The NEW Build Your Own Arcade Controls
Main => Everything Else => Topic started by: RetroJames on November 02, 2003, 11:42:50 am
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Ok, got to thinking about the local arcades etc. that I used to frequent in 82, 83, 84 and so on. While I can remember a few locations, such as the bowling alley (Libertyville Lanes - Donkey Kong), there were two or three real old school dark, smokey, arcades that for the life of me I cannot remember the dang names at all! One was on the north side of Libertyville, IL on Milwaukee ave and the other was at Hawthorn Mall. There was probably one at the Vernon Hills mall too, there must have been, but I don't remember what any of them were called.
Funny enough though, I can remember the names of quite a few of the stores that were visible FROM the arcade. I suppose I spent all my time on the inside looking out rather than the opposite.
Of course if anyone knows the names of the ones I am talking about, let me know, but I am curious about what YOUR arcades were called as well.
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Any Pics?!
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Since I grew up in Wyoming we had to drive a hundred miles to Billings Montana to hit Aladdin's Castle in the mall.
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Hmmm...Aladdin's Castle seems to ring a bell. That must have been a chain huh?
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My town actually had two, which was kind of funny as it was a really small town (Springfield, VT).
There was the arcade (well, more of a gameroom) at the bowling alley, and there was one that was downtown which was always getting harrased by the police, depsite that it was a clean, nice place for people to gather and have fun. I don't remember the name.
I remember a story where it was like 11 at night (two hours after the time allotted closing time) and the owners and their girlfriends were playing pool. There was a knock at the door - it was the police. They had to unlock the door to let them in. They started getting hassled about this, that and the other thing. Being open after hours. It was ridiculous.
They closed down after a bit, not sure why. Probably some due to harassment, some due to losing customer base from Nintendo. Either way...
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Looking around it appears Aladdin's Castle is alive and well. Shows how often I go to the mall. Saw that they were aquired by Namco in 1993. Checked out namco's website and found a used game for sale page. Pretty awesome selection.
http://www.namcoarcade.com/gamesearch.asp
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Melody Gardens Roller Rink
Now I goto it's Jillians or Gameworks.
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Ivory's arcade in dowtown Seattle. It's now a frickin' Starbucks, but then, what isn't a Starbucks in Seattle? ;D
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there is an arcade that opened up about 7 or 8 years ago in downtown fullerton,CA. It is named "THE REAGAN YEARS" and all the games are from the 80's. The place does great bussiness because it is surrounded by bars and is open very late.They even put posters on the walls of real crappy 80's bands to complete the effect.I go there and feel like i stepped into 1985 again. Its great!!!
dirt
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There was the 1/4 dollar tent at the clay county fair in spencer IA. I use to spend a lot money there every year. What I don't know if they traveled with the carnvial part of the fair or not. I think the tent was dark blue and with green stripes.
Oh now that I live in Omaha this place has been around since the 80s http://www.familyfuncenter.net/home-center.htm
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In South San Jose, we had Time Zone in the Oakridge Mall. They were taken over by Aladdins Castle in the late 80's or early 90's (cannot remember) We also had several Golfland's in the area with a full arcade in each one.
There was another by the cheepo UA theatres...I cannot remember the name off hand. They had slotted tokens. The coin doors had small groovs to accept the tokens. Very odd
(http://www.bombaci.org/tom/images/slot_token.gif)
Finally, the bowling alley, Oakridge lanes. They had a small arcade too.
I had four in walking distance!
-Tom
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I used to go to "Great Games" and "Crosstown Arcade". Great games was first. I used to ride my bike down there with friends. It was about 7 miles. But Crosstown arcade took over and was about the only arcade I could remember for a few years after great games closed. Fun times.
J_K_M_A_N
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My hometown has two malls, one had an Aladdin's Castle and the other had Spaceport. During the golden age, we also had three other freestanding arcades, 4th Dimension, Crystal Cactus and Silver Saddle. Not that I concider them true arcades, but we also had a Showbiz Pizza and a Chuck E. Cheese that had large game rooms at the time. Out of all of these, the only one left is Spaceport.
I've thought about naming my MAME cabs after the arcades I frequented back then. :)
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Chinatown fair... :o
some info (http://www.shoryuken.com/apex/?division=natlantic&arcade=ctf)
Biggest arcade in NYC...competetion is outstanding there.
EVEN I have trouble winning ! :D
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I used to go to "Great Games" and "Crosstown Arcade". Great games was first. I used to ride my bike down there with friends. It was about 7 miles. But Crosstown arcade took over and was about the only arcade I could remember for a few years after great games closed. Fun times.
J_K_M_A_N
Hmmm, "Great Games" seems to sound familiar. I think the one on the north side of my hometown might have been called "Great Escape"? Hmm...
