union although google is giving me nothing on that.  The building was left wide open for HS (or non-HS) idiots to walk right in and hang out during weekday mornings in their basement arcade.  Granted it was pretty well hidden so I don't think more than 4-5 kids out of the 2000+ students at my HS knew about it.

[RoyalScam]

NJ 1977-1981 my High School Years;

I lived in Brick NJ, just about halfway between Point Pleasant and Seaside Heights Boardwalks.  In those days, you could throw a rock and hit an arcade.  But my favorites were Lucky Leo's ( any of 'em really, he had a few on the Seaside boardwalk.) and Jenkinson's Arcade in Point Pleasant. Those were the two main hangouts. Brick had a few local arcades here and there, however I don't recall the names.  But on the frequent days my buddy Steve and I couldn't quite find our way to school, we were usually at the local Ice Rink playing Gobbler ( I think that was it's name it was one of many PacMan clones).
Regards,
Scam

[jeffhlewis]

Growing up in Virginia Beach ('87-'96 or so) we had:

Aladdin's Castle in Lynnhaven Mall - probably the best place in the area during the late 80's/early 90's. They always had the latest stuff and the scene there was awesome. Typically crowded all weekend. I used to go early in the morning on Saturdays when I was a kid to be able to play SF2 before some ass hogged the machine all day. Lots of memories there - birthday parties in grade school, 6-player X-Men, intense fighting game competition during the heyday of SF2 and MK, all the off-the-wall new technology like Time Traveler and quad-cockpit Virtua Racing when they first came out. Awesome NY-style pizza place next door called Luca Pizza, so the arcade always reeked of burnt pizza and burning PCBs. The place finally closed 4-5 years ago and became a Johnny Rockets. It held out for a long time - I don't think it closed until 2003 or 2004. at that point 99% of arcades were goners.

Space Port in Greenbrier Mall and Pembroke Mall - the "other" arcade(s) - Pembroke Mall growing up was the ghetto mall and the arcade there was awesome. they had a great mix of new and old, and the place was just nasty with smoke and burnt fast food smell. Kind of endearing though. They had a 4 slot Neo Geo forever that I must've dropped a couple hundred buck's worth into. Good selection of fighting games and unique stuff like Lucky & Wild that didn't exist anywhere else. Lots of good atari classics. The one in Greenbrier was a lot cleaner and tended to have more new-ish stuff. Couple pins here and there.

Pizza Hut on Virginia Beach Blvd and Independence Blvd. - my family would eat here a lot and I'll always remember them having 1942, Commando and Black Tiger (someone must've been a Capcom fan over there). I will forever associate these three games with crappy greasy pizza.

Flipper McCoy's - 4 locations I think - sketchy as hell, but good selection at all locations. My folks were convinced that if they dropped me off there I'd be kidnapped by homeless people. The one at the beach is still there and has an amazing selection of classics. From what I can tell it's pretty well known in the arcade scene as a destination. I'll have to head back there next time I visit home and see if it's around.

Regal Cinema Columbus - they had (and still have at last check) a decent set of games at this place - my friends and I used to go to play Killer Instinct when it first came out. Lots of CPS2 and Neo Geo stuff also. KI was just about the last game that I drew me to an arcade in my early teens before I discovered that women were more fun than games.

Three years later I was in college then by the time I graduated arcades had died out completely. Still makes me sad that kids will never grow up with arcades and the whole social experience of it - walking into a crowded place and checking out some game that had graphics and sound unlike anything you could get at home. You had to actually ask people "how do you do that move?" because there was no internet with which to search for cheat sheets.

sigh

[HaRuMaN]

Hey I grew up in Norfolk, VA...  '78 - '96...

Flipper McCoy's is still at the beach, or at least it was 2 years ago.  

I used to go to Putt-Putt, they had a lot of fighters, Neo-Geo and Capcom.  My local Pizza Hut had an Altered Beast, Centipede cocktail, and an Arkanoid.

I also went to the Norfolk Boys and Girls Club after school where they had Pole Position, Street Fighter 2, Contra, Robocop, Rastan, Double Dragon, Mortal Kombat, Dynamite Duke, and Bad Dudes Vs DragonNinja.

There was also this place in Chesapeake in the early to mid 90's, but I forget the name.  It was a converted warehouse or factory or something...  It had a two story arcade, indoor minigolf, movie theaters, motion movie theaters, and a food court that you ordered via touchscreen...  I cannot remember what it was called.  I think the place ended up getting shut down to lots of gang activity.

[ale8oneboy]

Elkhorn City, KY (near the KY/VA boarder). A very small town.

