What was the name of your childhood arcade?

[guitargary75]

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?

[Sudo]

Salem Willows in Salem, MA. I only got to go there a couple times a year, so I had to make the most of it.

[Deadman]

The chain and mall-based arcades here were "TILT" and "Aladdin's Castle". But I have to say that most of my gaming was done in the back room of Pizza Places and ice cream shops! Mama's Pizza, Polar Bear Ashburn's, Taco Bueno and of course, the little side room in EVERY 7-11!

[Sniderman]

We had an Aladdin's Castle at the local mall too, but my favorite local mom & pop arcade had a great name:

"Beepz"

[GrandAmChandler]

"Space Port"



EDIT: Some Pics here: http://timeouttunnel.com/album_spaceport_training.htm

Looked just like that, but darker and smokier.

[RadiantSvgun]

Namco had a place called "time out" that used to be filled with tons of fighting games. Now its gone.....

[InsaneDavid]

Bullwinkle's Family Food & Fun in Santa Clara was a kick ass over the top arcade that threw Chuck E. Cheese to the floor, I miss it dearly. The big upstairs TILT in the Vallco Fashion Park mall in Cupertino always brings back great memories, first place I played Virtua Racing, Time Traveler on the Sega Hologram system and others. They had a four player cocktail Hot Rod in the back corner, not to mention the big pneumatic shooting gallery - I imagine it's what the Nintendo beam gun shooting ranges in the 1970's were like although the one at TILT was like a setpiece from Pirates of the Caribbean (the ride, not the overhyped film series).

Alas though, my favorite would have to be the old hole in the wall Galaktican Arcade that used to be over on Prospect in San Jose up until about oh, ten years ago. Small, always hopping until well into the early morning, complete with what one could I suppose consider underage hookers outside at the front door.

Still do have the Golfland in Milpitas however, I swear - that place hasn't changed a bit. The games may come and go but the atmostphere of a crowded arcade remains the same.

[zemmix]

Bullwinkle's Family Food & Fun

Bullwinkle's for me too. Except not the Santa Clara one but the one in Montclair (socal). I wish I could see it again today as it was. Its still there and its still an amusement place called family fun center or something but it's just not the same.

Edit:

Tomorrowland Arcade in Disneyland! I almost forgot that one. It was located next to the Space Mountain exit and Star Tours exit. Two floors of gaming goodness with a huge scale X-Wing fighter hanging from the ceiling. They had tons of great games back in the early 90s or so. Still is an arcade but only the bottom floor and its all either racing games or music games.

[diskoboy]

Dear God - I had several, since I moved around so much, as a kid...

-Irmo Skating Rink (Irmo, SC. - long gone. It's where I discovered Pac-Man.
-Family Video Center (Irmo, SC. - Had my 7th birthday there. It was a Captain D's that was turned into an arcade. It was gone 2 years later. But they had some great games. I'd spend most of my time playing Crazy Climber)
-Barrel of Fun (used to be at Dutch Square Mall, Columbia, SC. My next door neighbors ran the peanut/candy shop next door... I believe it was called 'Cromers', The one with the live monkeys....)
-Land of Oz (Later an Aladdin's Castle. in the now defunct Bush River Mall, Columbia, SC.)
-Bentwood Fun Factory (Brentwood, TN. - I was getting a haircut, next door, the day they were raided for gambling machines. The building was torn down about 2 weeks later. This was 1984...)
-Putt-Putt Golf & Games (Columbia, SC. and Knoxville, TN. - The Knoxville one had a dedicated Major Havoc machine for the longest time...)
-Aladdin's Castle (West & East Towne Malls, Knoxville, TN - the one in WTM is gone now, the ETM location had a dedicated I, Robot machine. And Century Plaza, Birmingham, AL. - the only place I've ever seen a Frenzy machine in the wild. Also gone. I'd go to this one when visiting relatives.)
-Gold Mine (Hickory Hollow Mall - Nashville, TN. It's still an arcade, I think it's a 'Tilt' now. They own the space. It was bad-assed during the golden age. And when there was no crime in that end of town. It sucks now.)
-ANY Chuck E. Cheese/Showbiz Pizza from 1981-1985.

Current arcades....

Snookers - (Nashville, TN. - The seediest pool hall you can imagine. But a damn good selection of games. New and old. They've had a Time Pilot and Centipede machine there for as long as I can remember.)
Dave & Busters - (Opry Mills Mall - Nashville, TN. - I CAN SMOKE IN THERE!!! A fairly good selection of very new games - ours has 2 HotD4 machines, 2 Ghost Squad, and a twin After Burner Climax. Thrown in with some oldies - Namco Class of 81, Space Invaders Sliver Edition, and DK/DKjr/Mario Bros.)

