Are there ANY arcades ANYWHERE anymore?

[Hyperion]

I mean...they try to open at the mall a bit south of here, but they always close within a month it seems (There are still just a few arcade machines along an indentation in the wall; HARDLY can be considered a real arcade). :(

Here in town, there are a few arcade machines scattered around (2 in Als; a local eatery FOR SURE), but that's it. Even downstate in Portland Maine, Dream Machine closed at the mall down there (the space it occupied is now "The Ginger Pad"; an asian bistro, and an empty area that is used as a seasonal halloween store. I don't know of any arcades that still exist in Maine...Which is pretty sad.

They were a part of my childhood too, and it's sad to see them dying...do any of you still have 'em around where you live?


...:|...

[Kyle15]

I feel your pain.
The big mall here in Alabama had a wonderful arcade up until a few months ago. This arcade was always crowded, so I can't really figure out why it closed.
Maybe because Namco owned it?

Anyway, they had House of The Dead 4, Guilty Gear X2, Star Wars, fighting games in the Japanese style cabinets, and a lot more.

Even though I've only really lived here a year, this arcade's leave is quite a sad one. :(

[aaron7]

We have one. I have to drive 40 minutes to it but it's a 3 story arcade called Fun World in Nashua, NH.

Besides that? No others.

[Lucifersam1]

Right off of Cambridge Street, in Worcester, MA (right before the Salvation Army). I have not been in there for a few years, but I know it exists as I drive by it sometimes and some of my students go there once in a while. They had some early/mid 90's stuff and then some more recent stuff. Not sure now. Also, they had a room where you could pay to use computers and play online (Internet cafe? -- Don't see the point of it myself!).

[Flack]

I mean...they try to open at the mall a bit south of here, but they always close within a month it seems (There are still just a few arcade machines along an indentation in the wall; HARDLY can be considered a real arcade). :(

Here in town, there are a few arcade machines scattered around (2 in Als; a local eatery FOR SURE), but that's it. Even downstate in Portland Maine, Dream Machine closed at the mall down there (the space it occupied is now "The Ginger Pad"; an asian bistro, and an empty area that is used as a seasonal halloween store. I don't know of any arcades that still exist in Maine...Which is pretty sad.

They were a part of my childhood too, and it's sad to see them dying...do any of you still have 'em around where you live?


...:|...

I don't know exactly how far it is from you, but Funspot in New Hampshire is officially the largest arcade in the world. It's a truly magical place.

[Raedon]

Mall arcades have a hard time keeping up with the ever increasing rental of the storefront. Malls all over are seeing less people flocking threw their doors and less people at the mall means less people leaving their kids at the arcade with $5 bucks.

[ANONPLOX]

Well if your in New York go hit Chinatown Fair on Mott Street small but has a decent variety of fighters Rumble Fish 2, SF4, Guilty Gear XX Accent Core, Arcana Heart 2, Samurai Shodown/Spirits 5, King of Fighters '98, 2 Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 machines, Xmen Vs Street Fighter, ETC.

Then theres University Pinball just outside University of Penn in West Philly. I've heard from some ppl that have been there that they have stuff like SF4 and Arcana Heart 2 so it might be worth a look.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Seaside Heights Boardwalk in NJ

There are still a handfull of "arcades" that still have machines.

The Carousel Arcade has a nice "retro arcade" with a very nice selection of pins and classic machines ... in recent years they've had better upkeep on the control panels and screens.

Found a video on YouTube ... of course YouTube is doing all sorts of server maintenance today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnTGLiZVT0c

[DKTheArcadeRat]

There are maybe 3 on the Ocean City, NJ boardwalk. They aren't anything special though.

[shivers]

Barcade in brooklyn!! you can bring your dog drink and play retro only arcade cabs!

[Steve W]

In The Parks Mall in Arlington, TX there's still a Tilt Arcade. A whole lot of redemption games and modern stuff, half of which seems to be partially broken. I did however play World Cup Pinball there, although one of the flippers was barely working.

I can't think of any other shopping mall arcades still around. Of course, the Dallas area has been hit with a lot of mall closings anyhow. I can think of five in the area that have been torn down in less than a decade. Rough time to be a mall owner right now in the Metroplex...

There is supposedly a retro arcade bar somewhere in Dallas, but I'm not sure exactly where. And I'm not much of a fan of drinking or alcoholics, so I never put much effort into tracking the place down. The owners apparently got the idea from a visit to Barcade in Brooklyn.

