Memories of unstable arcade goers.

[shardian]

Hi all,
I was sparked by a recent converstion about a memory I had from the old Gold Mine arcade back in the day. There was this guy who got really pissed while playing Street Fighter 2. He kept getting beat by Chun-li, and after every loss he would start beating the ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- out of the machine. He would smack it once or twice, then put in 2 more quarters. It got to the point were he was kicking it, and punching the plexi over the monitor as hard as he could. There was a whole crowd of us who were watching him and laughing. Finally, security guards came and tosse him out of the mall. I know there are more stories like this worth sharing, so lets hear them.

[ChadTower]

I didn't see that nearly as often as I saw the guys selling drugs, fireworks, and ninja stars.

[shardian]

Now I feel robbed...why couldn't people sell fireworks and ninja stars at my arcade??

The drugs were probably sold at mine...I was just to young and innocent to take notice.

[tetsu96]

I didn't see that nearly as often as I saw the guys selling drugs, fireworks, and ninja stars.

Dammit, I always miss the best stuff.  And I've got a drawer full of ninja stars to prove it!

[rohan]

We kick people out all the time for punching the bezels on Mocap Boxing at Dave & Busters.  They think that's supposed to actually hurt the guy on the screen.  They hit the glass soo hard...It's truly amazing that we haven't had someone punch right through the bezel and into the monitor(which I would pay to see, actually) It even says "Do Not Strike Glass" on the bezel, but nobody ever reads the smurfing instructions to any of our games    Actually all of our games get abused on a daily basis; that's why we either fix them on the spot, or in the 3 hours prior to opening every day. 
Skee-balls are stolen, games are kicked, CPOs are hit so hard they crack, drinks are poured into games, gum is stuck underneath all the control panels/seats, etc.  I once found a guy that had climbed into Super-Shots Basketball and attempted to cheat by putting his hand into the net to activate the opto-sensor and get the 1000 ticket jackpot...I couldn't figure out why the game was giving so many tickets until I attempted to climb into the game and found the crouched guy hiding in the mahine.  We have a giant crane game with huge plush called The Big One.  People constantly try to climb in through the prize door to steal prizes.  Often these are grown males stealing a giant SpongeBob Squarepants or the like.  I just lock the prize door, call security on my radio, and watch as they can't get out.
The various other incidents are too numerous to list in a single posting

[AtomSmasher]

I don't remember any incidents at the arcade, but one of my friends when I was first getting to know him used to claim how great he was at Soul Caliber.  I was decent at the game, but I had a pretty unorthidox still with Yoshimitzu.  Well one day we're all over at his house and we decide to plays some games, so we fire up Soul Caliber and start playing.  We played it so that the winner gets to keep playing and the loser passes the controller.  Well I was the last one in the group to play and so far he was the undefeated champion of everyone else in the room, so we start to play and I'm beating him fairly easily, usually having little damage by the end of each round.  I beat him 3 times in a row, which meant he lost and was supposed to pass the controller, but instead he got so upset that he got up, turned off the dreamcast and said no one is playing it anymore because he's having not playing well today.  Obviously he wasn't a very good loser.

[rohan]

Update: Last night, I politely asked a customer kicking a coin-pusher game to not kick the machine or he would be asked to leave.  People often do this to get more coins over the ledge, and to earn more tickets.  The tilt alarm is supposed to sound and stop paying-out, but it rarely works.  After being dismissed by the customer, I notified our private security to keep an eye on the guy and to kick him out if he continues to abuse the machine.  About 15 minutes later the --cream-filled twinkie--, still being monitored from a distance by security, decides to kick a change machine.  Immediately realizing he is being watched, --cream-filled twinkie-- tries to run out an alarm-activated emergency exit.  Security guards attempt to stop said --cream-filled twinkie--, and he throws a swing....Bad idea!  Both gaurds immediately place a hold on the still flailing individual and blast him with Pepper Spray.  Police arrived a few minutes later, and cuffed a very irritated --cream-filled twinkie--.     He was charged with assault and taken into custody. 

Moral of the story:  Don't abuse arcade machines....it might end up getting you arrested

[NightGod]

Funny thing about that story is you threatened to kick him out and what did he do when he realized he was being watched? Try to run away.

Good times.

[DrewKaree]

Regular stuff that routinely happens goes on at the arcade I work at

I coulda saved you a lotta typing!

