What was the name of your childhood arcade?

[FrakAttack]

Aladdin's Castles, Pirate's Coves and Malibu Gran Prixs aside, from my teen years in Liberty, KY:

Heavy's Video World
The Rebel Room
One Stop Market (the game room was bigger than the market.)
Tom True's Pool Room, complete with "NO WOMEN ALLOWED BEYOND THIS POINT" sign above the door and illegal high-stakes poker in the back room every Saturday night. Ahh, chauvinism, I miss ye well. :pimp:

[Knoxximus]

Born and raised on Oahu, Hawaii...

Main one was The Fun Factory. The locals just called it "Fun's". It was huge and kept pretty current. On the other side of that mall (Pearlridge) was where you went if you REALLY wanted to test your might....Tilt. That was where all of the top tier SF2 players would hang out, as it was a much smaller, more intimate arcade.

Honorable mentions include:

Carnival Carnival
Castle Park
Hawaiian Brians
Game World
Various roller skating rinks, bowling alleys, 7-11's, laundry mats, and grocery stores in the early to mid '80's

Ahhhhhh....good times. 8)

[theghostlyguitarplayer]

One local haunt was the Games People Play arcade in the mall in Benton Harbor. It wasn't the greatest, but it had some good games. It was quite a bit shady, though. Now a JoAnn's Fabric Store. PROGRESS!

Also: The Gold Mine in Merillville Indiana (I think it was the Gold Mine, anyway); my Dad's favorite arcade, tucked away in the back corner of the mall. Neat place to stumble across. Now long gone. I think they just converted it to storage.

Add to that list Chuck E. Cheese's (one-time Showbiz Pizza), and a few other random arcades (like the arcade at the Caribbean Beach Resort at Walt Disney World).

-Adam-

[Nature Boy]

The arcade I remembered first was in downtown Kitchener, ON and was called Zappers. I think they had a second location in Waterloo near UW called, Zappers II. I totally remember playing "Gauntlet" at Zappers II, and of all things I remember playing Space Harrier at Zappers.

[scooterb23]

I forgot about another arcade in the Muncie area. There used to be a wonderful pizza place called Shakey's. Kind of a buffet pizza place, always had 4-5 pizzas, chicken, and a big screen tv going. The prize was the arcade. Berzerk, Turbo, Qix (the sounds from this machine scared me), Asteroids, Super Pac-Man...quite a few more, and I think always one pinball machine. It made me sad when they closed.

[Dreamcast]

cruisen' USA

[dr101z]

Growing up in San Antonio...

1970's
Shakey's Pizza - The first place I saw and played Atari's Anti-Aircraft and Midway's Gunfight and Seawolf.

1980's
Showbiz Pizza - The place where I first saw Moon Patrol, Jungle Hunt and Moon Cresta. Fantastic place that had a side room with a big screen TV for the parents to hang out while us kids played the games. That way the parents could go off and talk with the other parents while we had more time to stay and play.

Chuck E. Cheese (SW Military Dr) - This is the only original location in town that survived and is still going strong today. Back in the day they had multiples of just about every game they brought in. It was the only time I saw two sit-down Omega Race cabinets in one place.

Aladdin's Castle (Ingram Park Mall) - The hours that I spent in that place enjoying games like Tempest, Dig Dug, Mappy, Spy Hunter and Gauntlet. 100 tokens for $20 = lots of hours on Gauntlet.

Ingram Park Theater - Located right across from Aladdin's Castle they actually had more video games in their lobby than Aladdin's Castle and was one of the few places in town that had Bosconian. Tons of games and a lot of time spent there as well.

The Gold Mine (Central Park Mall) - Another great arcade with the complete gold mine treatment (mine style crosstimbers, etc). The only place in town for a long time that had games like Atari Force Liberator, Cobra Command, Quantum and Jr. Pac-Man. They even had the more unusual laserdisc games like Thayers Quest and the Data East football game.

