What was the name of your childhood arcade?

[TheRealist50]

The arcade I always used to go to was called Happy Man Arcade, I still have a token from there too, I found it not too long ago in the basement lol.

[debian4life]

The Space Port in Harrisburg, PA.

[Sabz5150]

The Gameroom, Richmond VA

[Cinder6]

Mine was called The Library. Awesome name. Then they were shut down for selling kiddie porn (well, that was the rumor for the reason; I've always suspected it was drugs).

[modest9797]

Mine was called The Library. Awesome name. Then they were shut down for selling kiddie porn (well, that was the rumor for the reason; I've always suspected it was drugs).

Thats alittle scary.

[guitargary75]

Thats alittle scary.

I concure. That's really scary.

[darkhades]

The only arcade in my small town was called "Durants". It burned down, I think that was back in 1998.

[Tron 2.0]

Timeout,during the 80's and 90's befor the buyout by namco and it became cyberstation.Afther that they left town and i never seen one again.
http://timeouttunnel.com/

Though i will say the 80's was timeout golden years.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdNBk_liGvw

[Yamdasrd]

When I lived in Columbia, SC in the late 80s my mom took my brother and me to Aladdin's Castle in one of the malls every weekend.

When we moved to Korea in the late 80s, early 90s I usually went to random arcades all across Anjung-Ri, Osan, and Seoul. There were tons, all of which I never knew the names.

[Kevincal]

Here in California, it was the "Tilt" and "Scandia"...

[tcv]

"Fun Arcade," Metairie, LA

Yeah, not terribly creative...

[-dustburn-]

GOLD MINE - Damn, I thought my gold mine was local until reading this thread. Amazing that it was a chain. A chain that got bought by Nickles and Dimes Inc. - Or...
TILT FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT CENTER - Yep, I also frequented this place, still great games and one of the only choices in GREEN BAY WISCONSIN. In an odd twist of events I later on got to work there and within 6 months promoted to manager. My childhood dream was realized. I also got to work 4 years for Electronics Boutique and 2 of those years I worked for both.
Truly the best working days of my life.
I would also play arcade games at various places...but nothing real defined.

[Greg2600]

Game Town (Pine Brook, NJ) - An old church, now an Italian restaurant called Milan, across from a cemetary.

Here's somewhat of a picture....http://www.dericn.com/montville/hobbytowne/

Here's a site of a guy who collects arcade tokens, and has a fairly large list of East Coast arcade locations (text mostly)
http://www.geocities.com/btokens/trading.html

Begs the question, is there a Wiki out there for Arcade Locations, past and present? Would be cool if you could go on and contribute information somewhere centrally. I know they have them for amusement parks and roller coasters.

[guitargary75]

Here's somewhat of a picture....http://www.dericn.com/montville/hobbytowne/

Here's a site of a guy who collects arcade tokens, and has a fairly large list of East Coast arcade locations (text mostly)
http://www.geocities.com/btokens/trading.html

Begs the question, is there a Wiki out there for Arcade Locations, past and present? Would be cool if you could go on and contribute information somewhere centrally. I know they have them for amusement parks and roller coasters.

Tokens, I almost forgot about tokens.

[ronclon]

Didn't have any arcade in my town until I was 18, before that I played at Kenny's Supermarket. After 18 there was an arcade called Mike's but it closed after about 3 years.

[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.

[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.