[MrSparkle]

Cyberstation in the galleria mall in middletown ny, its still there (though in modern bastardized arcade form). i had my 10th birthday party at this place! i remember they had a cool multiplayer tank sim that we all blew alot of tokens on during that trip (4 per play). they recently sold their galaga/mrs pacman 20th anniversary arcade machine which is pretty much the final nail in the coffin as far as im concerned. now its just a "wretched hive of scum and villainy" aka ddr, and kiddy skill games!

[mailman187666]

funworld in Nashua, New Hampshire. They used to have every game imaginable. First place I ever played Final Fight. Its still open but its mostly ticket games and some light gun games. The place isn't really being kept up and I'm pretty sure it will go out of business sooner than later. My favorite arcade still to this day is Funspot in Laconia, NH.

[rvcontre]

In Terre Haute, IN, Galaxy in Honey Creek Mall. Great little arcade. Always had the newest fighters right away. The old creepy bastard even got that Sega hologram cowboy game which the title, obviously, escapes me. :P

[Brian Deuel]

Funway Freeway, Aladdin's Castle, Someplace Else, Silver Castle, Crazy Cone, Putt Putt Golf and Games, Showbiz Pizza, Chuck E Cheese, Fuzzy's Arcade, and Dave's Place, just to name a few. We had a million different arcades.

And just for a laugh, this picture is what Fuzzy's is now:

[Pantechnicon]

"The Happy Bear" in Santa Fe, New Mexico. They operated under that moniker for the first half of the 1980's, after which they changed the name to "Jets" owing in part (I assume) to the installation in the place of a full-sized DC-9 cockpit mockup. Must have been part of an old flight trainer or something. I think they closed around 1995 or so.

Last time I went by the place it had become a wholesale outlet for Southwestern-style pottery.

But if you really wanted the kick-ass arcade experience the place to go was the Malibu Grand Prix track here in Albuquerque. Wall-to-wall (mostly) Atari cabs and of course go-karts. The Malibu is now a used car dealership, which is sort of ironic, but at least that's a more dignified fate than their track in Houston. That's just depressing...

[Bojay1997]

Fun Fair was the main one I would visit in Chula Vista, California. We also had a Malibu Grand Prix in the Miramar area of San Diego and Gold Mine at University Towne Center Mall. So many memories.

[thetoxicone]

Besides the usual alladin's castle the only other place was in the old mall in my hometown and didn't have a name that I could remember.

[Hep038]

The main one was called Jolly Ox arcade. It was in a shopping strip called Greens corners in Norcross, GA. The arcade at the mall was called Gold Mine I think, and I believe it was a chain.

[DigitalSpace]

At first, it was just Chuck E Cheese. One of the main reasons my mom bought me an NES was so I wouldn't ask to play arcade games at the store or when we were at the mall, though sometimes I'd get lucky and she'd let me play a round of Donkey Kong Jr. or Pac-Man while we were at the laundromat. Every once in a while, we'd go to Chuck E Cheese for a birthday party or because I had a good report card.

When I was in high school, I'd go to the Wunderland near Clackamas Town Center with a friend every month or so. That Wunderland later relocated to a theater in downtown Milwaukie - they gutted one of the three auditoriums and put arcade games in it, and the other two auditoriums show cheap second-run films. However, the Clackamas Wunderland was just an arcade.

Anyways, here's the arcades I remember seeing around town back in the day:
-The one at the old Eastport Plaza mall that I can't remember the name of. I think it had "Electric" in the name. When we first moved by Eastport Plaza in the early 90's, my cousin and I went in there one or two times where hanging out. It closed shortly before the mall did (today, Eastport Plaza is a large strip center).
-One at Clackamas Town Center, next to Arby's in the food court. Can't remember the name of that one either. After it closed, the space was closed off and used as storage or a mall office or something.
-A Tilt at Lloyd Center, next to the theater in the food court. It's still open.
-The Wunderland at the Avalon Theatre on Belmont. Also still in business.
-The aforementioned Wunderland on 82nd near Clackamas TC. Unlike the Avalon and Milwaukie, it was just a large arcade.
-The aforementioned Chuck E Cheese, on 92nd and Powell. Still open.
-Bullwinkle's in Wilsonville. Still open.

[Mianrtcv]

We had Super Amusements (verrry original), Adventureland & Peter Pan.

[Soviet Conscript]

"Giggles" at the washington mall in washington, PA

played alot of my favorite games there and even had my birthday party there once. my reletive owned the pizzia shop right across from it as well so it was always nice to stop by and grab a slice of pizzia after some arcade gaming