Falcon Video Games (Central Park Mall) - Located around the corner from The Gold Mine and with an adjoining door to the multi-theme night club at the mall. They used to get a lot of the secondary games that came out like Eliminator, Kick (before it was Kick-Man), Frisky Tom, Round-up, Challenger, the Nichibutsu version of Crazy Climber, and Black Widow.

Castle Golf and Games - This place was it back in the day. They had wall to wall games, and I mean they had games crammed into every corner and bit of space they could find. The place was always packed. It's still open but with hardly any games at all.

Malibu Grand Prix - Located next to Castle Golf and Games, they also had wall to wall games but had a lot of pinball games to complement the videos. Sadly, I didn't start to really appreciate pinball until the 90's and missed out on some great games. It was eventuall closed and bulldozed to the slab. The track is still there though.

Tilt (River Center Mall) - This came around in the late 80's and was the only arcade I had ever seen that had Joust 2. Spent a lot of time playing Heavy Barrel as well. Long gone now.

1990's

Diversions (up to 10 locations all over town during their height) - They actually started in the late 80's but really flourished in the early to mid 90's during the last big hurrah for arcade video and pinball. This local chain got all of the latest games and was so popular and crowded that the main store on San Pedro was a test location for Capcom. I got to see a Red Earth machine in action but never got to play it due to the crowds always around it. Fighting games were big here. They even had linked Space Lords cabinets and me and the crew would spend a lot of time on the weekends having a blast on this one. It's also where I got into pinball as they bought the latest stuff. This "chain" is down to one location now.

CyberZone - Another (smaller) local chain that still has one or two locations. A good competitor to Diversions that also brought in the latest stuff. It was the first place I got to play Virtua Fighter 3. Plenty of NeoGeo, Namco racers, puzzle games and shooters.

2000's

Dave and Busters - Pretty much the only place in town that gets any new stuff.

CyberZone and Diversions are hanging on with DDR and music games along with the occasional racer that comes along.

GameWorks (The Quarry) - Another arcade that is still managing to hang on and bring in new stuff every once in a while. They actually have a few pinball games that still work.

I miss the old days of arcades. These days you can pack every 70's and 80's arcade game into a PSP. Somehow it's just not as fun.

[Moon Jump]

There were two malls where they had arcades. The first one was a Time Out arcade. They started small then moved into a bigger place. Then the chain that owns the mall got rid of all the arcades.

The other arcade I played at was simply called "The Subway". It was a very small arcade that had whatever was current and a couple of pinball machines. Most of the first games I can remember playing there.

Then in the 90's it went downhill. Different people were working in there and they would never take care of the machines or even stock the change machine.

The last owner was this white haired old lady that tried to bring in redemption machines and a prize counter. I remember I had to knock on the "Employees Only" door and I had to wait a good five minutes to get her to answer the door. She opened up and yelled at me "WHATA YAH WANT!?!" Umm...change?

Needless to say the arcade went the way of the ghost after her. I really miss being able to go someplace local to play games. I wish I knew where the Neo-Geo machine went. I'd get that in a heartbeat.

[Videogamerdaryll]

..............................

[Nirvana]

Friar Tuck's in Calumet City, IL.

Dammit. I wish it still existed.

[DreamTR]

diskoboy: That "Tilt" in the Hickory Hollow Mall has not existed since Sep 2007. It was changed into a Time-Out, and with fingers crossed, I should be signing the lease tomorrow on the location and opening a "true" arcade there with some small console (fighting game tournaments) and used game section. Make no mistake, this will be 90% arcade.


Arcades that I grew up with:

North Las Vegas, NV

Jerry's Nugget Casino
Silver Nugget Casino
Zody's Family Arcade (first place I ever saw with nickel games)
Pistol Pete's Pizza

Las Vegas, NV
Mary K's
Circus Circus

Miami, FL
Pirates Family Entertainment Center
Video Powerhouse
Fun N Games
Fun O Rama

[swlovinist]

Gold Mine in Redding, CA

I used to to there for the hottest video games around when they were released. I remember when Street Fighter II was there for the first time. Good times indeed.