[ANONPLOX]

There are maybe 3 on the Ocean City, NJ boardwalk. They aren't anything special though.


ocean city is fail last time I was there atleast 2 of the arcades where filled with 80% half busted machines and the one on the far south end of the boardwalk was filled with douchbags that wanted to fight u if you beat thier unskilled asses at xmen vs street fighter.

[Singapura]

Come to Singapore! There's a large arcade in Bugis. No classic cabs though :bawling:

[TheDomesticInstitution]

About a month ago, when I took one of the cars into the dealership for some work in a nearby town. In the fall of last year I discovered it while my girlfriend and her sister where shopping for bridesmaid dresses. It wasn't a great arcade, but I figured it'd still be a great way to pass the time waiting for the car to be serviced.

I walked from the dealership to the mall, only to discover upon my arrival that the arcade had been shut down. Apparently, the arcade is being replaced with a room full of game consoles and PC's for a giant LAN party thingy. What the fuck? What a waste of space, to fill an old arcade with a bunch of shit people can play at home. I just don't understand.

Well I understand that this type of set-up may be more profitable- I mean I guess that's why they're doing it right? Does anyone here do that? Is this type of place for people without game consoles? I'd rather play from the comfort of my home than in some shitty mall.

[Baloo]

Around here there's:

Hydeman's Arcade in Berlin Flea Market Blackwood NJ, literally about 1 mile down the street from Next-Level Videogames. No redemption, about 6-7 pins (including Super Mario Bros!), and almost all classic stuff, including Superman Taito, NBA Jam T.E, The Simpsons, and Mortal Kombat 4. It's small, about the size of a mall store, but I like it.

University Pinball in University City Philly PA, lot of fighters here, but the place only has about 3 pins and doesn't live up to it's namesake. But if you like 2D Fighters, this is THE place to go.

1 on Atlantic City's Boardwalk, Playcade, nothing special. 1 Pinball machine and a couple of real games that aren't redemption.

Recess in Deptford Mall NJ that's not too bad, they have I think 1 redemption game (lol) called Ticket-Tac-Toe along with Skee-ball, and they've got a couple of classic games, and some pinball machines

4+ on Ocean City's boardwalk, the best being Jillian's that has some classic games including Pac-man Jr. and about 12-15 Pinball machines.

All of Wildwood's boardwalk arcades are all crummy redemption places that look like casinos, filled with slot machines, video poker, and the like.

And my personal favorite over in Virginia Beach, VA Flipper McCoy's. 6-7 Pinball machines, and a TON of classic stuff. They have tons of 80s and 90s games, some that are actually pretty obscure, like Bloxeed. The place is pretty big too.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head.

If you do have locations, just add em to the Google map!:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=106676666621842394102.00046d369eedb19dad297

[VACRMH]

Crab Town in Glen Burnie MD...

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=128951

[Rob]

I feel your pain.
The big mall here in Alabama had a wonderful arcade up until a few months ago. This arcade was always crowded, so I can't really figure out why it closed.
Maybe because Namco owned it?

Anyway, they had House of The Dead 4, Guilty Gear X2, Star Wars, fighting games in the Japanese style cabinets, and a lot more.

Even though I've only really lived here a year, this arcade's leave is quite a sad one. :(

Ahh yes, the Namco Time Out at the Galleria. There is a small arcade in the back of an Italian food joint in Alabaster, and they have Truxton, but the workers are A-holes.

We still have a few in the Montgomery area. There is a mini golf place with a small arcade that has some classics in it. The local bowling alley has some classics as well, including some Neo Geo machines. Eastdale Mall in Montgomery has an arcade with some of the more modern games.

[Rob]

In The Parks Mall in Arlington, TX there's still a Tilt Arcade. A whole lot of redemption games and modern stuff, half of which seems to be partially broken. I did however play World Cup Pinball there, although one of the flippers was barely working.

I can't think of any other shopping mall arcades still around. Of course, the Dallas area has been hit with a lot of mall closings anyhow. I can think of five in the area that have been torn down in less than a decade. Rough time to be a mall owner right now in the Metroplex...

There is supposedly a retro arcade bar somewhere in Dallas, but I'm not sure exactly where. And I'm not much of a fan of drinking or alcoholics, so I never put much effort into tracking the place down. The owners apparently got the idea from a visit to Barcade in Brooklyn.

There used to be a retro/JP arcade in the Irving Mall, but they have since closed. Grapevine Mills has an arcade with more of the modern mainstream games.

[Steve W]

There used to be a retro/JP arcade in the Irving Mall, but they have since closed.
I remember that one, it was the only place I ever played Planet Harrier at. The games there were too Japanese for my tastes. I'm not into rhythm games (considering I have no rhythm at all) or fighting games, which left me very little to play there.