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Some arcades I used to play at (besides 7-11, liquor stores, bowling alleys, etc.)
-Milky Way
-Gold Mine
-Tilt
-Chuck E. Cheese
-Malibu Grand Prix
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I can't remember most of them dammit. too long ago. :'(
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1) Faber's Fascination in Coney Island. That one had two locations...and in the late 70's/early 80's still looked a lot like a run down version of the arcade it used to be in the 40's at its peak. They had tons of skeeball, crane games etc.
2) Electric Avenue (I always thought that was a good name) in the Sunrise Mall (Long Island).
3) Chuck E. Cheese, Bay Ridge Brooklyn.
The MameMaster!
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1HookedSpaceCadet,
I grew up in Chicago, IL. In the 80's, almost every mall arcade was an "Aladdin's Castle". Many f them are gone now, but not all. In the 90's there were a few "Time Out" arcdaes around, but I think those have all shut down now.
I went to Lane Tech for two years (79/80 & 80/81), and their were two arcades within a block of the school. One was "Fun Zone" and I can't remember the name of the other one. It was originally on the second floor above "Denace the Menace Spaghetti House", but then it was moved to the first floor and it had a different name that I can't remember. Fun Zone is still in operation by the way.
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1HookedSpaceCadet,
I grew up in Chicago, IL. In the 80's, almost every mall arcade was an "Aladdin's Castle". Many f them are gone now, but not all. In the 90's there were a few "Time Out" arcdaes around, but I think those have all shut down now.
I went to Lane Tech for two years (79/80 & 80/81), and their were two arcades within a block of the school. One was "Fun Zone" and I can't remember the name of the other one. It was originally on the second floor above "Denace the Menace Spaghetti House", but then it was moved to the first floor and it had a different name that I can't remember. Fun Zone is still in operation by the way.
I think you are quite right on the Aladdin's Castle chain being pervasive in malls. BTW they are now owned by NAMCO and very much alive and kicking. See my earlier post above.
For some reason though, I don't think the one at Hawthorn Mall in Il. was an AC. It was pretty small, nasty, dark, etc. Hawthorn was a pretty nasty mall anyway and most of the stores were off brands or sole proprietorships.
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Here in Olympia, Washington we had the Gold Mine which then changed their name to TILT (parent company is Nickles and Dimes, Inc. hq'd in Dallas, Tx.).
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Sanders mart. A little general store that carried lots and lots of outdated overpriced merchandise. Funny thing is they rotated probably 50 games though that little place during the video game era. A couple of the games had "defective" coin doors that when you pushed in and over on the coin return slot (where the quarter comes out) you had unrestricted access to the coin box. made continues very easy ;D
In fact when i got the mame machine up and running--the first thing my buddies did was check the coin door and see if they could get at the coin box. ahh the memories....
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The Donkey Kong at the bowling alley had a loose bezel, the glass portion. You could slide it up a bit, reach inside and ding, ding, ding. We would play that thing for hours.
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There was a dark little arcade that opened around the corner from me, it was there for a couple years until the crash...I forget the name...spent a lot of quarters there.
Anyway, after that was gone, the only place nearby was 7-Eleven, but on weekends I'd go to Golfland or Aladdin's Castle. Golfland had a classics section upstairs for years, well into the 90's even. They also had a Space Ace in the same spot by the front door for about 5+ years, that was the thing I'd always play first!
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In Irving, TX there used to be a place called Beltline Station...
(It was on Beltline Rd)...
Anyhow, that was the coolest Arcade around... Bigger than the one in the Mall & a bunch of redemption stuff & Vids...
My first real job was working there when I was 16. I loved working the floor, fixing the coin mechs when they jammed, & handing out handfulls of tokens to kids who helped me out... I was a GOD to those kids...
By the time I quit I had about 5000 tokens at home (a large bucket full)... I'd come back with a pocket full of tokens & play the Tic-Tac-Toe machine f/ tickets for a few months & end up redeeming them for the large 10,000 ticket items on the wall... Ah... Good times...
I wasn't that into the vids then (only 8 years ago), but I've found a new love for them lately.
Heck, I took a MAME set-up (PC, Old Zenith TV, RF Modulator, Home made controls) to my church's "Trunk-Or-Treat" (Halloween Carnival) & had the kids all playing Asteroids, Ms Pacman, Galaga, & Donkey Kong all night!!! That was great...
& The picture through the RF Modulator was MUCH better than I would have expected... Good enough that I plan on putting this set up in a cabinet eventually. ;D
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"Galaxy Games", "Wizard's Castle", and "Circus Circus" were the arcades I often visited in my Youth.