[darkslime]

I'm still a teen, and there is no arcade near me except for golf n stuff, which I don't go to that often.

[shopkins]

I remember it being called Station Alpha and it was in Pikeville, Kentucky. I used to love that place. It had a lot of good games at one point for such a small town. I remember playing Dig Dug, Defender, a Star Wars game, even Professor Pac-Man at one point and watching other people play Dragon's Lair. At one point they also had bad pizza and a animatronic dog band that played songs like "Sweet Georgia Brown." There's a Mexican restaurant in that building now.

[Steven]

CYBERSTATION

Awesome memories of heading upstairs in the mall to hit CS, and I'm not talking about CounterStrike either! Back then me and my out-of-town gaming buds raided that arcade hangout every time they came down to my place and off to the local mall.

Good times :)

[PentiumMMX]

The closest things to an arcade where I live is Mazzio's Pizza.

They have a small room for the arcade, and they swapped games out every few months to keep things fresh. Probably their most note-worthy arcade game is their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cabinet, which has been a staple of their arcade since 1989 (It's come and gone multiple times throughout the years. It wasn't there last time I was there, but I have a feeling it'll probably return in a few months, if it's not already back by now).

[ANONPLOX]

Kiddie Karnival - Route 46 East - Pinebrook, NJ (mid 1980's)
Plaza Game Room - Route 46 West - West Paterson, NJ (late 80's - early 90's)
Fun and Games - Willowbrook Mall - Wayne, NJ (90's through 2007)
Sports n Games Funplex - East Hannover, NJ (late 90's - early 2000's)
Flashbacks - Seaside Heights, NJ (only arcade I bother going to anymore)

During summer vacation down the Jersey shore....

Belmar boardwalk
Midway Arcade (I think) - Wildwood boardwalk, NJ
Jenkinson's - Point Pleasant boardwalk, NJ
Showboat Casino game room - Atlantic City, NJ

Plaza Game Room will always be my favorite though.
Yea the Midway arcade was pretty solid back in the day. There also was Stanlys, Supercade, Gateway 26,etc. Now adays it's mostly grabber, slots, and old duces wild machines. Stanlys was the first place I ever played Battlezone and Aliens vs Predator. A few years ago Mariners arcade had an Initial D machine (2 player) and was the first place I ever played Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo. Recently about 2 years ago The Boardwalk Mall arcade (before it came all crane machines damn u crane macines damn u) they had one of the greatest fighters I ever played HAKUTO NO KEN (Fist Of The North Star) but this one u had to throw punches at six or 8 padds that would flip out from in front of the screen it was also a Korean cab so it made it all that more special.

[ShinobiMan]

Pistol Pete's Pizza


We had a Pistol Pete's Pizza here in Houston when I was growing up, but it closed when I was about 7 years old. We used to call is Pistol Packin' Pete's. It too was a hot spot for great arcade games. They had all the best one's. Paper Boy, Double Dragon, TMNT: The Arcade Game.... you know, the late 80's early 90's classics!

Thanks for the memory.

[arcade*trader*lax]

"REDONDO FUN FACTORY" , "SUPERCADE", HERMOSA ARCADE
....then there was always 7-11, and mr b's liquor stores

[parallaxscroll]

When I was a kid I didn't have a regular arcade near me. I got to play a few individual arcade games mainly in restaurants & bars within walking/biking distance of where I lived in Glenview, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago). Or at the 7/11 across the street from Golf Mill mall in Niles, IL nearby. Once in awhile I'd go to small and big arcades that were farther away, but never regularly, not until I was a teenager. Then later, there was a Namco CyberStation arcade in Golf Mill mall.