Grapevine Mills has an arcade with more of the modern mainstream games.
That one's called GameWorks, which is also a restaurant. It's sort of like Dave And Buster's from what I've heard. I've been in it once, and it was okay. Not too many classic games. I never tried their food out, because when my friend and I got out of the movie next door they closed the restaurant area down for the night. After all, you don't want to serve food to the throngs of people pouring out of that busy movie theater, that might be a competent way of running a business...

There's another location of Tilt Arcade in Waco, TX, in Richland Mall. And just down the hallway from the Tilt is a nice little retro gaming store. :)

[Kyle15]

Ahh yes, the Namco Time Out at the Galleria. There is a small arcade in the back of an Italian food joint in Alabaster, and they have Truxton, but the workers are A-holes.

We still have a few in the Montgomery area. There is a mini golf place with a small arcade that has some classics in it. The local bowling alley has some classics as well, including some Neo Geo machines. Eastdale Mall in Montgomery has an arcade with some of the more modern games.

Joe's Italian, right? I live about 5 minutes from there. That place is normally packed on the weekend.

Are there any good places for classic gaming (shops, fleas, e.t.c.) in the Montgomery area? I'm thinking about taking a trip down for a day sometime.

[portnoyd]

That one's called GameWorks, which is also a restaurant. It's sort of like Dave And Buster's from what I've heard. I've been in it once, and it was okay. Not too many classic games.

GameWorks is at least far superior to Dave & Busters game-wise. While 75% of D&B's and GW's selection hasn't changed in the past 5+ years, GameWorks at least has a much more diverse offering. Where GW may have had less classics than you would have liked, D&B will have half that. Shame they are significantly less abundant than D&Bs.

Oh, and those looking for arcades can find a really shitty one in Bumfuck, Tennessee right outside of Nashville.

[smork]

I've got several by me :)

There's also still several in Houston that I know of, unless some of them have closed down recently.

[Baloo]

The Dave and Buster's here in Philly is almost ALL redemption games, save for a couple of things I.E the Sega Derby game (which is actually very fun), 2 or 3 classic games, two tons of Racing games and a LOT of FPS games, and some other random stuff like Madden mixed in. The only things I play in there are:

Sega Derby Owners
Mario Kart GP 2 (how they actually got this I don't know)
Donkey Kong/Jr./Mario Bros.
Roll-a-ball Derby
Super Trivia
Virtua Fighter 4


The prices aren't as bad as they used to be though, I spent 3+ hours in here on $20 in credits. I didn't play any redemption though, and I spent a ton of time on Sega Derby Owners (or whatever it's called).

[NayusDante]

My local arcades are finally on life support. Beach Gameland, which had been in its new location about a year, didn't pay their lease. The games are still in there, and I picked up a wifi signal, but they've been closed for a few months. Treasure Island Fun Center was great about a year ago when I went, but I went with a friend a month ago and it had really slid. House of the Dead 4 was unplayable, with both abysmal calibration and broken guns stuck on reload. Dead or Alive's P1 joystick had a broken right direction, making it impossible to advance toward your opponent. Not surprisingly, the ticket games seemed to be in fine working order. After Burner Climax is still in fine condition, surprisingly.

[RadiantSvgun]

There aren't in Birmingham anymore- the closest thing is lazer tag places and bowling alleys. Its one of the reasons I got my own cab.

[PSerge]

There's a great arcade in Nashville, Game Galaxy..

There's a nice selection on classic games, newer games, pinballs, fighting games, etc..

http://gamegalaxyarcade.com/

[Nikademus1969]

There's this pretty decent one that's literally right across the parking lot from where I work...

www.dellsknuckleheads.com (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/www.dellsknuckleheads.com)

It has a lot of redemption games, but it also has a surprisingly good selection of games (primarily shooting games and fighters, but some others as well)


The resort I work at has a pretty good game room as well, tho due to it being a "family with little kids" resort and all, you won't find anything too "violent" there.

[Game Freak]

I go to the world's largest arcade in Weirs Beach NH at least two to three times a year. Great times.

[BeaglePuss]

I go to the world's largest arcade in Weirs Beach NH at least two to three times a year. Great times.
Funspot baby!

I love that place! I would go there as a kid, and my parents couldn't drag my brother and I out. I went last year, and it hasn't changed a bit. Definitely the greatest arcade I can think of.

[Rickstilwell1]

I know of three Arcades in Washington State near me so far - Gameworks in downtown Seattle, in Seattle Center, and one in the Federal Way "The Commons" mall + one more in the same mall if you count the movie theatre's arcade.