Unfortunately I didn't have the respect for arcade games, that I have now.

Our place was called "The Funhouse". It burned to the ground sometime while I was in middle school. Lost a lot of cabinets. I remember playing PlayChoice 10 a bunch. So deprived. We had a few other places in town that had cabs here and there. I first met Donkey Kong at "The Wash House" (laundry mat). Also ran into Robocop and Outrun at "The Wagon Wheel" (mom and pop eatery). That place later burned to the ground too. You'd think I grew up in a town full of pyros! Not to mention all the quarters spent at the Walmart and Foodcity down the road a little bit.

[jeffhlewis]

There was also this place in Chesapeake in the early to mid 90's, but I forget the name.  It was a converted warehouse or factory or something...  It had a two story arcade, indoor minigolf, movie theaters, motion movie theaters, and a food court that you ordered via touchscreen...  I cannot remember what it was called.  I think the place ended up getting shut down to lots of gang activity.

FUNSCAPE! haha. I remember that place; we used to go there all the time when I was younger. It went under and was turned into a huge Gold's Gym (which I was a member of for a while when I moved back home for my first job). AFAIK the movie theater broke off and is still operating right next door.

Do you remember Waterside? they had an arcade in there that was kind of hit or miss. Can't really think of anything else in Norfolk...I remember going to the Nintendo Powerfest at Scope back in like 89 when I was 8.

[HaRuMaN]

Funscape, yeah that's it...   I took a date their once, good times.     I didn't know it got turned into a gym, lol.

Hmm, I don't I think I ever really went to Waterside much, so I don't recall an arcade there.

[RobotronNut]

Red's Hobby Shop, Quakertown, PA

Two Guys Department Store, Manalapan, NJ

The Race Place, Collingwood, NJ

Marty's Play Land, Ocean City, MD

Aljon's Pizza, Hightstown, NJ

Spat's Pub, Providence, RI

arcade at Seaview Square Mall, Ocean, NJ

arcade at Willow Grove Park (mall), Willow Grove, PA

arcade at San Antonio Shopping Center, Mountain View, CA

[Scotty]

Good lord what a topic...   This will be an extremely long post, but will be very interesting.  It will be more like an autobiography of my pre-teen & teen life because aside from playing baseball, all I did was play video games.  I grew up in the west park area of Cleveland, Ohio, but spent a lot of time in the suburbs too.  Lets start with the close to home places.  Lorain Rd. is a major street on the west side of Cleveland.  It starts just outside of downtown Cleveland, and runs way past the county line.  The streets off of Lorain are numbered West XXth Street, and get higher as you go out.  West 25th is inner-city, close to downtown, and West 210 is just over the city limits in Fairview Park where I live now.  I grew up on West 133, so that gives you an idea. 

PART I


Leader Drug - West 134 & Lorain - This was the closest place, but pretty small.  They always had three machines.  They had a Crazy Kong and a bootleg of Pac-Man running on Galaxian hardware.  CK and Pac-Man were in identical cabinets.  Wood grain on the lower half, and a solid black bezel with no marquee on the upper half.  I never thought I would ever see this version of Pac-Man again, but thanks to Mame it lives again!  The third was Missle Command, which later was replaced by Gorf and Super Cobra.  The CK and PM seemed to stay forever.  I guess the operator must have got a good deal on them, and they were making him money.   I had a paper route that covered W. 134th and W. 135. and it was smack dab in the middle.  When I went to collect, all the money I picked up from the one street went in the machines here.  This place is now a Day Care center.

Fisher Fazio (grocery Store) - West 136th & Lorain - Had a Tempest machine in the hall of the rear entrance.  Didnt play it alot.  This is now a Marcs discount store.  www.marcs.com

Unknown Laundromat  - West 136th and Lorain This was in the same strip as Fazio,  but in the middle of the strip.  They had Gyruss, Jungle King, Crazy Climber and a few others.  Nothing special.  This is now a Subway.

Cunningham Drug - West 137th and Lorain Same strip as above but at the far end.  Just a few machines.  This was the first place I ever saw Kick-Man.  Games did not last long here.  This is now a Rent-A-Center.