[Zing]

Childhood arcade was called "Funway Freeway" in North Canton, Ohio. What a great place. For $5 you got 30 tokens. I spent a lot of time playing Xybots, Xenophone, Star Wars, and Paperboy. It was also where I was introduced to the amazing Strider, which made me a Genesis fan until the SNES hit. This arcade was turned into a dollar movie theater by the time I was a teenager.

Teenage arcade was Alladin's Castle at the nearby mall. Primary usage was Tekken, Killer Instinct, and Mortal Kombat 2 & 3. When the MK3 machine first arrived, myself along with like 10 other people pitched $10 in and bought the hugest sack of tokens I have ever seen. We divided it into little sacks. I think we each had over 100 tokens. Of course, the arcade rigged the MK3 machine to require 3 tokens instead of the usual 2, probably due to our fat sacks. This arcade fizzled out a little while after Ultimate MK3 was released. More and more of the floor space was assigned to those stupid ticket games, where you turn in 1000 tickets to get a little boombox.

[ubersaurus]

Well, the closest one to me was Red Baron. Decent outfit. I liked playing the classic arcade machines they had, like Sea Wolf, Defender, and Galaga. Also they had the massive 6 man X-men Cab! Eventually they even got in a Powerstone 2 machine.

Some other arcades I started going to when I hit high school included the local mall arcade, Tilts, and Wizzards, the greatest fighting game arcade in Michigan before it closed down. All are gone now.

I do remember there being an arcade by my aunt's summer home (a trailer on a lake) that rocked, and another up in a mall in Alpena whose name escapes me. Them I remember primarily through the sheer number of people playing Street Fighter 2 World Warriors and Hyper Fighting when I went as a kid. So cool.

[NCN]

When I was a kid, Kansas City had Aladdin's Castle and Fun Factory.

[Haoie]

I suppose most of the places mentioned would've either closed down, or possibly relocated by now?

And there's a good chance it's still operational too.

[BydoEmpire]

Fond du Lac, Wisconsin's very own Fantasy Isle. D&D store on the first floor, kick-butt arcade on the second floor. There was also an Aladdin's Castle in the mall, which lasted a lot longer but wasn't nearly as cool or as memorable.

[ubersaurus]

I suppose most of the places mentioned would've either closed down, or possibly relocated by now?

And there's a good chance it's still operational too.

Perhaps we need an Arcade map, similar to the retro game store one?

[Arcade_Ness]

Aladdin's Castle in Highland Mall in Austin, TX. Lots of great memories there. Has been closed down for over a decade.

[RJ]

Hmmm, thought I posted here prev. but dont see anything, soooo....

Circus was the closest to me, they gave tokens for good report card grades (A=3, B=1). The 1st Sat. after every school quarter my buddy & I would bike a couple miles to the mall & see a movie then visit the arcade.

Up the road a bit was Roc-A-Fella's, a larger but seemingly seedier place.

& once at my cousin's house in Bloomington, we convinced someone to leave a family gathering & drive us to his arcade- Beanie's!

[The Manimal]

Aladdin's Castle - Elyria, OH :(

[Deadpixels]

Champions in the Christiana Mall, Wilmington Delaware. Also, pretty much every boardwalk in Rehoboth DE and Ocean City MD when Summer vacation hit.

[Misto]

Hmm, I never really had an arcade around where I live. There are two really nice ones in a local theme park (Kennywood in Pennsylvania), but its kind of expensive, since you have to pay to go into the theme park, then pay to use the arcade machines. Surprisingly, they do have a nice range of old and new games though, so I always stop in when I do go to the park.

[zektor]

Fun N' Games, and heres a youtube vid of the final day and auction:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=635E4JjAIWM

Freakin' sad. I am upset I missed the auction, but at the same time I am kind of glad I wasn;t there to witness it and have THOSE memories blanket the good memories I have of hanging out in the establishment for over two decades.

[exit]

Time Out, it was located inside Ocean Walk on Hollywood Beach, it's space is still empty to this day after being shut down for nearly 10 years. Well it's probably been well over 10 years since the original Time Out was shut down, it's been opened and closed at least 3 different times until it people just gave up on the black hole that mall has turned into.