[grantspain]

machines do get their own back from time to time,when i worked in the u.k we had machines sited in pubs-i had a service call out to one pub where the landlord said that his machine had a broken glass,sure enough when i arrive the bottom glass of a quiz machine was broken,i asked how this had happened and he told me one of the customers had got annoyed with the machine and punched it then i asked where this customer was,his reply"at the accident and emergency waiting to have part of his hand sewn back together" ,then when i took a close look at the damage i noticed not only lots of blood but lumps of flesh

[hypernova]

machines do get their own back from time to time,when i worked in the u.k we had machines sited in pubs-i had a service call out to one pub where the landlord said that his machine had a broken glass,sure enough when i arrive the bottom glass of a quiz machine was broken,i asked how this had happened and he told me one of the customers had got annoyed with the machine and punched it then i asked where this customer was,his reply"at the accident and emergency waiting to have part of his hand sewn back together" ,then when i took a close look at the damage i noticed not only lots of blood but lumps of flesh

Sad thing is probably later he told his friends who weren't there one of two things:
a.  The truth saying the game was cheating him, and he got back at it, acting like he's a big man, or
b.  Lied his ass off about his hand getting injured making up whatever grand story, making himself look cool.

Immediately realizing he is being watched, --cream-filled twinkie-- tries to run out an alarm-activated emergency exit.  Security guards attempt to stop said --cream-filled twinkie--, and he throws a swing....Bad idea!  Both gaurds immediately place a hold on the still flailing individual and blast him with Pepper Spray.  Police arrived a few minutes later, and cuffed a very irritated --cream-filled twinkie--.     He was charged with assault and taken into custody.

All for a couple of tickets.   

Obviously he wasn't a very good loser.

I'm going to guess the other friends he plays didn't have the game, and/or don't really care about it, so in his own closed world, he could beat the cpu and his weak friends and subsequently thought he was the best, but when he played someone who actually cared about it, his whole world came crashing down.

Did you ever play him again?

If there's any game that you thought you could be good at and quickly find out you're just another n00b, LITERALLY, it's smash brothers melee.  Unless you went online, and searched, you'd have no clue about all these advanced techniques that people discovered, that are incredibly useful, and downright necessary to taking your game to the next level(s).  I'd go to regional tourneys held by players themselves, with people from many different states.  Boy was that fun, and quite the learning experience.  I did that for about two years. 

[AtomSmasher]

I'm going to guess the other friends he plays didn't have the game, and/or don't really care about it, so in his own closed world, he could beat the cpu and his weak friends and subsequently thought he was the best, but when he played someone who actually cared about it, his whole world came crashing down.

Did you ever play him again?

If there's any game that you thought you could be good at and quickly find out you're just another n00b, LITERALLY, it's smash brothers melee.  Unless you went online, and searched, you'd have no clue about all these advanced techniques that people discovered, that are incredibly useful, and downright necessary to taking your game to the next level(s).  I'd go to regional tourneys held by players themselves, with people from many different states.  Boy was that fun, and quite the learning experience.  I did that for about two years. 

No, he actually was a very good player, the problem was he was used to playing the same few people so when I came in playing an odd character with an odd style of play, it just threw him off.  We played Soul Caliber a ton at that time, and after that day I only beat that guy maybe one out of every five games.  Later on a few of my friends actually went to a SC tourney and they did pretty good, one got second place, another got 4th or 5th.

And don't get me started on Super Smash Bros., I never cared much for that game, but those same friends became obsessed with it and played it all the time.  Again, they went to a tournament and did decent, not good enough to win as there are some people just crazy good at that game, but they were good enough that they could hold their own for a while again the best ones there.

[shardian]

Hey, remember when you'd be playing SFII, getting your groove going, and some dumbass would show up, join in, and the only move they did the whole time was jump and kick.

[ChadTower]

If you lost because some dumbass was jumping and kicking then your groove sucked.

[shardian]

I never said I lost...I just meant that it was annoying as all getout. 

[ashley]

I saw an inebriated fellow once twist a Tron joystick right off of the machine.

[ChadTower]

I never said I lost...I just meant that it was annoying as all getout. 

So beat them and send them on their way.   They paid their quarter same as you.

[grantspain]

not quite unstable but today some saudi princes(and their bodyguards)spent the day in our arcade and bowling centre,one little kid(probably 12 years old)changed up a 500 euro note(equal to about $500)so he could play the machines all day-now thats mental,not that we are complaining

[shardian]

I never said I lost...I just meant that it was annoying as all getout. 

So beat them and send them on their way.   They paid their quarter same as you.

Did one of your pets wee-wee in your cereal this morning?   

[ChadTower]

Did one of your pets wee-wee in your cereal this morning?   

People with an attitude like yours is what eventually turned me off of those games.  Everyone with a quarter should be able to have a shot at the current player, regardless of skill.  People with an attitude problem, over a game, make my foot twitch.