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State College, PA - here is what I remember:
First arcade I remember was Barrel of Fun at the mall in my hometown. The entrance was the end of a giant barrel and they took tokens, which was such an amazing concept to me (it's worth $0.25 but also worth nothing!!) hey I was 8. Then there was playland locally, and Campus Casino, which was much cheesier. But through the years there have always been those cool hotel game rooms, which I haven't seen lately. Used to be rooms with like 10-12 decent games, I remember wasting half a roll of film on a spyhunter cab cause I thought it was the coolest. Barrel of Fun is loooong gone, and it seemed like every 4-5 years they'd try to stick a newer type arcade in, but it always failed. :'( There were getting my money though.
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Frosty,
Do you remember "Pensylvania Spacion'. It was on Calder Way. I think they turned it into a Suds yer Duds in the late 80's.
The best game room in town is at the Ramada, now. They have a Ms. Pacman and an Outrun and a couple of other older games. The game room at Damen's has a few newer games.
Rocky
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Hmm...I don't remember that. Though I was a bit young back then and not quite fully sensient :) Now on calder alley there's a 'virtual reality' place where you can play 3d games in...3d. I haven't been inside, but it looks expensive.
Though stuff moves in and out of that area so fast it's hard to keep track.
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there is an arcade that opened up about 7 or 8 years ago in downtown fullerton,CA. It is named "THE REAGAN YEARS" and all the games are from the 80's. The place does great bussiness because it is surrounded by bars and is open very late.They even put posters on the walls of real crappy 80's bands to complete the effect.I go there and feel like i stepped into 1985 again. Its great!!!
i know the guy who owns the place. cool guy...and everything he has in there is for sale as well (a little expensive though). They have local bands play there all the time. its a cool place.
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[size=10]TILT![/size][/i][/glow]
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[size=10]TILT![/size][/i][/glow]
That's what I'm talking about!!
My first daydreams of owning my own cab came when TILT started putting price tags on their games (did they do that everywhere?) I remember I was going to buy a Super Dodge Ball. 1. because I rocked at that game and 2. because it was the cheapest game in the place ($250) At ten I figured with birthday money and christmas money it would only take me 6 years. It's amazing how priorities change......and then change back. ;)
The very first arcade experience for me though was called "Forum Fair" in Forum mall (surprise), It's in a bad neighborhood now, but back then it was THE place. Had the full size indoor merry go round and everything. I played all the old school games there for the first time.
man, now I'm all nostalgic
ny
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i know the guy who owns the place. cool guy...and everything he has in there is for sale as well (a little expensive though). They have local bands play there all the time. its a cool place.
let him know he rocks for opening that arcade. And yes the game are a LITTLE expensive. i just figured he really didn't want to sell them. i had my eye on the star castles machine when he first opened the place but then when i saw the $950 price tag i deceided to just pump it full of quarters instead try to by it.
dirt
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Is this true?
http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~locations/PlaceSearch.php3?code=cafulrea
2003-09-30 ASTEROID KID A SAD DAY. .THE HUB AND THE REAGAN YEARS ARE CLOSING IN NOVEMBER TO BE MADE INTO A RESTRAUNT.THEY ARE KEEPING THE ROCKET ARCADE.SOME OF THE CLASSICS ARE GOING TO THAT SIDE BUT THE REST WILL BE SOLD OFF.UNFORTATLY ITS ALL ABOUT THE MONEY.HIGH COSTS TO MAINTAIN AND CUSTMERS.I WILL SAY PUNKS BREAKING GAMES. ALL THE WORKERS WERE TOLD TO START LOOKING FOR JOBS.THIS IS NOT A JOKE.TRULEY A VERY SAD DAY......................
So they really did recreate the 80's arcade experience... :-[
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Is this true?
http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~locations/PlaceSearch.php3?code=cafulrea
2003-09-30 ASTEROID KID A SAD DAY. .THE HUB AND THE REAGAN YEARS ARE CLOSING IN NOVEMBER TO BE MADE INTO A RESTRAUNT.THEY ARE KEEPING THE ROCKET ARCADE.SOME OF THE CLASSICS ARE GOING TO THAT SIDE BUT THE REST WILL BE SOLD OFF.UNFORTATLY ITS ALL ABOUT THE MONEY.HIGH COSTS TO MAINTAIN AND CUSTMERS.I WILL SAY PUNKS BREAKING GAMES. ALL THE WORKERS WERE TOLD TO START LOOKING FOR JOBS.THIS IS NOT A JOKE.TRULEY A VERY SAD DAY......................
So they really did recreate the 80's arcade experience... :-[
Auction?? ;D :-\
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Great thread...
Gold Mine - in Cumberland Mall. This is the first place I ever saw an Atari "Hercules" pinball, and "Dragons Lair".