[Greg2600]

Fun N' Games, and heres a youtube vid of the final day and auction:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=635E4JjAIWM

Freakin' sad. I am upset I missed the auction, but at the same time I am kind of glad I wasn;t there to witness it and have THOSE memories blanket the good memories I have of hanging out in the establishment for over two decades.

That's a great set of videos. You know, you kind of take things for granted when they are gone. Fun N Games was maybe the best maintained arcade I've ever been to. Very rarely was anything not working.

[DreamTR]

Well, hopefully when I open Game Galaxy next month in a Nashville area mall, we can grab the retro players and fighting game players and console players are into one with 60+ machines, yeah!

[Tron 2.0]

Fun N' Games, and heres a youtube vid of the final day and auction:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=635E4JjAIWM

Freakin' sad. I am upset I missed the auction, but at the same time I am kind of glad I wasn;t there to witness it and have THOSE memories blanket the good memories I have of hanging out in the establishment for over two decades.
Use to have a fun'n games here but i never liked the chain.

It go's back to the mids 90's when they refused to carrry any neogeo mvs systems.

Plus i got sick of reading about the latest games that were heading,to the arcades in magazine only to find fun'n games didn't have them.

Though like most arcades by that point were a victim of the times when consoles took over.

[Flashback2012]

When I was a youngin' it was Bally's Aladdin's Castle.

As a tween and teen it was Sega's Time Out on the Court. :)

[zektor]

Use to have a fun'n games here but i never liked the chain.

It go's back to the mids 90's when they refused to carrry any neogeo mvs systems.

Plus i got sick of reading about the latest games that were heading,to the arcades in magazine only to find fun'n games didn't have them.

Though like most arcades by that point were a victim of the times when consoles took over.

Mine carried MVS all the way up to the end.

[Kevin H]

Tilt and Star Castle were the main two.

[SurfKahuna]

Perhaps we need an Arcade map, similar to the retro game store one?

We have a retro game store map?!? WOW. I need to go find that. As for a map for old arcades: phenomenal idea!

My old arcade was Aladdin’s Castle in Salinas, CA. The arcade was located in Northridge Mall. When I was a bit older, I went to Tilt in Valley Fair mall in San Jose, CA.

[jjgames]

I can't remember the name of this place for the life of me. Someone from the Denver area help?!?!?!

There were a couple of really big Arcade's that had unlimited number of plays for a fixed price per hour. You could pay like $10 and play for an hour.

I used to go there all the time for birthday parties when I was growing up. I beat some many games like TMNT Arcade and The Simpsons because of that place. You basically had unlimited lives.

[logical123]

Uncle Bob's in Lyons, IL. Boy I used to love that place. Now, it is a cigarette depot. :(

[glorfindel]

there wasnt one near me...well mostly cause im 16. but there is an aladans arcade over in Springfield ILL. or i think there still is one

[Tron 2.0]

Mine carried MVS all the way up to the end.
Damn i guess the owner of where you were at knew better.

The one here never did for some unknow reason.

Though a fews years back it close up and it got replaced by a taco stand.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Well, hopefully when I open Game Galaxy next month in a Nashville area mall, we can grab the retro players and fighting game players and console players are into one with 60+ machines, yeah!

Crap.

If you had said Knoxville I would've gone to harass you for a while. :P

[maxlords]

The old arcade in my mall was called The Electric Palace. Creepy ass place too :D

[kupomogli]

I think everywhere had an Aladdin's Castle and Chuck E. Cheese.

Other than those there was only one other around where I lived. I don't remember what it was called unfortunately.

[parallaxscroll]

When I was a teenager, there was an awesome arcade I started going to called GALAXY GAME CENTER in Arlington Heights, IL. (another suburb of Chicago). On Sunday mornings you could pay a 4 dollar cover-charge to play all the games (except Galaxy Force II deluxe, their showpiece) on freeplay from 10:00am to 12:30 PM.

