The best arcades you have ever been to?

[Serious]

I am interested in learning more about some of the bigger/better arcades that used to exist (and any good ones that exist now), so I thought I would start a topic on which are the best arcades you remember going to?

 

 

Some of the ones that stand out in my memory:

 

1. Gold Mine, Beaumont TX, late 70s

 

This was my first arcade, and in the late 70s it was incredible. They had lots of black and white video games (I think I recall games like Avalanche, Stunt Cycle, Pong, and Breakout), the first vector game I remember playing (Warrior), and some games that were actually film-based (like a quick draw game where you would draw against gunslingers and guys riding by on horseback).

 

2. some arcade at Memorial City mall in Houston, TX, early 80s.. I wish I knew the name!

 

I don't think I ever knew the name of this place, and didn't go very often, but it was huge and had a great selection. I remember playing Liberator and Quantum there. When the laserdisc games came out, they had ones I never saw anywhere else (like Bega's Battle and

).

 

3. Fame City, Houston TX, mid 80s

 

It was a huge amusement center. It had video games I never saw elsewhere. (Like scrolling shooter games that you would sit down in, and it would raise you up, and your seat would bank with your moves on screen.) This is where I remember playing Discs of Tron (environmental).

[R.O.T.S]

I am in the UK and my best memories of back in the day are of `Sea-side` resorts like Coral Island in Blackpool and the arcade right off the coach park in Morcambe.In Birmingham in the 90`s we often visited Daviles arcade which may have some gaming history - apparently in the 80`s US arcade gamers used to travel to the UK for competitions at this arcade but i have never really found any evidence of this on the interweb.Daviles is now called "Agora" and unsurprisingly a former shadow of itself (it is lucky it is still going at all)

Edited June 11, 2013 by R.O.T.S

[ccatalyst]

You may want to look into Arcade Odyssey in Miami Fl.

 

Here are some the things that set us apart,

 

#1) The only Arcade ever - that changes out Arcade Games on a Monthly Basis, and not just 1 or 2 games, but 5-9 games each time.

#2) We have Pinball, an entire wall's worth, something not too many arcades have now a days.

#3) In addition to new arcade games we also bring in classics, such as Mad planets, Q-bert, Revolution X, Tron, Satan's hollow, Moon patrol & Vector games such as Space duel just to name a few.

#4) All Arcade games are constantly Maintained, everything works right down to lights on the coin mechs, we pride ourselves on the fact that everything works, and we keep it that way.

#5) We import Japanese and other Asian arcade pcbs so our patrons can play games from outside the USA that they would normally never get a chance to play, titles such as Bishi Bashi, or Melty Blood Curent Code, Chaos Code, & Tondemo Crisis just to name a few.

#6) We also offer console systems to play, Like Xbox 360, PS3, WII, but with 3d - 42" monitors, and the rumble seats with surround sound.

#7) In the console section not only do we have American Titles, but we also have imported 360's, and import games from japan for our patrons to play.

#8 ) We Import Japanese drinks and Japanese snacks for our clients to munch on.

#9) We hold Cosplay events , giving away free tokens just for showing up in costume.

#10) We do weekly video podcasts to discuss everything from video gaming and arcade to comics and toys, inviting our clients to join in.

#11) We also do weekly video podcasts of classic game console play throughs.

#12) We also hold tournaments on a biweekly basis complete with streaming and commentary.

#13) We are open very late till 12pm on weekdays and 2am on weekends and finally we are very inexpensive.

 

But don't take my word for it, check out our reviews.

 

Currently ranked #2 out of 107 attractions in S. Florida

http://www.tripadvis...mi_Florida.html

 

More 5 star reviews than any other attraction in South Florida

http://www.yelp.com/...e-odyssey-miami

 

Voted best arcade of 2012

http://www.miaminewt...arcade-3315635/

 

Voted #5 of attractions and theme parks by local 10 news.

http://vote.local10....-arcade-odyssey

 

And of course you may read more about us here.

 

Facebook

www.facebook.com/arcadeodyssey.com

 

Our web page, showing all titles currently in the arcade.

www.arcadeodyssey.com

 

PS: I also have Discs of Tron, but have not brought that one into the arcade yet.

 

Hope you to see you at the Arcade.

 

Rick

Edited June 11, 2013 by ccatalyst

[VectorGamer]

Fun City, Lancaster, PA

This was the local mall arcade that I grew up in. They had 100 machines total which included pinball, video and projector games. They also had three billiard tables and air hockey. Fun City had the best selection of games whether they were hits like Space Invaders and Tron or the not so popular titles like Carnival, Eagle and Astro Invader. Fun City closed down in the 80s.