I've seen a bar or two with an arcade video game in it (although they were sports games).

[Diatribal Deity]

How 'bout Funarama and Playland in Hampton Beach, NH. I believe they are still there, may have more redemption machines than anything, but I hear they are still pretty profitable and have been around for quite a while. Funarama for instance still pulls in up to 5 million a year, seasonal as it may be.

[drunkninja]

There's a pretty sweet arcade where I live:

http://www.1984arcade.com/

Run by old-school hobbyists, they have all kinds of games from the 80's (some from the 90s on occasion) and they continually rotate them to keep things fresh. $5 entry and unlimited gameplay on everything but pinball.

[ubersaurus]

We still have a couple, though the majority went under about 10 years back.

There's the American Fun Center, in Oakland Mall; Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum in Farmington Hills; Pinball Pete's in Ann Arbor and Lansing; The "Butterfly" Golf & Games on Van Dyke in Detroit; as well as the requisite Gameworks and Chuck E. Cheese's.

AFC maintains their machines well, but their selection runs largely towards fighting games and music games...though they do keep those updated well. I mean, they have SF4, Tekken 6, and the latest guitar freaks/drummania revisions. No classic games though, other than Zero Gunner 2. Marvin's is mostly oddball machines that Marvin finds interesting in addition to all his ancient mechanical arcade machines. Still, he has Simpsons, pinball, Bust-a-move, and a number of racing games. Pete's, in Ann Arbor anyway, if known for having a good classic game selection, good pinball selection, and shoddy maintenance. How that place continues to stay open is beyond me, but when their stuff is working it's golden. Haven't been to the Butterfly in years, but if memory serves they have a crapload of games, old and new, but have even worse maintenance than Pete's.

[cheesystick]

Check out this place called Ground Kontrol if you are in Portland, Oregon anytime soon. There are literally beer holders next to every cabinet so you can play while you drink. You can buy a pabst tallboy for only two bucks. I love going there for the gorf, metal slug, and the street fighter. You can even just hit the place after bar hopping so you can drive drunk it a sit-down sega ralley cab, or just play simpsons arcadw with a few friends. The pinball selection is very good as well, almost too good.

There is a nickel arcade in town somehwere too, which is alright, at least worth the price od admission. They have mostly gun games and the like, but they do have star wars arcade for only five cents a pop.

[The-Bavis]

I remember that one, it was the only place I ever played Planet Harrier at. The games there were too Japanese for my tastes. I'm not into rhythm games (considering I have no rhythm at all) or fighting games, which left me very little to play there.


That one's called GameWorks, which is also a restaurant. It's sort of like Dave And Buster's from what I've heard. I've been in it once, and it was okay. Not too many classic games. I never tried their food out, because when my friend and I got out of the movie next door they closed the restaurant area down for the night. After all, you don't want to serve food to the throngs of people pouring out of that busy movie theater, that might be a competent way of running a business...

There's another location of Tilt Arcade in Waco, TX, in Richland Mall. And just down the hallway from the Tilt is a nice little retro gaming store. :)

I'm just responding to SteveW here because he's talking about North Texas. I finally went to Tornado Terry's in Keller a few weeks ago. You must go. It is an unassuming place, but there is plenty to play from classics to modern. It's $12.50 for unlimited play. The website is www.tornadoterrys.com, and is a terrible time warp, but it lists the operating hours. The place is clean and you can tell that the person (people) that run it really care about the games they have.

[sonic-boom]

There's one at the mall where I live, but that's the only one I can think of, it's always so crowded and it has all the Street Fighter games. I don't think it'll be closing any time soon.

[vectrexer]

There is one up at the Metreon in San Francisco.. At least it was there a couple of months ago. Lots of modern games and those crappy crane games. But at least it's still surviving for now.

I have a feeling the Bay Area will not be the location of the last arcade to go out of business. Except if you count temporary setups like California Extreme.

[GM80]

In my north Texas town there is a Tilt where there used to be an Aladdin's Castle, plus a family entertainment center (laser tag, go-karts, etc.) that has probably 25 arcade games. Our municipal airport's lounge also has about 20, oddly enough. I haven't been in our Chuck E. Cheese in years, but last time I was there it still had 25 or so cabinets.

Unfortunately, the entire selection is usually a few reissued vintage titles and a bunch of mediocre 21st-century fluff.

[vectrexer]

In my north Texas town there is a Tilt where there used to be an Aladdin's Castle, plus a family entertainment center (laser tag, go-karts, etc.) that has probably 25 arcade games. Our municipal airport's lounge also has about 20, oddly enough. I haven't been in our Chuck E. Cheese in years, but last time I was there it still had 25 or so cabinets.