[Astrosmash]

Both Crossgates Mall in Albany and Hudson Valley Mall in Kingston had arcades called Cyberstation; those were the closest real arcades to where I lived. (They're both still there as far as I know. Don't know what they're like any more though.) Also there was a Chuck E. Cheese in Albany when I was a kid - I believe that building is a Staples now. Sad.

Still, I pumped a lot of quarters into a RoadBlasters cabinet at Pizza Hut two towns over as a kid, and slightly later Paul's Pizza in my town had a Neo Geo cabinet with Samurai Shodown that got a lot of use from me and my friends.

[shertz]

Cool thread. I'm assuming you mean 'pre-1984 crash' arcades ;-) Here's mine...

O'Game Pizza Coral - Montclair, CA
Showbiz Pizza - Montclair, CA
2-bit Grinders & Games - Pomona, CA
Staw Hat Pizza - Claremont, CA
Star Ship Video - Upland, CA
James Games (still open) - Upland CA
Family Fun Center (now Boomers) - Upland CA
Bullwinkles (now Boomers) - Upland, CA
Time-Out (use to be Sega Center) - Montclair, CA & Pomona, CA
Chuck E Cheese - Laverne, CA, Upland, CA and Diamond Bar, CA

[ThoughtBomb]

Back in Brooklyn there was but one arcade place and that was More Fun. I went there for years since I was a little kid and remember playing a lot of 90's classics. Eventually More Fun's name changed to Smiles, which me and my friends called "Frowns" because all the games we liked were disappearing along with the arcade itself, eventually. (SIGH) Oh well.

[tcv]

http://s494.photobucket.com/albums/rr302/thecompu/?action=view&current=IMG00013.jpg

I went back home to Metairie, LA for Thanksgiving weekend. On the way back out of town, I noticed the Fun Arcade, my childhood hangout, is up for lease. I don't really know the full details, truthfully. In fact, if you go the website (http://www.funarcadelive.com) you can see via live cameras they're still very much alive and kicking. This place has been around for over at least half a century, if you can believe it. They even had a "Fun Arcade West" during the arcade's heyday. It wouldn't surprise me if they're on the way out, what with a declining arcade industry and Katrina's sucker punch.

[Draven]

I grew in Lexington, KY and we had two arcades that everybody went to. Aladdin's Castle and Tony's arcade. I spent hours in those places and alot of cash. Of course they have long since gone, but I miss them alot. One of them is actually a gamestop now. So what was the name of the arcade you went to back in the day? Just curious?

Same here. Exactly the same. I grew up in Jackson and Lexington was the closest arcade around. Between trips the 4 or 5 machines at the local Wal-Mart held me over.

[DeputyMoniker]

Cactus Jack's. (Still open!)
Le Mans. (Still open but it's called Bally's Le Mans now.)

My teenage arcade was Billy Baloo's. They're closed but 2/3 isn't bad! I doubt too many people have the pleasure of gaming in the same room (outside of home) for 20 years.

[Flack]

Cactus Jack's. (Still open!)
Le Mans. (Still open but it's called Bally's Le Mans now.)

My teenage arcade was Billy Baloo's. They're closed but 2/3 isn't bad! I doubt too many people have the pleasure of gaming in the same room (outside of home) for 20 years.

Le Mans closed earlier this fall.

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1436178

[DeputyMoniker]

Le Mans closed earlier this fall.

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1436178

Crap. The last time I was there, their Galaga cab wasn't working and I didn't see anything else I'd like to play. Wish I could have played one more round of Galaga before they shut down.

[apogee_vgc]

The Back Room - Pella Iowa

[BobaFettHotep]

Wonderland in portland oregon

[k8track]

Short answer: My main three arcades were Laser Land, The Subway, and George's Quick Mart.