 

American Classic Arcade Museum, Laconia, NH

Located at Funspot, the largest arcade in the world. Gamers from all over the world travel to ACAM to play on hundreds of classic arcade games. ACAM is a must visit for all classic gamers.

[retrorussell]

Ground Kontrol in downtown Portland, OR is still great. Plenty of pinball and arcade machines. And a bar, too!

 

As for nostalgia, I used to love the Wunderland (nickel arcade) out in NE Portland.

The beach arcades had some obscure stuff, as did another nickel arcade in SE Portland.

[ledzep]

Man, back in the day living in The Valley (north of Los Angeles) there were arcades everywhere. Hard to pick a favorite. But -

 

1) Castle Park(?) in North Hollywood - they had lots of games, I believe also miniature golf and water slides. I think this place had the only cockpit Star Trek I ever saw along with the only Armor..Attack I remember playing.

 

2) Chuck E. Cheese in Panorama City(?) - I remember it for being the only place that had Moon Cresta, which I loved even though it beat me ragged. And I loved their pizza.

 

3) The Sega Center in the Sherman Oaks Galleria - One of the only places I frequented that had Omega Race. And a Space Fury which I stupidly ignored because I hated the talking alien head. But back then there were so many new, cool games coming out it didn't seem like a big deal.

 

4) The arcade next to Space Mountain at Disneyland - They had one of the only Tail Gunners I could find, they also had a couple Space Duels and air hockey tables. And Tron, of course.

 

5) Castle Park in Sherman Oaks - Lots of games, miniature golf and batting cages. Close to my high school so I ended up there often.

 

There are a few others that I can't put names to, they weren't that great in terms of number of games but one small one had a Polaris (which I love), the arcade closest to my house was the first place I ever saw Tempest and the only arcade with a Space Firebird, I remember the Sears in the Northridge Mall had Canyon Bomber (which to that point I thought was only an Atari 2600 cartridge), I really really miss those years.

 

Damn you, now I think I'll look online for some arcade game flyers I'm missing.

[Serious]

You may want to look into Arcade Odyssey in Miami Fl.

 

PS: I also have Discs of Tron, but have not brought that one into the arcade yet.

 

Hope you to see you at the Arcade.

 

Rick

 

Ok. I know where I am going on my next vacation.

 

 

Is Discs of Tron the full environmental version? If so, please PM me when it is out on the floor.

[ccatalyst]

Ok. I know where I am going on my next vacation.

 

 

Is Discs of Tron the full environmental version? If so, please PM me when it is out on the floor.

 

It is the full environmental version, you can see pictures of it and the story of the arcade starting on page 3 here.

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/170532-ccatalyst-gameroom-collection/

 

Rick

[JadeETC]

Dockside Arena in Breezy Point Resort, Minnesota. I'll get some pics when I go again in July.

[NE146]

I don't know if they had any names (that I could read) but the best ones were always in Japan in the 80's & 90's where you sometimes didn't know where one arcade began and the other started as it spanned a few buildings and corners. From the days of seeing walls of Space Invaders machines and the b&w Atari "imports", to the days where I could find a large Galaxian 3 arena on the top floor. It was always great because there were so many games to play that we normally never see anywhere else.

 

One cool thing I remember though in the 90's was a racing game (It might have been Ridge Racer??? I forget exactly what) but it had a set of 5 or 6 FULL BLOWN Cars (Celicas to be exact) in the arcade that were right next to each other to control the game. You sat in the drivers seat of the car driving it, and viewed the large display outside your windshield. But the strangest thing is I can't find any info on the net about it.. my google fu must be weak. I know it was Celicas because I happened to have a Celica at the time and was like.. "this is my car!"

[cimerians]

I went to the sort of infamous Friar Tucks game room in Calumet City Ill. where the kid that played Berzerk died. If anyone remembers (I doubt it):

 

http://home.hiwaay.net/~lkseitz/cvg/death.html

 

 

That was my usual hang out as well as numerous bowling alleys (with arcade games) and ma and pa stores that would have like three or four machines.

 

There was huge arcade room in a mall somewhere where I lived but I forgot the location and name of it. They had all the uncommon stuff, Mr. Do, Venture etc.

 

Sears also had arcade rooms.