Unfortunately, the entire selection is usually a few reissued vintage titles and a bunch of mediocre 21st-century fluff.


Went to the local CEC in San Bruno, CA. It's a collection of kiddie casio games. They even reduced the size of the habitrail to accomodate more games. But at least they still have an arcade. And cardboard pizza!

[HappehLemons]

We have one. I have to drive 40 minutes to it but it's a 3 story arcade called Fun World in Nashua, NH.

Besides that? No others.

Does it have a bowling alley in it?

[Rickstilwell1]

I saw through the window of a Pizza place that they had T2: The Arcade Game. I recognized the artwork from the Sega Genesis cartridge of Terminator 2.

[stevejack]

Hi...
The arcades were amazing even then, and they had regular pro am races across the parking lot. With such close proximity to Starlite swap meet, you could probably buy anything game or fun related within a one mile radius ;P

[Kiddo]

The Dave and Buster's here in Philly is almost ALL redemption games, save for a couple of things I.E the Sega Derby game (which is actually very fun), 2 or 3 classic games, two tons of Racing games and a LOT of FPS games, and some other random stuff like Madden mixed in. The only things I play in there are:

Sega Derby Owners
Mario Kart GP 2 (how they actually got this I don't know)
Donkey Kong/Jr./Mario Bros.
Roll-a-ball Derby
Super Trivia
Virtua Fighter 4


The prices aren't as bad as they used to be though, I spent 3+ hours in here on $20 in credits. I didn't play any redemption though, and I spent a ton of time on Sega Derby Owners (or whatever it's called).

I went to the Dave & Buster's in the Franklin Mills Mall once. Doesn't sound like that one, as the arcade selection is entirely different. Last I saw they had;

- Tekken 6 (a token JP import fighter, it seems)
- Guitar Hero Arcade
- an Ultracade, with mostly Capcom titles. It looked like it was mildly damaged when I got around to playing it as the player-1 lower-left button was slightly pushed upward compared to the other buttons (in a way that looked like it wasn't screwed in right) and required more force to be pushed down.
- Ok, so there was a DK/Jr./MB, so that's one arcade in common.
- A football arcade of... some sort. It looked recent.
- An Arcade adaptation of "Deal or No Deal" (huh?)
- A bunch of shooting games including, for some reason, Time Crisis 2, 4, and Crisis Zone, the House of the Dead 2 and 4, some other one with Dinosaurs, Target: Terror Gold, Ghost Squad and whatnot.
- A bunch of vehicle games, including two different motorbike games (one had a Harley-Davidson logo, so I just call it the Harley-Davidson arcade. The other I forget), and a few twin-cabinet car racers. Sega Derby Owners might've been there, I forgot. However, the one that catches my eye is the 8-player Daytona USA. I've never seen a racing game cabinet linked to that amount. Being a fan of the game, as well, I was glad to see it there.
- Some strange Microsoft-made war-combat simulations. These were so expensive to play I didn't bother.
- redemption videogames that look like direct rip-offs of popular flash games.

And that's all I can recall. I found the credit prices to be fairly reasonable for most the video arcades (with the exception of the Microsoft stuff). At some point I wanna go there again and the try the food.

[portnoyd]

Other than Tekken 6, that's pretty par for the course at D&Bs.

[Baloo]

I went to the Dave & Buster's in the Franklin Mills Mall once. Doesn't sound like that one, as the arcade selection is entirely different. Last I saw they had;

- Tekken 6 (a token JP import fighter, it seems)
- Guitar Hero Arcade
- an Ultracade, with mostly Capcom titles. It looked like it was mildly damaged when I got around to playing it as the player-1 lower-left button was slightly pushed upward compared to the other buttons (in a way that looked like it wasn't screwed in right) and required more force to be pushed down.
- Ok, so there was a DK/Jr./MB, so that's one arcade in common.
- A football arcade of... some sort. It looked recent.
- An Arcade adaptation of "Deal or No Deal" (huh?)
- A bunch of shooting games including, for some reason, Time Crisis 2, 4, and Crisis Zone, the House of the Dead 2 and 4, some other one with Dinosaurs, Target: Terror Gold, Ghost Squad and whatnot.
- A bunch of vehicle games, including two different motorbike games (one had a Harley-Davidson logo, so I just call it the Harley-Davidson arcade. The other I forget), and a few twin-cabinet car racers. Sega Derby Owners might've been there, I forgot. However, the one that catches my eye is the 8-player Daytona USA. I've never seen a racing game cabinet linked to that amount. Being a fan of the game, as well, I was glad to see it there.
- Some strange Microsoft-made war-combat simulations. These were so expensive to play I didn't bother.
- redemption videogames that look like direct rip-offs of popular flash games.

