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

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jholman76:
I am working at a hospital now and there is a Pediatric Oncologist here that has a Mrs. Pacman coctail cabinet in his waiting room. Someday during lunch I'm going to go up there and visit  ;D

drventure:
 :) That doctor with the Pacman made me think....

Anyone think the White House will ever have an arcade down in the basement with the bowling alley?

u_rebelscum:
There weren't many full blown arcades within biking or public transit distance to me. 

I can't remember the name of the one on the second story, one block off of UC Berkeley campus, but I remember it having Street Fighter (one) with the two huge buttons per player.  Never got to play it though, as it always had a long line if it wasn't broken.  Not a huge arcade, but able to fit quite a few cabs.  It probably was an old bar; I didn't think it at the time, but now that I'd been in a few bars, it had the "old bar feel" with old wood floor, dark walls (except for the one big window), and a bar like place the worker watched from.  It had quite a few great games of the day.  It was always packed with college students, except the last time I went one summer.  It closed some time soon after that (1990?). :'( 

The other true arcades I went to more than a few times included a Malibu Castle / Grand Prix two building / two parking lot neighboring "duplex" in Oakland, and Fun Factory near my grandparents old house in Hawaii.  Of these three arcades, only the one in Hawaii is still open (I think it's still open), but it was mostly redemption type games the last time I checked, years and years ago now.

As a kid, I wanted to live near Pearlridge shopping mall in Hawaii, as it had, and apparently still has, two arcades: Tilt and Fun Factory.  I think I got to play there once, but having both really stuck in my memory.


Anyway, most often I went to the local 7-eleven story only a five minute walk from home on my short legs, and much quicker on my bike.  It had only one or two cabs at a time, tucked in one corner.  There I learned to not like street fighter ii (due to the sf2 jerks players, probably); I still prefer co-op over head-to-head today.  The other regulars were a couple pizza joints, and two bowling alleys: The Underground in Berkeley and Albany bowl.  Of these, Cybel's pizza was in the basement in the building next to the arcade I mentioned above, had one very long wall of cabs and pins, and was the best reachable place after the arcade closed, with The Underground a close second.  However, Albany bowl probably is the only one still hosting arcade games at the same spots; again I haven't checked Albany Bowl in a while.

dislecksea:
Growing up on the north west side of Atlanta in the early 80s there were two main arcades that I would hit.  First was Gold Mine in Cumberland Mall.  The entrance looked like, well, a gold mine, and it had quite a few vids there.  That was the place that had a kind of air of ill repute to my young mind - the older kids went there to smoke and gamble.  But I still spent some time there since they had Cliff Hanger and Spy Hunter.

Then I remember when 2001 opened across the street in the Galleria Mall.  The Galleria wasn't much of a mall - just a few stores that sold niche items - but it did have a great movie theater and 2001 right across the hall.  That arcade was all futuristic - the front doors slid open like something from Star Trek - and you could not only play arcade games, you could rent time to use those new fangled ... wait for it ... home computers!  That is right, you could rent an hour on an brand spankin' new Apple II+ for about five dollars.  I think that you could also rent time on a Commodore 64 or a TRS 80, but the Apple is where I spent some of my time.  Good old 2001 is where I mis-spent my youth eating cheap nachos from the snack bar and playing Dragons' Lair (I sucked) and EDOT (I ruled).  Great place to hang out right before or after seeing Back to the Future.

mwong168:
I'm from Toronto, Canada and I use to go to Funland all the time which was down by Eaton Centre.






I use to always see this guy playing Pacman everytime I was there.

Funland Arcade pulled the plug on July 24, 2008 after 46 years in business  :'(

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