[retrorussell]

Malibu Gran Prix was great fun back in the day. Even though you got 4 tokens for a dollar (unlike nickel arcades or some places that would give you one or two extra tokens for your buck) the place had the best games. And some kinda obscure ones too (Monte Carlo, Naughty Boy, etc). And the Road Runner race cars! And the snack bar! The place is still there, but the magic is gone. (sniff)

Aladdin's Castle in Vancouver Mall (Vancouver, WA) was great too.. I got either 5 or 6 tokens for a buck! I played the hell out of Kung Fu Master when it first arrived there, but I was never too good at it.

[ledzep]

 

There was huge arcade room in a mall somewhere where I lived but I forgot the location and name of it. They had all the uncommon stuff, Mr. Do, Venture etc.

 

Sears also had arcade rooms.

 

Ah, that reminds me. There was a pretty decent arcade inside the Del Amo mall out here years ago. It made traversing that massive mall tolerable. I can't remember what games they had that might have been special or rare but I do remember that it was pretty big.

[retrorussell]

 

Sears also had arcade rooms.

Yeah, Sears either HAD one or there was one just outside of Sears at the old Beaverton Mall (now Cedar Hills Crossing) near my house. I remember seeing the extremely rare Digger (Gremlin/Sega) which was a ripoff of an older Japanese game called Heiyanko Alien. I miss the big fountains in the mall, and tossing coins for good luck as a little (gullible) kid.

[NightSprinter]

Hot damn, you guys got the nostalgist in me kickin' in. Here's a few of mine for now:

 

Putt-Putt Golf and Games (now called "American Fun Park"; Albany, GA) - Had such a great selection back in the day of new and classic. Always popular with big-name arcade games coming out (it had Street Fighter, MK, etc. in the 90s). Originally had three courses of mini-golf, shrank to two when adding bumper boats and arcade. Had laser-tag in the 2000s and lately converted to a bowling alley. Was WELL-known in the Dougherty/Worth/Lee county area for "Super Saturday. Ten to twenty dollars got the following: 30 tokens for the arcade, free slice of pizza and small soda at 11am, and from 9am-noon unlimited mini-golf. The game room shrank considerably due to putting in what's now a bowling alley, but was really THE place to go on weekends.

 

Tilt (closed down in the mid-2000s, Albany Mall; Albany, GA) - After the quick closure of Aladdin's Castle, this place opened up next to Sears and had a surprisingly large space to play. Large variety of games from classic to modern, and was my first exposure to some great 90s fighting games. Wonder if such an arcade there could do well again?

 

Stardust Skate Center (Albany, GA. Moved to Leesburg, GA near the Albany Mall) - Another great spot on the weekends to hang out in the 80s and 90s. Big roller-skating rink with a few good current games for its time, and a LARGE amount of classics. I still remember large groups of kids bunched up around the TMNT cabinet. Good times, man, good times..

 

Miracle Strip Arcade (Permanently closed, demolished with the connecting amusement park of the same name; Panama City Beach, FL) - A place my older brother and I HAD to go to every summer vacation to this beach resort city on the Gulf. Truly a classic gamer's paradise when it was around. Many games I had not seen at arcades prior: Marble Madness, Space Invaders Part II, Professor Pac-Man (!), Asteroids. Was great at the game rooms of the various condo complexes my family and I stayed at to have some good classic arcade games (Kung-Fu Master, Lady Bug, Zaxxon, Bionic Commando to name a few), but THIS was where to go for some great classics. It's a crying shame it's gone, even a friend who lives in City proper was infuriated the entirety of it was replaced with another resort hotel.

[Serious]

Putt-Putt Golf and Games (now called "American Fun Park"; Albany, GA) - Had such a great selection back in the day of new and classic.

 

Putt-Putt and Malibu Grand Prix locations were some of the best arcades I remember in the early eighties.

 

I think more people went there to play video games than play mini-golf or drive race cars.

 

The only Warlords machine I saw back when it was new was at either a Malibu or Putt-Putt in Houston.

 

There was still a great Malibu here in Austin in the 90s that was packed with 80s arcade machines.

[NightSprinter]

Scorpius, did the Putt-Putt locations you went to back in the day did the "Super Saturday" deal as well?

[+save2600]

Roller Rink in Mundelein, IL had a good selection of great arcade games BITD, as did Sears, and the local record, convenience and grocery stores.

 

Then there was Bally's Tom Foolery and Showbiz Pizza Place in Arlington Heights.

 

Oh, and the Twin Drive-In, in Wheeling IL... had the classics too. Real classics... Asteroids, Sea Wolf, Space Invaders, Battlezone, etc.