Long answer:

Some firsts:
• First arcade game (and thus, first video game) I ever saw: Either Space Invaders (cocktail) at Pizza Hut, or Super Bug at Wal-Mart. I think it may be the latter.
• First place I ever saw Pac-Man: Señor Taco, Macomb
• First place I ever saw Frogger: Hornsby’s discount store
• First place I ever saw Donkey Kong: Krogers
• First place I ever saw Defender: Hughes Park, Astoria (I’d read about it in the “Arcade” magazine part of Dynamite magazine. My friend Shannon and I each took half of the controls. We sucked.)

Some places with games I remember (some are obscure places I only visited once):
• YMCA: Sea Wolf, Breakout (never worked; to this day, I’ve never seen a working machine)
• Phoenix Mall, Ft. Smith, AR: Journey
• Central Mall, Ft. Smith, AR: Bagman, Star Rider, Crystal Castles, Mario Bros.
• Quincy Mall: I, Robot
• Road Runner, Booneville, AR: Super Mario Bros.
• Dairy Queen: Donkey Kong Jr.
• Bob’s Skelly station: Jungle King, Berzerk
• Unknown Place in Ipava: Juno First
• Unknown Pizza Place in Rushville: Warp Warp
• Unknown Arcade in Booneville, AR: Zaxxon
• Unknown bus stop in Missouri: Joust 2
• Taco Johns: Time Pilot
• Kwik Shop: Gauntlet
• (Somewhere): Pleiades, The End

The more major places in my arcade-gaming childhood:
• Laser Land arcade: Tutankham, Slither, Monaco GP, Bosconian, Looping, Congo Bongo, Robotron 2084
• Wizard World: Blueprint, Tron
• The Subway: Satan’s Hollow, Pengo, Joust, Zookeeper, Kangaroo, Fast Freddie
• George’s Quick Mart: Jump Bug, Strategy X, Turtles , Berzerk (cocktail), Star Castle, Amidar
• The Place: Warlords, Extra Bases, Tailgunner, Carnival
• Sandburg Mall: Monster Bash, Vanguard, Gorf, Wizard of Wor, Tac Scan, Red Baron, Moon Patrol
• Fulton County Fair arcade tent: Space Encounters, Eagle, Donkey Kong Jr, Tron
• Pizza Barn: Astro Blaster, Stunt Cycle
• Jr. Food Mart: Ms. Pac Man, Pepper II

[The 1 2 P]

For whatever reason I can't remember the names of ANY of my 5 arcades I had back in the day.

[rolligame]

My local arcade was Aladin's castle. Had a few other local arcades but for some reason that one stands out more.

[Gunface]

Ah, the memories.

My first primary arcade was "Dream Machine" in Westminster, MD at the then Cranberry Mall, I think it goes by "Town Mall" now (which is a terrible name). The arcade eventually changed locations, and became "Recordtown Games", and then it closed down.

I'd say my Secondary Arcade was the nearest Aladdin's Castle in Hanover, PA at the North Hanover mall. They had that sweet 4 player X-Men setup, great times.

Still though, nothing will ever beat playing Spy Hunter at Dream Machine...

Awesome! I used to go to Dream Machine at the Pheasant Lane Mall in NH. We went for my birthday most years as it was about an hour away. I remember coming home from it one year and drawing the characters from Final Fight as soon as I got back.

[Videogamerdaryll]

Street Slam...1 Game,,He Won....Rematch Monday..



Baseball Stars 2
Great Game!!!
I started off great,less distractions...Leading 9 to 3...Using all my tactics to try and win..Laughing Hysterically as I just kept scoring..11-5
I told him I'd be impressed if he came back from this deficit...It makes him play even harder which makes me play harder=FUN..
He ties up...
11-11 top of the ninth..I had a man on 1rst and 3rd... I didn't score..
Bottom of the Ninth 2 outs....Solo Home Run that just made it over the wall left field corner...12-11 ..He Won..


