Arcades

[Mr. DS]

One thing I'm sad to see less of in this world in my area is arcades.  I spent a good deal growing up having fun in these places and being in one is like comfort food.  I used to go to this place a lot with my older brother.

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYO6DFAF-Js

We do have a Dave & Busters in Providence which is a great place.  Plus they have a bar in the arcade in case you want a beer while you play Daytona 500. 

[Mr_Vindictive]

Sadly, arcades seem to have gone the way of the buffalo.  I recall in the 80s and even up until the late 90s seeing arcades all around.  It seems that the gaming community has given up on the idea of the arcade, but I have no idea why.  I always loved them, and socializing at the arcade was just as much fun as pwning someone at Street Fighter II.

Dave and Buster's looks like fun.  I see commercials for the places constantly but I don't believe there is one even remotely close to me.  I do like the idea of a bar in the arcade.  I recall an Italian restaurant that used to have an arcade with a small window between it and the bar.  One could order a pitcher of beer while playing games.  Of course I was too young to do so at the time, but I certainly would enjoy something like that now.

[Torgo]

Arcades were flourishing before home gaming caught up to and zoomed past a lot of what arcades were offering.  I think arcades are still hugely popular in Japan, but here in the states you don't find them hardly anymore.

I agree with the assessment that socializing at arcades was just if not more fun than actually playing games.  Back in the early 90's an arcade called Mindboggle near where I live, I practically lived at that place. I had a ton of friends that I met there and I just had a blast hanging out watching people play (which was also due to me not having much money in high school  ).

I remember when Mindboggle got in the 1st Mortal Kombat machine and myself and everyone was literally there waiting for them to open so that we could play it.  Same thing with each incarnation of Street Fighter 2 or whatever.  I really miss those days....................   

There used to be an arcade near my locality that had nothing but old school vintage arcade games like Pac-Man, Galaga, Tempest, Tron, Robotron and the like but it has since closed down unfortunately. 

[HappyGilmore]

We used to have 3 arcades, one in three different malls.  Then, one mall closed down, and another closed it's arcade.

Now it's just the one mall with an arcade, and many of the games, sadly, aren't that interesting.

[BlackAngel75]

I remember a couple in NY.  I remember one in Times Square was always packed, wasting money on Street Fighter vs. Marvel Super Heroes.  Besides the XXX movie theaters I finally went to on my 18 birthday, the arcade gave me an excuse to go there.

Then there was Astroland, in Brooklyn (Coney Island).  There's probably a couple of small spots around, but back in the days, it was at a point where you could finish your coin-op, turn around and play skeeball.

I forgot, there was one last arcade on 42nd St.  I had forgotten the name of it, but you could play it all: pinball and video games, two floors of it.  It was where I first saw that Dance Dance Revolution.  It was closed down some years back because of constant violence with the high school kids.

[Mr. DS]

Arcades were flourishing before home gaming caught up to and zoomed past a lot of what arcades were offering. 

I'm with you on that which I believe to be part of the arcade's demise.  I think the graphics on home games have gotten so phenomenal that many people have forgotten about arcades. 

Perhaps if there is one thing that will save arcades its going retro.  Instead of hi-fi games, put a bunch of 80s and 90s classics.  Stuff like Karate Champ, Punch Out, SF2, MK1, etc.  Also add in ski-ball with the other fun interactive games.   Theres one arcade at this beach I go to that has all the classic games as they were in the 80s.  The place is always packed. 

[AnubisVonMojo]

Then there was Astroland, in Brooklyn (Coney Island).  There's probably a couple of small spots around, but back in the days, it was at a point where you could finish your coin-op, turn around and play skeeball.

Sadly Angel, Astroland is a dive now. The arcades I saw there a few weeks ago were miserable, run down and any of the half-way good machines I wanted to play didn't even work, including the crazy old gypsy woman fortune teller. Half of the ski-ball machines didn't even work and the ones that did had f'ed up score displays. Astroland itself still has that "old time carnival" feel and the cheesy haunted house rides are some of the most outlandish I've seen, but the arcades are definitely on their way out.

I forgot, there was one last arcade on 42nd St.  I had forgotten the name of it, but you could play it all: pinball and video games, two floors of it.  It was where I first saw that Dance Dance Revolution.  It was closed down some years back because of constant violence with the high school kids.

With the exception of Dave & Busters (because they have security), arcades seem to have become a bazaar for violence and illegal activities. Even upstate, in the literal "boonies", we had a small arcade open up and close down within a couple of months because it became the hang out for every drug pusher and sad rural excuse for gang members you could find. It p**sed me off too because they were a really low rent place, so they carried a lot of the old classic machines that the new places didn't bother with anymore, like Rampage, Karnov, Mortal Kombat II, Alien vs. Predator, The Simpsons, and the original Street Fighter.

Upstate the arcades worth their salt were only found in the malls and even those have since closed down. We had an Aladdin's Castle in the Oakdale mall that I still have tokens from sitting in a film cannister on my dresser as a memory of the coolest place my childhood could afford. In their final days they had Marvel Vs. Capcom 2, House of the Dead 2, and a few of the last really good arcade machines to come out before the market pretty much crashed. I'd love to be able to go to Japan some day and play the groovy sh*t they have there, especially the Mario Kart link-up machines. 