Edited June 19, 2013 by save2600

[Dan Iacovelli]

kiddieland in melrose park,il(now a costco)

show biz pizza(don't rember the location il)

hillside bowling alley (next to provisio west highscool)

Adventureland (now gone was in addison,IL)

[JrPac]

My own.

[jhd]

There are three establishments that particularly stand-out in my memory:

 

Dream Machine at the Worcester Centre (Worcester, Massachusetts)

 

This place was just huge -- easily the size of a gymnasium, with a main-level and a mezzanine. I travelled to Worcester every Summer with my family in the early-1980s and visiting the arcade was a high-point of a trip to the Mall.

 

I believe that this was a state/regional chain as there was another, smaller, location in another nearby city (Auburn, Mass.?)

 

 

Fantasy 2000 at the Mic-Mac Mall (Dartmouth, Nova Scotia)

 

This was the largest arcade in the metro area. It was located on the top-level of the mall, direcly adjacent to the food court. Alas, it was a long drive from my house so I did not get there very often. It lasted well into the 1990s, but it was mostly redemption games by that point.

 

 

Maritime Billards at the Bayers Road Schopping Centre (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

 

This was a store that sold pool tables and such. It also hosted a modest-size aracde that probably generated more revenue than the store itself. Growing up, it was walking-distance to my house and I spent much time (and money) there. It was relocated within the mall at least three times; the second location was the largest. It closed in about the late-1980s.

[retrorussell]

Back in the early 90s there was an arcade near the Beaverton/Portland border that was a nickel arcade. They had plenty of obscure games: a few were Power Instinct, Shogun Warriors, and Tao Taido.

[Dauber]

Back in the day, Bally's Aladdin's Castle at Lincoln Mall in Matteson, IL. Wow, that place was all kinds of awesome. I miss it to this day.

 

Today, I have two favorites:

Yestercades in Red Bank, NJ. One thing that really stands out: the aroma of burning circuits that I remember VERY WELL from Aladdin's Castle. Wow. Really took me back! Great selection of games and a jukebox with some good stuff in it.

 

Underground Retrocade in East Dundee, IL. They're closed right now partly because of flood damage and partly because of landlord issues, so they're relocating soon, but man...just awesome. LOTS of classic Atari games (Atari Football, anybody?), and the only place that I know of in the state with a Jr. Pac-Man Turbo. The owner and his family are super-friendly. Last time I was at Underground, they were showing STARCADE RERUNS on the TVs!!!! Wow!!! Yes, I'd rather drive the 70 minutes north of Chicago to go there than drive the 20 minutes south of Chicago to go to Galloping Ghost, whose claim to fame is an obscenely huge number of games. (Yeah, they have a lot, but 1) at least half of them are not the real thing -- they're two-in-one deals, and a lot of their single-games are hacked together, 2) it's not really a vast selection, there are a LOT of core titles missing, and 3) all the staff just congregates up at the front desk, not really walking around and checking things, etc.

 

And another place I like -- Logan Hardware in Chicago. They're a record store, and in the back they have a vintage arcade. It's a very small selection, but still a fun place. And the owner is really cool.

[Dan Iacovelli]

UR is beinmg relocated due to the flood.

I like ghost not just because its 10 mins way from me but because of the classic games.

Iused hang at ballys in harlem and irving when it was there and just for fun at north park mall back in the day

[ghsqb]

 

American Classic Arcade Museum, Laconia, NH

Located at Funspot, the largest arcade in the world. Gamers from all over the world travel to ACAM to play on hundreds of classic arcade games. ACAM is a must visit for all classic gamers.

 

Well I am in NH now on vacation, and one of the main reasons we are vacationing here, is that I wanted to take the family to Funspot.

 

It was amazing to see all the classic arcade machines, but to be completely honest, it was a let down.

 

We spent all day yesterday there (there are tons of redemption games, newer games, bowling etc. in addition to the ACAM classics).

 

There were many machines that were out of order completely, and many more that appeared to be operational, only when you went to play them, the coin mechs were covered with out of order stickers.

 

Even more still had issues like no sound, dim monitors, broken controls etc...

 

No exaggeration, fully about a third of all the machines had some issue and were unplayable.

 

If this were any other place but Funspot, and I saw an arcade with this many machines in disrepair, I'd sounding the death knell.

 

ACAM is in serious need of some help repairing these machines.

 

I don't regret coming here, this area of NH is simply stunning, and a great place to visit, but I can tell you that Funspot itself was very underwhelming.