And that's all I can recall. I found the credit prices to be fairly reasonable for most the video arcades (with the exception of the Microsoft stuff). At some point I wanna go there again and the try the food.

Nah, there's another one in Philly down by Penn's Landing right under the Ben Franklin bridge. They have decent food, I will save that.

[Ryaan1234]

In The Parks Mall in Arlington, TX there's still a Tilt Arcade. A whole lot of redemption games and modern stuff, half of which seems to be partially broken. I did however play World Cup Pinball there, although one of the flippers was barely working.
In the Richland Mall in Waco, TX there's a Tilt (maybe called "Tilt's"?) Arcade. It's basically described as Steve put it: about half redemption, half standard arcade fair (crappy modern racing games and that stuff). Most of their modern stuff is fighting games. I was kinda suprised that it was crowded the last time I saw it.

I did go to an awesome arcade called "Game Works". It was operated or sponsored by Sega cause 98% of their machines were Sega machines. It was a huge, two story arcade though with a giant selection of machines. Went there for my senior band trip and it was awesome. One of my friends is a Sega nut and I'm sure it was a great experience for him too.

[portnoyd]

Gameworks >>>>>>>>>>>> D&Bs. Shame their locations are few and far between.

[HurricaneAndrew]

There is a place in the next town over from me (Fulton, MO) that is a combination game store and arcade. I can imagine that place is great. I hadn't been in it since it first opened, so they had very few games or items. I was going to go to it again today, but I got there and they were closed. It's possible that it was just closed for maintanence though.

[old_skoolin_jim]

I'm surprised none of the other New Englanders mentioned the arcades at Hampton Beach, NH and Salisbury beach, MA (neighboring border/coastal towns, for those unfamiliar to the region). I mean, compared to Fun World (which I've sadly never been inside) and Fun Spot, they're dumps, but there's still a fair amount of fun to be had.
Sadly, not as much as there used to be, though. I've been going to Hampton for the last 10 years and just made my first trip to Salisbury this year, and it's clear: arcades have definitely crapped out since 2000. The first few years, I was amazed at all the retro games they had. Strider, Turtles in Time, Pole Position, OutRun, Hang-On, Tron, an old "Name That Tune" game you couldn't even hear, and more old pins than you could shake a stick at.
Sadly though, their games have all either disappeared to be replaced with junk like Guitar Hero ($2 to play and MORE STILL to play certain songs?? F-that!), or just increasingly deteriorated with each passing year. Each year, I find more and more machines will eat quarters, or have faulty buttons/joysticks.
My first visit to Salisbury wasn't particularly thrilling, either. My brother told me joe's playland had a killer 2nd floor with a ton of retro games (I saw the youtube vid too), and the day I went, the upstairs was closed off for no reason. There was also another creepy arcade on the waterfront with a bunch of broken machines lined up along the back wall and zero staff inside. Their Jurassic Park pinball was in good shape, but I wouldn't have tried my luck with any of the other machines in that dump.
Although on the plus side, if anybody ever finds themselves in Gardner, MA, the Gardner 10-Pin bowling alley has a few good retro games: Tengen Tetris, Buster Bros., Ms. Pac-Man, Primal Rage and a few others. It's been a few years since I've been in there though, so I can't say they'll still have 'em.
...I friggin' miss arcades. :(

[old_skoolin_jim]

Gameworks >>>>>>>>>>>> D&Bs. Shame their locations are few and far between.

I did hit up GameWorks Las Vegas back in '03. I remember hating the fact all they had for DDR was the crappy DDR USA when MGM Grand had 3rd & 4th mixes and Stratosphere had a 5th mix. I did have a coupon that doubled the credits I bought, so I played lots of games that day- totally kicked Brave Firefighters' butt too. :)
But in defense of D&B's, I go to the Providence RI location and despite parents always bringing in their little kids late at night, it's still a good time for me and my fiancee & friends. They do have some cool stuff in their redemption center, too- my brother and I are going to get that Joe Montana autographed football for 1,000,000 tickets!
...We're currently at around 7,000. :p

[Compute]

Here in Appleton, WI we have Funset Boulevard, roughly 10,000 sq ft of newer games with some classics, pin, and redemption games, laser tag, bumper cars, etc. It is attached to a movie theater.