[Mr. DS]

With the exception of Dave & Busters (because they have security), arcades seem to have become a bazaar for violence and illegal activities. Even upstate, in the literal "boonies", we had a small arcade open up and close down within a couple of months because it became the hang out for every drug pusher and sad rural excuse for gang members you could find.

I recall playing a game once and having some freaky guy with long matted hair walk up to me and say "Dude you want any weed".  I said "I'm all set" and he kind of hung out for a minute afterwards staring at me.  Indeed the pushers knew where to find their target clients and the mall was often a start. 

Dave and Busters, like I said in an earlier post, is a good place that seems to be kept under control security wise.  In other words, I'd have no problem bringing a kid in there to play games.  Still, their games can be a bit on the pricey side to play.  However, if you invest enough money into their player's cards you get a discount rate after several hundred dollars of recharges. 

[HappyGilmore]

I love when I go on vacation, because there's probably 10-15 arcades up and down the boardwalk.  Between the skee-ball, Claw Machines, and various arcade games, it's a good time.  Hardly any time for riding the rides.  Best arcade for the arcade games is the Boardwalk Mall, because it's all old school games from when I was a kid in the late '80s/early '90s, like the X-Men, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Ninja Turtle and Simpson games.  Plus, you put in a quarter and you get like, 6 lives, instead of 1.

Skee-Ball and Claw machines are better in the other arcades.

[Jason]

Seriously, you folks want to head over to some of our seaside towns.

I live in a little town called Great Yarmouth on the Eastern coast (kind of on the 'butt' of the UK if you look at a map) and there are more arcades on our seafront/promenade/waterfront/whatever you want to call it than you can manage in a single day. I reckon there are about 7-8 arcades varying in size from just below average to pretty damn big. A large proportion of the machines are slot/fruit machines, but there are plenty of games and stuff to be found as well. I think I even spotted the Mario Kart link-up in one of them, as well as the original Outrun. You can easily lose an afternoon in those places.

[RCMerchant]

 We have a pinball machine in the Old Hat Bar. 
Theyere usta be a small arcade in town during the 80's...but the owners got busted selling pot. 
They even revamped all the bars in town...not even a dam pooltable left. (sigh)....

[dean]

To those who remember him, AndyC was building [or had just about finished] work on his very own arcade machine which basically just used ROMS from an old PC of his.

It seemed like a lot of fun, and I've wanted to make one ever since, but don't have the know-how and quite frankly, don't have the time so can't be bothered.

[AnubisVonMojo]

To those who remember him, AndyC was building [or had just about finished] work on his very own arcade machine which basically just used ROMS from an old PC of his.

It seemed like a lot of fun, and I've wanted to make one ever since, but don't have the know-how and quite frankly, don't have the time so can't be bothered.

Yeah, I'm jealous of the people who put the time and effort into projects like that. A former co-worker of mine did the same thing, buying an old broken cabinet and putting all of his MAME roms into it. By the time he was finished there were literally thousands of games on that thing from every genre. It was a gamer orgasm. I told him if he was ever interested in selling it or putting together another one I'd gladly work something out with him to buy it, but he's since moved from his spacious loft shared with 5 other people (rent in NY sucks...) to a much more intimate two bedroom with his now wife where he no longer has the room to sustain a second arcade machine to work on... oh well.

[asimpson2006]

Arcades were flourishing before home gaming caught up to and zoomed past a lot of what arcades were offering.  I think arcades are still hugely popular in Japan, but here in the states you don't find them hardly anymore.

I agree with the assessment that socializing at arcades was just if not more fun than actually playing games.  Back in the early 90's an arcade called Mindboggle near where I live, I practically lived at that place. I had a ton of friends that I met there and I just had a blast hanging out watching people play (which was also due to me not having much money in high school  ).

I remember when Mindboggle got in the 1st Mortal Kombat machine and myself and everyone was literally there waiting for them to open so that we could play it.  Same thing with each incarnation of Street Fighter 2 or whatever.  I really miss those days....................   

There used to be an arcade near my locality that had nothing but old school vintage arcade games like Pac-Man, Galaga, Tempest, Tron, Robotron and the like but it has since closed down unfortunately. 

They still are popular.  When I was in Japan about 5 years ago, I was staying in Yokosuka.  If you walked around a block you probably would count about 4 or 5 arcades on that block.  From walking distance I would say that there was about 10 arcades in the ares that I was able to access.  They had some neat games to play even though I speak very little Japanese and barely can read it.

[Jack]

I have a ton of fond memories of hanging out in arcades back in the early '80s.  There were several of them in every little town.  I lived in Poway CA (about 30 miles from San Diego)  The R-Cade and the Super - R- Cade had a price war and eventually you could get ten tokens for a dollar.  Sweet!  The social life there was great, just about everybody I knew hung out at the arcade.  We'd play some games, walk out back and smoke a bowl, go back in and REALLY get into some games LOL.  I guess I'm a little too old for that stuff now though.  I've got Midway's Greatest hits and William's Greatest Hits for the Playstation with a lot of my favorite games on them.  Defender (I'd forgotten how damned hard that game was!), Robotron, Battlezone, Tempest, Centipede, Missile Command, even Asteroids.  I wish they'd come out with Tron and Zaxxon, those were my two favorites.  Gorf was always a lot of fun too.  It's fun playing those games about a zillion times and getting up to levels you never even knew existed.  With Tempest you can start on any level, so just for giggles I went way up to one of the last levels and it was just ludicrously hard, lasted about 10 seconds before I got killed.