What was the name of your childhood arcade?
Wasn't my childhood, back then there was only pinball, just dating myself. But there was an Aladdin's Castle at Northwood's Mall in Peoria,IL. Then there was Bally's Great Escape. But then it seemed like everyplace had at least one arcade game. Great memories, ahh glory days! Now there's nothing to be had anywhere it seems except Chuckie Cheese.
There were three arcades from my childhood/adolescence that I remember distinctly:
1. I can't remember the name of this one, but it was located in the Atlanta suburb of Chamblee right next to a place called Athen's Pizza House. My folks used to take my brother and I there a lot when we were both very young and we'd always stop at the arcade next door after we ate.
2. For many years there was a two-story arcade in Lennox Mall in the Buckhead area of Atlanta. It was called Tilt, and I believe it was a franchise. There was also one at Perimeter Mall in Atlanta. I preferred the Lennox location though.
3. A small arcade in Sandy Springs (another Atlanta burb) called Diversions was where I spent a large preponderance of my teen years. I hung out there so much that the Assistant Manager ended up persuading the Manager to hire me. After working there a year I quit; multiple other businesses in the same shopping center got held up at gunpoint and I had to carry around a huge wad of money to make change for people. No thanks.
Edit: Ok, guess I should have read the thread before responding. Seems like Tilt dominated the arcade industry based on the responses here.
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Johnny Z's
we only had one and it went by the name of "Pip's"
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Way too many to list.
Although I guess I consider myself fortunate to have lived close enough to Japan in the early 80's that I would go there at least once or twice a year and visit arcades arcades circa 1980-1994. Heck I remember when most games were still black and white there.
Tokens, Wright's Barnyard, a ton of Aladdin's Castles, the local roller rink, and even Sears.
Those places had a whole ton of weird/rare games between them that I haven't seen since. Timber, The Glob, Mr. F. Lea, Anteater, The Pit, Fantasy, Warp Warp, Munch Mobile, I Robot, Bega's Battle, Mazer Blazer, Radical Radial, Adventures of Robby Roto, Danger Zone, Street Smart, Sly Spy, Kageki, Heavyweight Champ, Hunchback, Lost Tomb, Peter Pack Rat, Shrike Avenger, Star Rider, Shanghai Kid, Wrestle War, Naughty Boy, Jack the Giantkiller, Zwackery, Gondomania, Liberator, Slither, Konami GT, Eyes, Hat Trick, Goal to Go, Arm Wrestling, Firefox, Astron Belt, Viper, and a bunch more.
I can't remember what I had for dinner last night but I remember those games.
"I am way too lesbian for that shit."
Sorry, no childhood arcade here. However I used to go to an arcade named Quarters in Washington (state) and a Capcom Nickel City in southern California. Those were some good places. I tried to go to all the arcades near Bellevue, WA, especially the ones with DDR.
There was a place east of Seattle which I can't remember the name of. I went there by bus and it had a lot of arcade games and ticket machines. It seems it had a "magic" theme to the place and they'd host private parties. There was also a restaurant area that was never too crowded compared to the rest of the place and it had decent food without too high of prices.
You'd pay to get in, and then you'd use a card with a magnetic strip on the back to play the games. When you first entered you'd pay to put a balance on the card and then you could just keep using it until you balance ran out. I used to go there because it had a lot of music games (I believe two DDRs, one Samba de Amigo, Para Para Paradise, Pop'n Music, and one Step It Up).
Cyberstation in the Hudson Valley Mall, Kingston NY. As far as I know it's still there (I believe under the same name even), though not as good as it used to be.
Dan B.
It was Circus Circus and it was in a shitty strip mall that's no longer there. It was a arcade/pizza joint where kids had birthday parties and other shit before it went downhill.
My only real memory of the place beyond gaming was when it was in its last days, a friend and I were asked outside if we wanted to buy some cocaine. The guy made no effort to conceal what he was doing either. He didn't ask when we were right by him. He just yelled it right when he saw us (about 30 feet away in the parking lot). He also made no effort to disguise what he was selling. He just yelled, "Hey, you guys wanna buy some cocaine??" I've never really had someone be so obvious about it before. It was kind of odd. We didn't buy any and didn't stay long. By then, most of the good games were gone.
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What the fuck?!Originally Posted by AceAerosmith
ZIING!
The Electric Palace
Dingies arcade, new britain ct.
i ended up getting a part time job in the morning vacuuming the pool tables for game monies. i freaked when they finally got splatterhouse in.
Major Magic's. It was a Chuck E. Cheese like place but with different characters, and way better pizza. Man, I miss that place.
Ah, I remembered the name of that Washington arcade: it was called Illusionz and it was located in Issaquah, WA. Looks like it closed down in 2007 or so. Sad times. But while it was open I enjoyed it quite thoroughly - it had the highest concentration of Japanese music 'n' rhythm games I've seen anywhere in America. You can read what people thought of it here here here and here if you'd like to know what it was like.
Also, in my hometown there was a nice little 5 Buck Pizza which had an arcade. The front of the business was the pizzeria but the back contained air hockey, billiards, and a handful of old arcade games including a fun 3-in-one or 4-in-one SNK cabinet. It wasn't the fanciest or most up-to-date arcade I've been to, but for a time it was the largest collection of arcade games in my town. :'(
Federal Way, Washington
The Spectrum (Was an old movie house, turned Disco, turned video arcade).
Mickeys
The Gold Mine at Sea-Tac Mall
Bonies is one I remember clearly. I think there may have been an 'electric dreams' at one stage. And then in the 90's some sort of franchise called Einsteins.
The few years I spent in College Station, Tx in the mid 80's, there was a Time Out at Post Oak Mall, 2 Two Bits arcades (one in the Kroger shopping center next to Subway and the other on University Drive by Texas A&M), a Games Galore next to Bennigan's on Texas Ave., and Chuck E. Cheese.
I always went to Two Bits in the Kroger shopping center because it was close to my house and the selection of cabs was quite stellar to be a mom & pop arcade.
Last edited by MIZPHIT; 11-16-2011 at 11:50 AM.
Mine was DG's Arcade in Warwick, RI. For so many years that was the spot to go to play the latest arcade games. Sadly they closed down years ago and the Warwick mall arcade picked up the slack. But then the flooding that took place about 2 years ago caused most of the mall to be redesigned and the arcade was gone.
Aladdin's Castle, funway freeway, fun factory, Putt Putt Golf and Games, just to name a few.
@Streetball 21 I know this is an old post, but I remember Robotar vividly too. It was the first arcade I was introduced to the Xmen game, Mortal Kombat I & II, Terminator 2, lots of game memories. I remember double token Tuesdays too, where $5 could take you far.
Any memories of Tilt, Nickle Arcade, and the Crossroads Diamond Jim's (or Aladdin's Castle, I forget the name of that one)?
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