Unknown Dry Cleaner - West 137th and Lorain Directly across the street from Cunningham drug.  This was the place.  Never did know the name of this place, but who cares.  We just called it the Dry Cleaners.  This is where a lot of kids hung out.  As you walked in the door, there was a wall down the right wall with 20-25 machines.  Robot Bowl, Phoenix, Asteroids, Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga,   Donkey Kong and whatever else was hot at the time.  Changed games frequently to keep up to date, and cleaning our pockets of quarters.      True story, because I was a permanent fixture, and he got to know me, the owner gave me a few free credits on Donkey Kong as soon as they wheeled it off the truck, and told me to let him know what I thought of it.  I was not over impressed with it at the time, but it did begin to grow on me.  This place is now a cellular/pager joint.

Froggy's Donuts - West 141 and Lorain This place had exclusively cocktail tables.  Asteroids, Pac-Man, Galaxian, Donkey Kong Jr and a few more.  It was a donut shop for quite a few years.  Not sure what it is now.  Too blurry to see on Google Maps street level view.

From here, you had to go quite  a way west to hit the last couple, so I didnt venture down there much...

Pizza Hut - Kamms Korner (Rocky River & Lorain)  They had a jukebox and a cocktail Space Invaders (midway version).  Still a PH today, and looks the same now as it did then.  Space Invaders has been replaced with a Pepsi cooler.  45 jukebox has been replaced with a CD juke.  No surprise there.

Unknown Arcade - West 175th and Lorain  Only went here a few times.  Do not remember the name of the place.  Just remember they had a bunch of arcade flyers up on the wall.  Cool at the time, as this was the only place I ever saw this at.  Got me to start collecting flyers for a shot time back in the day.  This was the first and only place I ever saw Space Zap.  Also this is where I learned Berzerk talked.  I saw Berzerk once before at Madison Square Lanes in Lakewood, and fell in love with it.  However, it had no sound.  This pace had no windows, and not much signage either.  Sat back kinda far from the road.  It is now an employee parking lot for Fairview Hospital.

That pretty much covers it for going west on Lorain from my house, so lets go back to my street, and head East.

Before we do that let me back up to before the video game craze.  In the mid 70's Northeast Ohio was flooded with a store called Lawsons.  It later went on to become Dairy Mart.  But it was just a small little convenience store similar to a 7-11, but they were known for there Orange Juice, not there slurpees.   They had an Old Chicago pin from Bally for YEARS.  two plays for 25c.  What a deal!  This was located on West 130th street, right across from the 1st district police station.  This is now an arab owned convenience store.  Not sure of the name.

Ok...  Heading East on Lorain....

Steves Pizza - West 126th & Lorain Asteroids, Space Invaders Deluxe and Galaxian were there.  Did not frequent much.  First place I saw/played Rally-X.  Not sure what it is now.

Master Pizza - West 121nd and Lorain Upright Midway Space Invaders.  This was always the first stop on the eastern pilgrimage to the other arcades.  Master was a small local chain back in the day.  One still survives in Mayfield Hts (east side burb)  Great pizza!  Still my favorite in the area.  Vacant storefront when the Google Maps team last drove by. 

Space Invader - West 116th and Lorain  This was the place!  This was the first of three arcades he would open.  The other was further down Lorain in North Olmsted, and the other was Pearl & Brookpark.  The one at Pearl and Brookpark just recently closed.  It was renamed Play to Win, and added pizza and a lot of redemption games.  More on that location later.  The original SI was the place.  Signage was all black with yellow letters and tons of flashing yellow lights.  It said something like Clevelands video casino or something similar on the signage.  He really spent a LOT of money on the signage and lighting.  Wish I had pictures of it.  I am assuming it was some type of retail place before it became "Space" as it was commonly referred too.  The front door was recessed between two glass showcases on both sides of the walkway.  As you walked to the door to enter, there were several pinball backglasses mounted, framed, and with the lights going around them.  This is the first place I ever saw Pac-Man.  Thought it looked weird at the time.    He probably had 60-70 machines maybe more.  Most were upright, with a few cocktails.  Very nicely carpeted, and very dark in the place.  The only downside was there was a park a few blocks away from the place, and the park had a gang.  This was the hangout of choice for the gang.  To avoid trouble, we did not go much, but still went occasionally.  Thinking back, This was an early 80s white gang.  They did not carry guns or knives like today's gangs.  Guess it wasnt as bad as I thought back then.  The place is now a Family Dollar.

Pizza Pan - West 116th and Lorain   Always had 3 cocktail tables back in the day.  I remember Space Invaders II (The head to head version) from Midway, as well as a Sega cocktail that played two games in one.  One was a Sega rip-off of Space Invaders and I forget the other.  It is emulated it Mame.  They also had a Head-On that I played quite a bit.  Pizza Pan is still there, and has gone on to become a local chain.  This was the first, and he now has quite a few stores in the area.

To be continued