Weird Night.

[Flack]

Last week, my wife went out of town on business for two days. I was supposed to pick her up Wednesday night at the airport at 8:30pm. I don't know when the last time you picked anyone up at an airport, but it's become an unbelievable hassle. At the OKC airport, you can't stop, you can't park, and you can't wait. All you can do is drive the five minute loop over and over, hoping your passenger is waiting outside. If you want to meet someone inside, you'll have to park ten minutes away, walk to the airport, meet the person, and walk back -- something I didn't want to do, since I had my 2 year old son with me.

My kid was being a but unwieldy so I had to get out of the house. I knew we couldn't wait at the airport, so we hopped in the car and started driving without a real destination.

A few miles past my house we drove past Cactus Jacks (the arcade I talked about here: http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24105). I decided this was a good way to kill an hour or so with my kid, so we pulled in.

I've read all these posts about the demise of the arcade ... well let me tell you, I can't imagine this one being around much longer. Despite having probably 150 machines plus pool tables and redemption machines, there were a total of five cars in the parking lot. There was a father and son there playing pool, and a boyfriend/girlfriend making out and playing Tetris. The other three cars appeared to belong to employees.

Every now and then a kid would come and go. One kid came in and played DDR for a bit. The same kid played a drumming game for a while. Basically, Mason and I had run of the place. We played Foosball for a while (he sat on a barstool and kept trying to grab the ball) and some other games. Later we played pinball. There was no one around us or near us at any time. This was at roughly 7pm on a Wednesday night.

Cactus Jacks was a staple of my childhood, but I can't imagine it being around much longer. Kind of makes me sad that I won't be able to share that place with my son once he gets older.

[Classicgamesdepot]

The demise of arcade's truly is a sad state, although in your case it might be a good thing.. could be a mighty fine selection of games to pick out for yourself. If you have room for em, make an offer on some of their better machines when you can tell that place is really gonna bite the dust..

on a happier note, some arcades like the Nickel Nickel chains still do pretty well, I guess this is because who can pass up time crisis 2 for .15 a play..

[SoulBlazer]

We've talked about it some in other threads, but sad to say, it just goes to show the decline of the arcade.

One arcade that was ALWAYS busy (at least during the weekend) was Funspot at Weirs Beach NH. When I went to college at Plymouth State we used to go there a couple times a month.

[§ Gideon §]

Yeah, I share some sorrow... I know what it feels like--real depressing, as if the world has been flipped like a coin. There is something artful in the sight of an old, dark, magic place dying a slow death. With a puff of smoke, the magic disappears, and there's a Foot Locker covering up years of child-like fun.

[Videogamerdaryll]

Man that's sad..I hate to see Arcades go..

How much do they charge per game..?

[Raedon]

Cactus Jacks was a staple of my childhood, but I can't imagine it being around much longer. Kind of makes me sad that I won't be able to share that place with my son once he gets older.

The mall here still has an Alladin's Castle but there are only racing games, fighters, and rythem machines. I used to go in there about two years ago to play some Galaga but that is now gone.

[Sotenga]

Dying arcades... one word immediately comes to mind when this depressing subject is brought up: PLAYLAND. Being a PA gamer, you can imagine how hard the closing of this grand gameroom hit me. The wound still bleeds. At least I was actually able to go there a few times before its demise. Goddammit...

But I've told you all about the arcade in the market... yes, the one with Outrun and Samurai Shodown V. There were quite a few people there last time I went, so maybe there's some hope still... it's a faint glimmer, but it's there.

[Chunky]

The mall here still has an Alladin's Castle but there are only racing games, fighters, and rythem machines. I used to go in there about two years ago to play some Galaga but that is now gone.

ditto, well depending on the mall, one has nothing but namco games most not in english, and a DDR machine to counter that. the other 2 have nothing but sega games in it. not one namco game. i don't get that mix.

[Flack]

Cactus Jack's has a nice mix of games. There are probably half a dozen rhythm games, another five or six pinball games, and then a pretty even split between newer games and classic ones. Most of the games that are 3 or 4 tokens at other places are 2 tokens at CJ's. We played the Sega Skater game and 18 Wheeler and both were 2 tokens.

[tholly]

Arcades killed themselves. Games used to cost only one token or quarter to play. Now, any new game that comes out costs 2 - 4 tokens if not more. I think i even remember seeing $1.25 machines before....which is just crazy. myabe if the prices for everything stayed $0.25 then more people would go. I remember when i stopped playing games at an arcade because i figured i was paying $1.00 to play a game for a few minutes when i could just save that dollar and put it towards a console game that I could play at any time that i wanted for free.

[maxlords]

Exactly. If they'd stayed a quarter a play, they probably wouldn't have died. Often, I was willing to spend a whole roll of quarters at $.25 a play, but at a buck a play, I just don't get the playtime that made it worth while to go in when everything was a quarter. 40 games is a fun few hours, 10 games is a quick waste of money. And the $1.00 games are even harder than the old quarter ones....you lose much faster. Basically as soon as they jacked to $.50 you could see it coming....see the crowds thinning, etc.

[Kejoriv]

We've talked about it some in other threads, but sad to say, it just goes to show the decline of the arcade.

One arcade that was ALWAYS busy (at least during the weekend) was Funspot at Weirs Beach NH. When I went to college at Plymouth State we used to go there a couple times a month.


Plymouth State, Hell yea! I just graduated from there.

[SoulBlazer]

Small world -- I was just talking to someone else who graduated from there also. :)

I've been telling these people what a great arcade that Funspot is -- used to go with my friends about twice a month. Of course, I don't think anyone else here has been there. ;)

Back on topic, I've always assumed the main reason arcades died was because home technology got better and we could put games directly out in the home market that used to be arcade only.

[Chunky]

oh hell, i spoke too soon about it.

http://www.heavybox.com/Death.jpg

I was there last week, now what do i do? actually go with my GF shopping in the mall.....ahhh ahhh


AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH *die*