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v21/Chris1/MISC%20PICTURES%202/BaseballStars2007.jpg

[Atarileaf]

Fast Eddie's in Windsor, Ontario

[tcv]

Ah, I found out my childhood arcade is, in fact, gone.

Here's the note (http://www.neworleanscitybusiness.com/viewStory.cfm?recID=32510) in New Orleans CityBusiness. It sucks, but, then again, I haven't been there in years, so it's not as if I helped keep it afloat.

The article notes they are selling the machines.

m

[PutUrQuarterUp]

Yellow Brick Road.. torn down many years ago during a mall remodel.. now theres a Sbarro in its place.

Metropolis.. same mall.. torn down years later during yet another mall remodel.. today.. bathrooms and a changing station.

However, I would have to say that my fondest arcade memories are of family trips to Las Vegas.. hotel/casinos back in the early to mid 90's had the best arcades period.. Street Fighter 2, WWF Wrestlefest, Title Fight, a nice assortment of shmups and ridiculous amounts of 4 player beat em' ups.. I miss those days..

[Hardcore]

There was Starlite Skate Center, first. My father ran the arcade there as well as managed the place. It's where I got my intro into game maintenence, as well as where I learned what a slug was.

Then there was Bally's Alladin's Castle, in our mall. It was an amazing place, when I could convince my parents to let me go.

Lastly, there was Putt-Putt. Rarely went, never really had a good selection.

As of now, Starlite became Stardust, and is a stagnant arcade. Father only repairs the games on a freelance basis.

Our mall no longer has an arcade(unless you could Chuck E Cheese).

Putt-Putt became All-American Fun Park, and isn't a good place for an arcade.

[Haoie]

I seem to recall reading that back in the early 80s [the Golden Age for arcade gaming], everyone was installing cabinets practically everywhere. Places you'd never expect to find a coinop.

If anyone has some first hand memory on this, do share, it's appreciated.

[MissingNo_1231]

the closest things to an arcade in Norcross, Georgia were, and actually still are, a Chuck E. Cheese's and some place called "Coin Laundry".

The Chuck E. Cheese's was great. When I was younger it had a really cool Simpsons arcade game. Sort of a side-scrolling beat-'em-up.

And an awesome Jurassic Park arcade game, with the joystick and the moving chair. Not sure what it's actually called.

The "Coin Laundry" place had some arcade games to keep me occupied while my parents did the laundry.

Galaga, which I think is the first game I've ever played, video or arcade.

Pac-Man and Time Killers. Man, that Time Killers was insane.

[Game Freak]

Not growing up in the 80s, theres not much around me here. Joes Playland in Salisbury, MA and Chuck E. Cheese are just about it. By the way, do any of you guys remember this game?

http://www.fillmoregames.com/machines/magical_truck_adventure.jpg
I loved that game at the local CEC, unfortunately they took it out and most of the games have sucked ever since. Thankfully they added a pinball machine (The first ive ever seen in a CEC ^_^)

I also go to FunSpot in Weir's Beach, NH every summer.

[Daft Punk]

Aladdin's castle ,putt putt, and Treasure palace. All long gone.

[treismac]

There was The Gold Mine inside the Oglethorpe Mall, which later became a Tilt. Also, there was the Starcastle at the old location which has now moved into a faux-castle complete with a skating ring and laser tag.

[treismac]

Aladdin's castle ,putt putt, and Treasure palace. All long gone.

Our Putt-Putt disappeared about a year ago. :(

[SpaceHarrier]

Golfland, Camelot, and Bullwinkle's. Bullwinkle's became Boomers!, Golfland became over-priced housing development, Camelot was still there last I checked, though now over-stocked with M.A.M.E. cabs.

[xelement5x]

Aladdin's Castle for me, I've even still got some of the tokens sitting around. When I was kid and we went up to Wisconsin though there were also arcade games at the dirty bar, I think it was called Witt's End. Not a lot of games, but there's not a lot in Wisconsin anyway.