Game Galaxy

[Flack]

Whenever I hear about cool little hole-in-the-wall places, even if they're halfway across the country, I always make a mental note of it. With my job, you never know where I'll end up. So a year or two ago when I heard that DreamTR had opened a retro arcade in the middle of Nashville, I filed that information away.

(Did I mention earlier this week that I took a road trip from Oklahoma City to Durham, North Carolina? Did you know I-40 goes through Nashville on its way from Oklahoma City to North Carolina?)



Game Galaxy is the type of arcade that people are constantly claiming doesn't exist anymore. Many people feel arcades have been ruined by ticket redemption games. Game Galaxy has no ticket redemption games. There's no air hockey, no skee-ball, no pool tables, and no giant stuffed animals hanging from the ceiling enticing kids to pump pockets full of quarters into ticket dispensers. Instead, Game Galaxy looks like pretty much every arcade I ever attended in the 80s, down to the lack of lighting and the awesome selection of games.



That's Spy Hunter, Karate Champ, Donkey Kong Jr., Popeye, Duck Hunt, Arkanoid, and Castlevania side-by-side. This isn't the "retro" area -- the whole damn place is the "retro" area. In the short amount of time I was there I played TRON, Double Dragon, Excitebike, Congo Bongo, Burgertime, and Bubble Bobble -- all for a quarter each. There's an entire fighting side to the arcade as well, and I saw multiple Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, King of Fighters and Tekken machines lined up, among others. (For a complete list of the arcade's inventory, click here.)

Jason, one of the arcade's co-owners, was kind enough to give me a quick tour and even took me to their game storage area where I got to see another 70 or so cabinets, machines like Tempest, Tutankhamen, Time Crisis III, Food Fight, all on standby. Both the arcade area and the storage area have rows of pinball machines. The storage area alone has Bride of Pinbot, Earthshaker, The Black Knight 2000, and Guns n' Roses. I didn't get a good look at all the pinball tables out on the main floor, but I'm pretty sure I saw Pinbot, High Speed, Fun House, and maybe a dozen others.

In the center of Game Galaxy (past the multiple red tent Nintendo cabinets) is the console area. Consoles can be played for a paltry sum. Game Galaxy also buys and sells game consoles and games. It's the only game store in the mall, and does solid business on its own (bringing in more than the arcade games, occasionally).

Game Galaxy is located in the Hickory Hollow Mall in Antioch, TN (just minutes from I-40). If you're even in the neck of the woods, I highly encourage you to stop by and bring a roll of quarters with you.

Link: GameGalaxyArcade.com

(Reposted from robohara.com)

[Rendclaw]

Ahh Bride of Pinbot, one of my favorite pinball machines of all time.

The last time I was in what I think was a true arcade was when I was in Spokane back in 2006, but I think that it had ticket games, which kind of disqualifies it. We have Pinball Pete's here in Ann Arbor, but again, it has ticket games.

To my way of thinking, it is a combination of the ticket games, the dance games and their ilk, the advancement of home consoles, and emulation all combined to kill off arcades. Once the PS1 took hold in 1995, that was the death knell.

One of my life dreams was to own an arcade myself, but these days its a losing prospect big time. Its a pity, really, but such is life.

[diskoboy]

I'm in there every other weekend to get my Pinball and Robotron fix.

I own that Robotron... (not literally, I just usually have the high score on it.)

[Mitch]

Yeah, I was there last summer. It's an awsome arcade!

Mitch

[TheDomesticInstitution]

Boy it's a shame, that it's so far away. The funny thing is, that this is probably the closest classic arcade to me. Dave and Buster's Sucks. If I ever head that way, I'll make sure to make it a stopping point. Thanks for the write-up Flack.

[cyberfluxor]

All I ever read is good stuff on Game Galaxy. It's an 11hrs, 700 miles drive from my neck of the woods so it's a decent distance. There are some tech and game gatherings I hear of out that way a few people I know road trip to each year, so maybe one of these times I'll catch a ride and see what's going down. By "way" meaning TN, so maybe not "close" by; would just have to see when that time comes.