For older games I hit up JJ's Laundromat, I'm guessing it's a dude's collection since they have ST:TNG pin, Data East Star Wars pin, Raiden 1 and 2, Pac man, some 'Classics' compilation cabs, turbo outrun, etc. Not an arcade per se, but more games than any of the other places around here.

If anyone knows of a decent place up in Green Bay maybe you could post it? It's a bigger city so it SHOULD have an arcade..

[Kalisiin]

I feel ya. I grew up in the 80's and I remember hanging out at the arcade, and pumping all my quarters into those games. and I wish they HAD any real arcades, anymore, especially with retro-80's games!!

Heck, when my mom passes on, and leaves me the house, I already plan on converting our basement into my very own private 80's Arcade...complete with all my faves...

Crazy Climber, Cruisin' Galaga, Pole Position, Moon Patrol, Pac-Man, Q*Bert, Dig Dug...just to name a few. Seriously, I have a big basement, and it seems to me I could make my own little 80's retro arcade down there. Mom would never let me do it as long as she lives, she'd bitch about the electric bill.

I rent the upstairs of her house, currently, and have my home business up there, too. but I got plans for that basement when the house passes into my name!! I'll have my own arcade down there, and I'll invite any of y'all who wanna play REAL arcade games...like, from the 80's!!

Screw the 90's and beyond, if it wasn't made in the 80's I don't want it.

[Kalisiin]

Barcade in brooklyn!! you can bring your dog drink and play retro only arcade cabs!

Holy SHIT...you just described HEAVEN!!!

Where the hell is this place?? I'm only 75 miles from NYC.

My dog, booze, retro arcade games...I could stay forever.

[Collector_Gaming]

they are all over the north east still.. just gotta know where to look is all

ones i know of

Vermont

Theres a small one in Rutland Vermont in the Diamond Run Mall (surprised the place is still open)

in burlington theres Zachary's Pizza which has a arcade within it
and Pizza Putt (kinda like vermonts version of chucky cheese...sorta)
also at the Spare Time Bowling ally in colchester theres a small arcade

New York

in Lake George theres 2 decent size arcades that i know of downtown.

Maine
I know of a alright size arcade in York Beach
and theres a fairly large one in Old Orchard Beach thats attached to a theme park.

Florida
Theres a few i remember in orlando (this is 2003) i don't know if they are still there
In fort myers theres a place thats like a chucky cheese called "King Richards" thats pretty cool. with go carts, arcade, pizza, ect ect

New Hampshire
I saw i think 2 arcades in hampton beach
and then you have the world famous Fun Spot arcade
one of the oldest still operational arcades and it is the largest in the world
It has candle stick bowling, 2 mini golf courses, pizza, and 3 stories of classic arcade goodness
you want classic cabinets? No where and i mean no where in the world will you find more except maybe at that classic game auction in colorado they have every year.

They have the pacman machine billy mitchell did his perfect game on and yes you can play on it too.. they also have his king of kongs machine... and once again you can play on that too!
they have super pac man, ms pacman, baby pacman, pacman jr, donkey kong jr, super mario bros, tempest, asteroids, centepede, millipede, i mean i can go on and on and on and on and on and on and on
Best part about this arcade is they try to keep it the way it was in the 80s
They play nothing but 80s music through the speakers.
Some of the machines have a display card that will give a brief history about the game and the cabinet. They have plastered various classic game masters and their scores.
Fun Spot is also home to a annual world wide classic game tournament.

I have 2 dollars of their tokens if anyone wants to use em! haha..
cool thing is they date their tokens.. the oldest one i got is a 1985 just to show you the age of the place

[mattimeo310]

Boardwalks. At least the Jersey Shore boardwalk has a bunch of arcades. I do know for a fact that there is a classic arcade at the Jersey Shore also with many of the older arcade titles.

[lookfun78]

There is one in virgina beach It's a huge one with two haves and a huge target game the size of a dorm room. This one updates every year with the latest games like ddr.

[Collector_Gaming]

here cause i wanna make sure you guys understand how amazing this arcade is.. Heres a video of "Fun Spot"

heres a walk through the arcade by a arcade fan (maybe someone whos on here?!?!)

Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_ZETgxqCos

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq5rUahpEv4&feature=related

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Boardwalks. At least the Jersey Shore boardwalk has a bunch of arcades. I do know for a fact that there is a classic arcade at the Jersey Shore also with many of the older arcade titles.

Where once every arcade on the Seaside Heights boardwalk had arcade machines, now very few have any, one being the "Flashback" arcade in the Carousel Arcade on Casino Pier. And the repair/maintenance on those games is downright terrible. Most have monitors that are SORELY in need of re-capping and some have controls that are poorly functioning (if at all).