2001 - Haha, it was a futuristic-sounding name back then! But this place was really nice. I would consider this place a forerunner to the present day Dave & Busters. They had lots of environmental and cockpit cabinets and always had the newest hottest games.
Bumper's Junction - Huge, and lots of great machines in there too. My favorite place to play "Asteroids".
The Hole - and it was a hole too
Wizards - One of my favorite hangouts. My friend painted the Wizard on the wall... complete with lightup eyes. This place always had "Tail Gunner" and "Crazy Climber".
Space Run - I think they started out by buying out The Hole and then they moved to another shopping center.
Darryl
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yeah....i just read that post as well about the reagan years. too sad :'( :'(
funny that you should mention that star castle dirt. i had never played it until i went there, and that was the game that took all of my quarters every time i went.
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I have rediscovered Tac Scan. Wow love that game!
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I guess Timezone is the arcade place neer me in australia.
I wouldnt call it an arcade but i guess it is they seam to have all the dedicated cabs like alpine skier and the simulators etc there is only 1 game thats in a normal arcade cab well 1 of them cabs where u sit down infront of a big tv and control panel. Thats the only arcade cab i play it has metal slug x in it and its quite cool :)
A arcade to me is uprights or even cocktails but they never have the around anymore. :-\
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I have rediscovered Tac Scan. Wow love that game!
Me too, I'm setting up a cab with a vertically mounted PC monitor, spinner and two buttons specifically for Tac/Scan and Tempest.
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I have rediscovered Tac Scan. Wow love that game!
Me too, I'm setting up a cab with a vertically mounted PC monitor, spinner and two buttons specifically for Tac/Scan and Tempest.
Add a joystick and sounds like a good one for Star Castles as well. sweeeetOoops, that is landscape, but how bout QIX?
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Qix is a raster game, it'll be on the dynamo cab you've seen in project announcements as that one will be my vertical arcade monitor cab. Star castle will be on my horizontal PC monitor cab that'll cover the rest of the vector games. There are only two vertical orientation vector games I'm aware of, it just so happens they also use the same controls so it seems appropriate to make a cab for them.
Much like Paige I'd rather have several cabs than one big one, I've got seven at present and will be looking for more this weekend at the Winston-Salem auction.
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local arcade names we used to have here:
Arcade City
Red Baron
Old Towne
Trigger Palace
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Qix is a raster game, it'll be on the dynamo cab you've seen in project announcements as that one will be my vertical arcade monitor cab. Star castle will be on my horizontal PC monitor cab that'll cover the rest of the vector games. There are only two vertical orientation vector games I'm aware of, it just so happens they also use the same controls so it seems appropriate to make a cab for them.
Much like Paige I'd rather have several cabs than one big one, I've got seven at present and will be looking for more this weekend at the Winston-Salem auction.
So many computers though. I know you dont really need much for tempest and tac scan, but still that is several of everything if you are talking several cabs. What the heck, you only live once! Sounds cool can't wait to see the finished product. What is the vector cab going to be? Tempest retro? TacScan had a pretty lame cab.
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Heh, I'm a packrat. I've got about a dozen old computers I'm using up on these cabs. Dunno what the actual cab will be yet, it depends on what I find at the auction.
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1 Leisure Land Ceder Knolls New Jersey
2 Video 24 Madison N.J
3 Barnacle Bills Ortley Beach N.J.
4 Showbiz Pizza North Plainfield N.J.
5 Time out Rockaway Twp. N.J.
6 Lucky Leo's Seaside Heights N.J.
7 Bowcraft Amusements Scotch Plains N.J.
8 Carousel Arcade Seaside Heights N.J.
Number 3-6 and 8 are still alive and kicken. The rest have been shut down,torn down or replaced with a friggin Starbucks. >:( Video 24 was one of Starbucks victim's. :( On the other hand the Carousel arcade still has like 20 to 30 classics and I still pay a visit every August. ;D
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Toronto area
The little Biju club Bayview village mall You needed a membership card to play the games.
All seasons amusements Sheppard Centre mall
The Deli at young and sheppard
Arnolds just north of the deli
Bowlrama
Studio 81
And not to forget the standard Defender in every corner store.
And the standard miss pac cocktail in every donught shop and little greasy spoon resturant.
And the almost two per block arcades on the downtown strip.
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Toronto also...
All I remember is taking the subway to Young & Dundas and walking north on Young and hitting one of the many arcades. Can't remember a single name. Last spring, I was surprised to see that one still existed and that in the back they had a dozen classic games.
I also remember going to the CN Tower to play in the huge arcade they had in the basement. It had a distinctive name that I can't remember.
I started university at Waterloo in '82 and played mostly Galaga in a games room just above the students pub called the Bomb Shelter.