VectorGamer Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 OP were you in the arcades in 82? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danwinslow Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 LOUD and SMOKEY. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syzygy1 Posted August 11, 2015 Author Share Posted August 11, 2015 OP were you in the arcades in 82? only a Sears arcade Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectorGamer Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 only a Sears arcade Unaware. Sears dedicated floor space for an arcade? How big was it? I can confirm that the arcade at the mall I went to had over 100 machines as I found it in an article in Google's news archive. The arcade had at least 3 billiards tables (don't know if they were tournament size or not), 2 air hockey tables, 3 projector games, 2 rows of pinball machines, a handful of electromechanical machines, some cockpit videos and the rest were video uprights. The arcade operator had a counter in the middle rear of the arcade. Often he would be strolling around the arcade wearing a money pouched stuffed with quarters in the event people wanted change from him instead of using the change machines. Good luck with your movie as I would be impressed if you were able to pull off recreating an arcade the size of my local mall arcade BITD. I suppose you're going to have to pay a lot of money to get machines in a location to faithfully recreate an arcade from that era. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syzygy1 Posted August 12, 2015 Author Share Posted August 12, 2015 Unaware. Sears dedicated floor space for an arcade? How big was it? I can confirm that the arcade at the mall I went to had over 100 machines as I found it in an article in Google's news archive. The arcade had at least 3 billiards tables (don't know if they were tournament size or not), 2 air hockey tables, 3 projector games, 2 rows of pinball machines, a handful of electromechanical machines, some cockpit videos and the rest were video uprights. The arcade operator had a counter in the middle rear of the arcade. Often he would be strolling around the arcade wearing a money pouched stuffed with quarters in the event people wanted change from him instead of using the change machines. Good luck with your movie as I would be impressed if you were able to pull off recreating an arcade the size of my local mall arcade BITD. I suppose you're going to have to pay a lot of money to get machines in a location to faithfully recreate an arcade from that era. It was small and smelled of popcorn and stuff. New games would show up every month, replacing old games. It was open from 1978-1990. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectorGamer Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 Just be aware that if you say your movie is set in 1982 and you have a Dragon's Lair cabinet in the movie the arcade audience will have a fit. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syzygy1 Posted August 12, 2015 Author Share Posted August 12, 2015 Just be aware that if you say your movie is set in 1982 and you have a Dragon's Lair cabinet in the movie the arcade audience will have a fit. That's gonna be in the '83 portion of the movie. (The movie ends with the main character going to the 1983 Tournaments and winning!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJ Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 Um, spoilerz. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectorGamer Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 That's gonna be in the '83 portion of the movie. (The movie ends with the main character going to the 1983 Tournaments and winning!) Now that you told us the ending of the movie you're going to have to change it to the main character being mauled to death by a lion that escaped from his cage at the nearby circus. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syzygy1 Posted August 13, 2015 Author Share Posted August 13, 2015 AHAHAHAHA but you guys are my friends, you get to know the ending! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VectorGamer Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 AHAHAHAHA but you guys are my friends, you get to know the ending! I don't even know what you look like. Post a photo now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigO Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 These might be of some interest. Pictures and discussion. http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?s=ecc22e522007fbf9a222ad340fab2da9&t=34117 https://www.flickr.com/groups/arcades/pool/ https://www.flickr.com/groups/arcades/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhd Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 The two local arcades nearby where I grew up were both small and crowded: one was in a bowling alley (in the basement of a mall) and the other was attached to a shop (in a different mall) that sold pool tables, etc. I don't recall people smoking at either place, and while dark/dim, neither arcade had much ambiance. I do not recall any background music. There was a much larger arcade in a nearby city that had the neon lights, loud music, etc. Alas, I only got to go there very occasionally. The few arcades that I visited on holidays in the North-East (Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island) were all significantly larger. I fondly remember the Dream Machine arcade in the Worcester Galleria. That place was massive. By the late-1980s, however, things were definitely changing, I was at an establishment in Portland, Maine (in a mall) and the was a security guard checking IDs; persons under 16 years of age had to be accompanied by an adult. There was even a seating area reserved for waiting parents. (I was well-past 16, but I had a Canadian ID, which caused no end of consternation for the guard.) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syzygy1 Posted August 14, 2015 Author Share Posted August 14, 2015 The two local arcades nearby where I grew up were both small and crowded: one was in a bowling alley (in the basement of a mall) and the other was attached to a shop (in a different mall) that sold pool tables, etc. I don't recall people smoking at either place, and while dark/dim, neither arcade had much ambiance. I do not recall any background music. There was a much larger arcade in a nearby city that had the neon lights, loud music, etc. Alas, I only got to go there very occasionally. The few arcades that I visited on holidays in the North-East (Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island) were all significantly larger. I fondly remember the Dream Machine arcade in the Worcester Galleria. That place was massive. By the late-1980s, however, things were definitely changing, I was at an establishment in Portland, Maine (in a mall) and the was a security guard checking IDs; persons under 16 years of age had to be accompanied by an adult. There was even a seating area reserved for waiting parents. (I was well-past 16, but I had a Canadian ID, which caused no end of consternation for the guard.) what games were at "the larger arcade" and the Dream Machine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhd Posted August 16, 2015 Share Posted August 16, 2015 what games were at "the larger arcade" and the Dream Machine? Seriously? It has been about 30 years since both establishments closed. I'm doing well to remember the names! Both places would have had whatever arcade games were popular at the time; I don't recall either place having pinball games (though I did not much play pinball, so I did not pay much attention, either.) The Dream Machine arcade was a franchise -- I was in at least two different arcades in the exurbs of Boston, Massachusetts. The establishment in Worcester, at least, had games that I never saw at home in Canada, The only specific title that I remember playing there was Road Runner; I never saw it anywhere else. At one point, the large arcade in the neighbouring city, which may have been called Fantasy 2000, had Wizard of Wor. I only remember this because I had received a video game strategy guidebook, and I wanted to play every title listed therein. That required visits to multiple establishments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schuwalker Posted August 16, 2015 Share Posted August 16, 2015 Unaware. Sears dedicated floor space for an arcade? How big was it? The Sears' store my parents shopped at also had an arcade. I'll never forget the area it was in. It was in a room just to the left of the bedroom furniture department. It was also the first time I had seen Williams' Joust on location. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boxpressed Posted August 16, 2015 Share Posted August 16, 2015 The arcade in my hometown gave you free tokens for good grades. You'd bring in your report card and would get one token for every "B" and two tokens for every "A," IIRC. It would also rent arcade machines for birthday parties and such. For one birthday party/sleepover, my parents let me rent Time Pilot. The machine was delivered on a truck and wheeled into our living room. We played that game all night. So Time Pilot has always been a favorite. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJ Posted August 17, 2015 Share Posted August 17, 2015 Our Circus would give 3 tokens for an A, one for a B, w/ a maximum of 10. My friend & I would bike a mile to the mall, see a matinee movie for $2.50(!!!) then visit Circus for a couple hours. I got good grades so I'd basically play for free off my report card, my buddy would only get 2 or 3 tokens for his. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Zeptari Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 I went to the dream machine arcade at the eastfield mall in Springfield Massachusetts. Awesome arcade. Tons of coin-ops jammed in there. I remember playing. Omega race, time pilot, scramble. but my favorite arcade's where much closer to home. Which was just about anywhere back then. Store 24: Defender cumberland farms: mr.do Genettes store: robotron, zaxxon, super pacman, gravitar. tony pizza: ms pacman table top. pizza hut: crystal castles some fish market had missle command. My favorite back then was asteroids. I was always trying to get the high score. arcade machines were everwhere back then. It was awesome! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dutchman2000 Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 The arcade I went to a lot was the local bowling alley. They had Asteroids, Galaga, Tron, Space Invaders, Donkey Kong and a Haunted House pinball. The games were changed out over the years, I do remember seeing Karate Champ and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom there later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorussell Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 I remember "PAC PALS" in the Garden Home suburb of the Portland/Tigard/Beaverton area. Hole-in-the-wall arcade in a strip mall, only lasted a couple years or so. Some kids were hanging around trying to sell drugs; probably why it didn't last. Also went to a GREAT nickel arcade franchise called Wunderland, still a few locations left. GIANT arcade with hundreds of games, well kept. Great memories of that place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimefighter Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 Atlanta, IL has an arcade consisting of machines no newer than 1981. Up the road in McLean, IL has a mix of newer and older. There's also this --http://www.alphabetagamer.com/new-retro-arcade-tech-demo-download/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 Dingy. Smokey. At night maybe, during the day it was more family friendly from my personal experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danny_galaga Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 At night maybe, during the day it was more family friendly from my personal experience. I only ever went during the day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syzygy1 Posted February 9, 2019 Author Share Posted February 9, 2019 It didn't take much to make a good arcade if the owner was into it. There was a strip mall arcade near me when I was a kid and all the owner did was tint the windows (one of those strip malls where the store front windows went from floor to ceiling), paint the walls black, a few signs and posters and about 20 games. It helped that there was a good selection of games, one of them being a sit down Star Wars arcade machine and a bunch of Williams classics like Moon Patrol, Joust, Defender, Stargate and Robotron. Great arcade. at "a few signs and posters," was one of them THE infamous Cyborg pin-up? You all know what I'm talking about. "Special Titans Pin-Up! Victor Stone, aka... CYBORG" The image should come back to you right after reading that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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