[otaku]

we have a few arcades here but they're tied to amusement centers and the machines tend to be in disrepair

[Rendclaw]

There are a couple in the Chicago area, and here in Ann Arbor there is Pinball Pete's, which needs more old school machines IMO. Run a google search and you might be surprised at what you find.

[BydoEmpire]

New Hampshire is the Mecca - you've got Funspot in Laconia, and the new Pinball Wizard that just opened in Pelham.

[old_skoolin_jim]

New Hampshire is the Mecca - you've got Funspot in Laconia, and the new Pinball Wizard that just opened in Pelham.

Pinball Wizard is pretty sweet, and it's only a 40-minute drive from Boston, for you tourists. Lots of old-school goodness, but I've ranted & raved in greater detail in other threads (and in my Yelp! review).

[mikey167]

Barcade in brooklyn!! you can bring your dog drink and play retro only arcade cabs!


Great place. I went there when i was in new york afew years back.

[atari2600land]

There's one in my town: Wunderland. It's been there forever, and it appears to not be closing any time soon.

[Rendclaw]

I'm planning a little getaway to Illinois to see what the Galloping Ghost Arcade is all about... $15, free play, no waiting (aside from waiting to play a game).

[stalepie]

(deleted)

[Fontaine Le Funk]

Phoenix has several. One of the largest is at Castles and Coasters which has maybe 70 games and about a dozen pinball machines too. This is where I first played Asteroids(!), so awesome... The mall it is near is kinda slowly dying, but last I saw they were renovating the CnC entrance, so they must be doing ok.

Update: I went back after the renovation, and they changed every machine first from coin doors to thin plastic cards to store credits and now to more permanent swipe style doors. Even the pinballs are changed. It's kinda weird with the green glowing, but Asteroids still rocks.

[peter_gunz]

At the Santa Monica Promenade there's an arcade with 90s fighters and early stuff like Super Mario Bros. arcade and Donkey Kong. Little Tokyo has an arcade, but mostly Japanese stuff and nothing 80s:(

[BydoEmpire]

My wife and I spent a long weekend in Daytona Beach a couple years ago and I went into 2 or 3 arcades. Each one a massive disappointment. They did have a handful of classic games, but lots of games weren't working, and most that actually ran had really bad monitors. Most of the floor space was redemption and skee ball.

The big McDonald's on I-Drive in Orlando advertises they have 100 arcade games, but it's 99% redemption. They had one Ms Pac Man/Galaga. The rest was all amusement stuff.

I have seen a number of laundromats here in Orlando that have relatively classic games (Galaga, Outrun, some early 90s Namco racer, etc). That seems to be one of the last holdouts.

[lookfun78]

I have one here in waldorf MD called game over. They have a facebook page. All I have to say is that they have some games that don't work and for some reason will not replace them with working machines. The great games they have working are rambo, terminator and my favorite itg 2. Facebook page found here http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001458864041 Oh they do have the three latest counsels for you to play and play movies.

[Rogmeister]

I went up to my mall today to walk for excercise (it was too cool to walk outside). There was an arcade there for a bit but this is the first time I've been there in months and it's long gone. There is, however, some sort of miniature golf in one store and I saw they had some arcade machines. I meant to go in and see what they had but I forgot to go in and see once my walking was done. Maybe I'll go back tomorrow and check it out.

[darthi8nt]

In Manassas Va we have a small mall and it has a time out in it with a few games. Tekken 5 and some of the oldies like Galaga and ms Pacman. I just got finished repairing a multicade and a ms pacman in a pizza parlor.

[Oldskool]

There are several here in Vegas, including the Pinball Hall Of Fame and Sega's Gameworks. I love this place.

[ganondorf]

In wisconsin, there was an arcade about 20 minutes away from me known as fun world. It was huge, had classics and modern games, and had a ferris wheel and miniature golf course inside. Sadly, the place closed up in november and there was a big auction in december, and I was to broke to attend at the time.

I seem to remember an arcade that served ice cream and played alot of queen music up north from when I was a kid. I believe it was in minocqua, not sure, I'll have to ask my parents to see if they remember the name of it, I hope its still around, but this was 10 years ago, so who knows.

[jesus666]

Wow, is the state of the US arcade business really this bad? here in my home town in England we have 11 arcade parlours in a row, each with over 30 games machines, mainly new stuff though and a lot of Lightgun games and dance machines.

I do live in a seaside resort though, which would skew things a lot, but most normal towns I go have a parlour or two from what I can remember.