What was the name of your childhood arcade?

[BydoEmpire]

There was an Alladin's Castle in the mall, and downtown was Fantasy Isle. The first floor was a D&D shop. You'd go up a winding, wrought-iron staircase to enter the arcade. The walls were done up in paper mache or something to make it look like a cave. It was awesome. I loved that place.

[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

[scooterb23]

I can remember 3 arcades in Muncie, Indiana.

1. Aladdin's Castle at the mall - this is where I had my proudest moment ever, by getting a crowd of people rooting me on as I totally destroyed Discs of Tron. Also, where I first played pinball.

2. In the strip mall at the corner of McGalliard and Wheeling... I think it used to be called Insert Coin or something like that. First place I ever saw the Nintendo vs. cabs... I was a master at Tennis.

3. Village Bowl - the arcade at the bowling alley had better selection than the mall, it's where my love affair with Bubbles began.

A special note to the Fun 'n Games at the Washington Square Mall in Indianapolis...as this is where I first got to play the Hercules pinball machine. Another not so great game, that I always remembered fondly.

[Speed Racer]

I'm pretty close to Lexington, KY and I remember going to Alladin's Castle but probably the one I was at the most was Tilt in the Florence Mall.

[Smashed Brother]

The arcade that I remember playing at the most in my early teens was the "Tilt" in Westdale Mall, located in Cedar Rapids Iowa. It used to be an "Aladdin's Castle" and was kinda small, but nearly quadrupled in size when it became "Tilt". My friends and I would literally ride our bikes all the way across the city just to go spend a couple of dollars there! Sadly, on a recent visit after some odd 14 years away, I discovered that Westdale is a former shell of itself Some of the other arcades that I remember throughout my youth:

Quik Trip (Cedar Rapids, IA): A gas station that had the first TMNT, Superman, and one of the Neo-Geo MVS units. A gas station!!

Kwik Trip (Cedar Rapids, IA): Different gas station from the above... they had Final Fight and the Pinbot machine.

Chapman's Fun Center (Cedar Rapids, IA): It was a very small amusement center by K-Mart, but they had a decent arcade. I first played Kangaroo there.

Mayfield Bowling (Cedar Rapids, IA): They vastly expanded their game room one day, and it went from having just SFII to having around 20 arcade units or so.

Worlds of Fun (Kansas City, MO): My mom brought me here for vacation and the first thing I did was check out the arcade. First time playing Super C, Temple of Doom and The Goonies.

Gameroom in the BX (Lackland AF Base, San Antonio TX): During boot camp, a few others from my squadron, along with myself stopped here while getting some provisions. First time that I ever played Ehrgeiz. Unfortunately, one of the TI's discovered that we weren't supposed to be in there.... lucky for us, he didn't rat us out!

[Flack]

I grew up in Yukon, a suburb of Oklahoma City. In the 80s, Yukon had several arcade: there was one over by the bowling alley (long gone), one called "Starbucks" off Vandament and Holly and another one that I've forgotten off of Vandament and Cornwell. Then there were the ones in the bowling alley and skating rink which were large as well. In Oklahoma City there was Cactus Jack's (still there) and a few others (I went to the same Showbiz that Namzep mentioned). Crossroads Mall had an Aladdin's Castle (still there), plus there were a few Tilt's around as well.

I mentioned all of these and told fun stories about them in this podcast.

[MrSparkle]

"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

haha thats the name of a strip club that used to be open around me.

[Rogmeister]

There were no arcades during my childhood...considering I grew up in the 50s and 60s

[Cryomancer]

I had an Aladdin's Castle I tried to get to whenever possible and a Tilt that was even more rare to get to. There was also some namco based one in themall for awhile.

East peoria had a local one for about two seconds (it was gone by the next time i was in town), deer creek had a place with a jukebox and a pinball table that lasted a similar amount of time. there was recentely a pool hall with some games in the back that closed before I even got around to going to it. it's closed now, still with it's "grand opening" sign above it.

the current mall arcade was a decent cyberstation but is now a dinky time out.

[gameofyou]

There's one that stands out in my mind. It was called "Old Town". Good times...

[Greg2600]

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.

[drewbrim]

It's hard to pick a favorite since there were several I used to frequent. They all have a special place in my childhood. But my favorite memory was from the Red Baron. I had a birthday party there once and it was only open to my friends and I, and all of the games were turned on "free play". Best two hours ever!

[guitargary75]

There were no arcades during my childhood...considering I grew up in the 50s and 60s

Hence, "the old man in the cave." Just kidding, but I always forget other people outside my generation played video games. I grew up in the late 70's and early 80's and I always felt that generation had to be the only one playing video games. Of course I was wrong and all people of different ages play them. However, when I think of my childhood, the arcade is one of the places I will always miss that I cannot go back to. It's a shame the new generation of players will never experience what it was like.

[Masco73]

Gold Mine

[Streetball 21]

I grew up and still live in San Antonio, TX. I remember going to Gold Mine and Aladdin's Castle in the local malls. However, the main arcade I went to the most was Diamond Jim's, which later turned in to Diamond J's. They had two locations, one at the local mall (Westlakes) and one in a shopping center, which had a bad ass snackbar and pool tables. I believe the location at the shopping center closed and the one in the mall remained. After a while they changed the name to Robotar. Tuesdays was the best day since it was 10 tokens for a dollar. I spent most of my time playing Rastan, Cyberball, Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat and many other games. About a few years ago, the arcade closed and so did the mall that it was in.

Only one arcade that I know of still remains at Ingram Park Mall here in SA. They have all the usual popular games and they also have Mario Kart GP!!!!!

[ccovell]

Growing up in (North) Vancouver, B.C., the arcades that I remember best from my childhood were:

Circuit Circus: Your typical small arcade that got in the latest games but closed in the mid/late-90s. I used to head down the street (Lonsdale) on weekends with my brother and we'd play Midnight Resistance co-op there.

Hippo Club arcade: A slightly seedier, larger place in lower Lonsdale that had a whole lot of imported arcade games with squiggly writing (to a kid), in small, weird, sit-down cabinets (Astro City, now I know) that had ashtrays so the kids could smoke and not make a mess. Was gutted by a "fire" in the mid-90s, IIRC. A cool, mysterious place with a game called Super Pang that I liked to play with my bro.

And finally, I spent some time at Vancouver Airport. The international terminal had many cool arcade games, of which I remember playing Elevator Action. The domestic terminal had only 1 or 2 games, IIRC: Donkey Kong and Frogger.

[Pete Rittwage]

Game Trek - in Madison, Ohio

They also rented video tapes before such a thing was popular (early, early 80's) and sold the Bally Astrocade and some console games.

[vgc]

I grew up in North Olmsted, Ohio. About 15 miles west from VGC and my Current Home. I used to go to The Great American Gameroom in Great Northern Mall, Up to Par Arcade & The Local Dairy Queen and Godfathers Pizza. Bring Back the Arcades!!!!

Mike : )