what were your local arcades like?

[havic626]

i remmember when i was a kid the local laundry mat was doubled as a arcade.  had tons of games, i remmember zookeeper, donkey kong, popeye, starwars, pacman, and a few pinball machines. after that shut down there 2 i went to in a town near by in the early/mid 90's. 
They had a pretty tough crowd, it was usually filled with gang members and potheads.  Lots of fights and drugs. But around the time that dance games started to get popular it really changed, that brought in a different crowd, but i also noticed the quality of the games declined as well though.  It was always good times though.  So what were your guys arcades like?

[Robbbert]

When I was a kid, it was a time before arcade games. Instead, pinball machines were the big thing. Every corner store, take-away, and petrol station had at least one machine. And they were popular, at 5,10, or 20 cents a 5-ball game.

Then arcade machines started appearing, firstly those awful non-CPU ones, with b&w screens, or you had to shoot things with lightbeams.

But eventually, quality games started appearing, starting with Space Invaders, then Pacman and many other goodies. At that time, the local bowling alley was the place to go.

But then I moved away, and the only place was a local hamburger shop, and it only had a Galaga.

Then I moved again, and there's nothing in this wilderness. Unfortunately. I never got to try Neogeo, Street Fighter, etc

[Blanka]

I remember 2 places. In the Netherlands it was never a big thing. The coast-villages were the best bet to find some.
First one as a kid. We had a restaurant called Pinoccio near Arnhem: "De Leren Doedel". They had an upstairs free-play kid-fun area with 8 arcades or so, to keep the kids happy while the parents were tanking wine (cheap lambrusco). I remenber Galaga very well from that place.
2nd one that I visited regularly was a gambling hall downtown Eindhoven. We played Virtua Racing a lot between classes. Today these gambling places only serve chinese gambling from dusk till dawn. The video games are removed 10 years ago I guess. Now they have only sluts.

I also heard most Center Parcs vacation centres still have an arcade today!

[protokatie]

Back when I was a kid, I lived in small towns, but we always had mini arcades. On top of that, every C-store and pizza place had atleast 2 machines. Plus there was a mall 15 miles away that had a huge arcade. I pretty much played arcade games 3 times a week from when I was 5 to when I was a teen. It's almost like everywhere I went there was a mini arcade (like the little ones with like 10 games or so) or next door a place with a couple of cabs.

Not to forget the arcade at the mall, and a place called "Bear right" that had an entire floor that was an arcade. Wow, great times. Too bad they are over. Atleast they were ubiquitous and everywhere back then.

[patrickl]

I went to Zandvoort in the Netehrlands on the coast. There were several arcades there. A couple of them in Haarlem and Amsterdam too. In zandvoort we would go to play Galaga and later T2, in Haarlem there was Pole Position (sitdown), Star Wars (sitdown), Afterburner (hydraulic) and Space Harrier. I was really amazed when I saw the Outrun sitdown in Amsterdam. It cost a fortune to play (2.50)

I also heard most Center Parcs vacation centres still have an arcade today!

Well sort of.

Last time I went to Slagharen they had 3 arcades with several "classic" games.

I remember a holiday there (when I was a kid) during which I spent all my money on Moon Patrol.

[polaris]

Now they have only sluts.

Address please?
 

Last time I went to Slagharen they had 3 arcades with several "classic" games.

is this the place that blanka mentioned

[patrickl]

Now they have only sluts.

Address please?
 

Last time I went to Slagharen they had 3 arcades with several "classic" games.

is this the place that blanka mentioned

No, Blanka must be talking about the area with the "red lights"    or it's a typo for slots 

[polaris]

i'm assuming a typo, just very funny as sluts and slags are the same thing where i come from

[patrickl]

i'm assuming a typo, just very funny as sluts and slags are the same thing where i come from

Yeah in the Netherlands the arcades were usually a combination of slot machines and video arcades (with a barrier keeping the kids away from the slots). Over time the video arcades were pushed out the door and only the slot machines are left.

[Ginsu Victim]

In Channelview, TX we had one arcade that had been an insurance office, and each room had several machines. That was a long time ago, but I recall they were the only place in the area that had a Super Pac-man (I hate that game now) and a Zaxxon. Zaxxon blew my little mind at the time.

We had a laundry mat with Clock and Dagger and Frogger, and a few businesses down, there was a gas station with Rastan(!), Shinobi, and vs Super Mario Bros. (Actually, now that I think about it, it wasn't Mario, it was the hack version with the skateboards.)

When I was in high school, we had a new principal come in my senior year (1998) and he was only 34, so he brought several machines into our cafeteria, including a pool table, jukebox, Ms Pac-man, Tiger Road, Rush n Attack, and X-Men (6-player!).

Dollar theater in North Shore had Popeye, Donkey Kong, Golden Axe, and Choplifter.

Kroger had Ms Pac-man, Rolling Thunder, Xenophobe, Double Dragon, and Rygar.

WAY back in the day, the San Jacinto mall had an awesome arcade with all the classics.

[Blanka]

I was talking about the Beavis-and-Butthead Las Vegas type of sluts.

[gothroughthegate]

I lived in a small town.  If it wasn't for Pizza Hut I would have never played Galaga,tron, or dig dug.

[Malenko]

corner store always had 2 games at a time, the ones I remember being there were WrestleFest, King of Dragons, and BreakThru. I cant remember the name of another, but it was monster trucks and it had 2 buttons to rapid fire tap to make it drive faster.

As for real "arcades" there was one at the mall that was packed with games, it was a mecca of sorts. Always updated the games, definitely remembered playing Street Fighter Alpha before I ever read anything about it. Eventually it closed down and they made it into a hot topic.

[patrickl]

In the Netherlands we didn't have much arcade machines in restaurants or such. Or at least I don't remember. We had plenty of regular arcades though.

I was in a hotel in London where they had a MsPacman cocktail. I was completely in awe that they would put a computer in a table.

[EVEGames]

When I was growing up on the far north side of Chicago (late 70's, early 80's) we had a place called "Just Games" on the corner of Harlem and Foster, in the middle of a strip mall.  This is where it all started for me.  The plaza still stands but Just Games is long gone of course, I wish I had a picture of the place.  Just a big rectangular room, walls lined with arcade cabs.  I still dream about it occasionally.

Option 2 came later, with Chuck E. Cheeses, in the same mall.  The big hits here were Pengo, Journey, Jungle Hunt, Qix.

Option 3 was Aladdin's Castle in the Harlem Irving Plaza, a.k.a. "The Hip".  Bigger, with all the latest games.  This is where I first played Dragon's Lair.

[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]

Yeah you could say I was spoilt for choice. 

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.