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Your Old Arcade Spot - Then and Now
Vulgar Soul:
Name your favorite old arcade spot growing up - the one you went to with your friends, family, alone whatever all the time - and say what it is today.
Doesn't have to be only a Video Arcade, can include theaters, bars, pool halls. Any place you got your arcade fix back in the day.
Any personal stories about when it began closing down or changing or anything is appreciated.
I grew up in the 90s. Missed out on the real arcade wave of the 80s, but there were still a few places left growin up.
So here in the Bronx there was only one REAL Arcade spot I remember goin to all the time, it was called Fun World. One on Fordham Rd. which was upstairs to a Sbarro, and one on Bruckner Blvd. within a large plaza. I believe there was either also a Sbarro in that one or some generic pizza/hot dog stand. It was a general amusement spot. Today: both Fun Worlds (and the Sbarro, surprisingly) are closed. Last I checked the spaces are still empty and abandoned.
When I was real young, pops use to bring me to an indoor amusement chain called Discovery Zone also on Fordham. Use to run around in the mazes and stuff as a lil ragamuffin, but also remember the arcades. Today: Closed. Now a Dr. Jay's, an urban clothing store.
Use to help my mother out with the laundry a lot as a kid and we always went to this local dry cleaning spot on Arthur Ave. What stood out to me was that the stores owner was real big on his small arcade selection. He use to have maybe 2 or 3 cabinets set up that he would alternate every month or two. He NEVER got rid of his one Ms. Pac-Man cabinet, but would switch up the other two with Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, a Neo Geo, and sometimes even a classic (at the time) like Pole Position. It was always fun to check out what new games he had every other month. It was also right across the street from me and my friends local public park so sometimes we ran in just to play a game. Today: Dry cleaning spot is still open, however I believe the original owner has passed away. It no longer has arcade machines. The space is now just another counter for folding clothes.
New Roc City is a relatively recent multiplex built in New Rochelle, not too far from the Bronx. I'm sure I'm not the only New Yorker on BYOAC who has seen a movie and played arcades here since it opened maybe ten years ago. Includes a Movie Theater, restaurants, pool hall, bowling alley, plaza, parking, ice skating rink, go cart rally, and of course an Arcade. Basically a big hang out spot. Today: Still well open, though a little more restrictive for kids now because of all the fights that would go down. However, when it first opened I remember the arcade was more "old school" style, today it's dominated by huge, modern deluxe cabs and redemption machines with a few traditional cabinets lying around here and there. Last time I went I pretty much only played Raiden and a Ms. Pacman/Galaga cabinet that was set to free play (no joke).
lilshawn:
when I was a kid about 8 years old I lived down the street from a "Chinese" store. they used to have a game tucked away in the dark back corner.
(a kind of dark only obtained by bad lighting and way over stocked shelves as the way only a Chinese man can do it.)
the machine I remembered the most was moon patrol but i remember maybe 1 or 2 others had been there before. Frequenting the store gave me a friendly repertoire with the owner/operator. He used to mark quarters with a big black "X" and give me a handful to go play the game with. I would assume now, so that he would know how much was customer money and how much was his. I did become quite proficient in moon patrol to the point that even adults where in disbelief.
last I seen the tiny corner store was bulldozered into a mini mall parking lot. :cry:
mgb:
As younger kids, we played mostly whatever was in the local store.
There was a corner store by my house that we always hung out at. They usually had one or two machines at a time. Some of the games I happily remember playing there include Berzerk, Dig Dug, Pole Position and I remember being extremely excited for a good week or so when they had Crazy Kong (not sure why they had it, I read that it was licensed for non-US markets, and I'm in the US)..... That store closed in 1986
We also used to play in the local pizza place. I remember first playing Phoenix there. The pizza place is more
As a teenager we had Fun Factory in the mall. That was a great old dark typical kind of arcade. Its gone now
I also remember the first time seeing and playing Neo-Geo at local fast food place. The fast food place is still there and everytime I go by, for some reason I'm reminded of that Neo-Geo (my wife thinks I'm sick)
newmanfamilyvlogs:
We had an Aladdins' Castle in the mall. Played there throughout my childhood. Had birthday parties there. Stood in crowds for hours watching Mk2 tournaments.
In college me and a friend drove home one weekend and decided we needed a few rounds of MvC2. We drove to the mall ready to drop some quarters. It was all gone. Emptied out, doors shut and locked. Shadows beyond the glass windows. It remains this way to this day.
Last weekend my 3yo rode some little quarter operated car in the walkway infront of where it used to be... I could almost still hear attract music and laughter among the din of the mall.
Osirus23:
Small town arcade that was a hotspot back in the 80s is now just a smoky, dirty bar with a couple of beat up cabs a few video lottery machines.
Still has the same owner, who has a couple of hundred cabs in storage somewhere.
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