Arcade Era, what type of arcade did you hang out at the most?

[Squarehard]

For those who were arcade goers, and hung out with friends at arcades, what was your arcade setting of choice?

Was it just a standalone arcade of its own? Or was it a part of something else.

For me during my younger years, the prime arcade spot for me was probably with mini golf. They typically had the biggest arcades around, and would occasionally play mini golf, but only when we wanted to do something different.

Other types may include ones that were located in movie theaters, arcades located in pizza places, arcades at laser tag, bowling alleys, etc.

So Arcade Era, what kind of arcades did you hang out at the most?

 

[super-famicom]

In the 90s, when I was about 12, I hung out at the arcade in the local mall. My dad often took me to 7-11 so I could play SF2 or MK there.

 

[BizzyBum]

My local Nathan's Famous had a pretty big arcade attached to it that always got the newest games and had a pretty big scene.

I miss arcades. :(

 

[Squarehard]

In the 90s, when I was about 12, I hung out at the arcade in the local mall. My dad often took me to 7-11 so I could play SF2 or MK there.

Click to shrink...

I used to go to the one in my mall, but then it was shutdown because of, you probably can guess, drug deals.

I remember one time when I went to the backroom to get change, there was this huge dude at the front door, and he asked me what I wanted, and I told him I needed change.

He took out a roll of bills, and then gave me change, and was like, "There you go man, have fun."

Yeah, that was weird...

 

[Akira86]

Double Dragon, Super Mario and Ninja Gaiden in the 80s.
Pizza parlors, laundromats, convenience stores.

Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Tekken in the 90s and later.
Mostly arcades, in malls or in the city.

 

[Tbm24]

For myself it started off in Laundromats. For the Hour and a half it took my mom to wash and dry all our clothes, I had to make 4 quarters last as much as possible. Good times, met a lot of people that way, usually older kids. Then it went to arcades when I could travel on the subway myself around NYC, mainly Chinatown as all the others ones kept closing one after another.

I think a Movie Theater is the closest I've come to being at a place that hard a congregation of arcade machines on the side that wasn't a formal arcade.

 

[Nakazato]

I had a few. We had a 6 machine laundry mat growning up. Then there was a 10 machine comic shop. Then the tilt in the mall. Then when I moved to Orlando there was a place called Rocky Replay (RIP 🐐)

 

[jon bones]

New Jersey mall baby

 

[T-Virus]

I was hooked on arcades in the 90s, specially in the mid 90s.

I grew up in Venezuela and the big ones I hung out were called "Salon de Billy" in Valencia and Replay's and Bugsy in Barcelona. They were stand alone arcade places.

There was a really big one that lasted for 3 years or so. They had a 8 Daytona USA cabinet; racing with 7 other people on Daytona USA is one of my fondest childhood memory.

Man, I miss the 90s....

 

[mikehaggar]

I lived within walking distance of an amusement park and had a season pass. I spent a ton of time in the arcade there during spring and summer. Its a larger park, so the arcade was top-notch. Aside from that, pizza shops, malls, and a caverns attraction that had a game center.

 

[RecRoulette]

Arcade connected to a casino.

 

[Deleted member 1839]

Round1.

 

[low-G]

My favorite arcades were all stand-alone.

My favorite arcade of all time was probably one at the boardwalk at Ocean City (I think it was OC) in 1996. Had just about every awesome game you could wish for and it was packed. It was an awesome vibe. Even better than Epcot IMO.

I mostly hung out at my local mall arcades - from late 80's era playing Rampage and later TMNT arcade up through early 2000's playing MvC2, Sega Super GT, and Hydro Thunder.

 

[Ginger Hail]

Grew up a bit late to see arcades in their "prime". Occasionally there'd be a movie theater with a couple games but my nearest one didn't get any kind of machine until waaaaay later. However, during the summer at the beach there was an arcade attached to a local pizza place that was more or less my only real arcade growing up. Pretty small place, definitely no driving games in there. Lots of pinball though, and I definitely remember Turtles in Time being in there at some point.

 

[Deleted member 13560]

I always went to mall arcades. Because that's all Georgia had when I was growing up. There were some stand-alone arcades in the Atlanta area, but that was way to far for me as a kid/teenager. My go to games were always shmups and fighters.

 

[Geist 6one7]

Early on it was SF2/MK at Little Stevie's Pizza on Mass ave. or a trip over to Dream Machine in the Watertown Mall. Later it was MvC and Time Crisis at Ryan's Family Amusement in Fenway or Good Times in Somerville if it was someone's birthday. If we were feeling frisky it was Family Arcade in Dowtown Crossing, there would always be some shenanigans down there though. None of these places still exist sadly, just have a couple of lame (imo) barcades now.

 

[BetterCallSauls]

Spotsylvania Mall in VA. Indoor mall that housed a Babbages. Last store slot after Chick File A...I spent many hours at Alladins Castle. I grew up in the time period where there were side scroller beatemups, then came Street Fighter 2, Mortal Kombat. I vividly remember trying to last long on the Dragons Lair Laserdisc game.

Fond memories of going to birthday parties there, as well as hanging around after I ran out of tokens.

 

[Heart of Poumn]

Had a big local place that also had indoor mini golf, pizza, and later had laser tag. I think the owner just didn't pay taxes so it got shut down abruptly. Then it turned into a Staples.

 

[T-Virus]

I really miss that era.

I would go with my friends to the arcades on a Saturday night and spend hours playing fighting and racing games.

By 98 or so the arcades started to lose popularity and many places closed down. By 99 everyone had a modded PSX with the ability to buy pirated games for like 2 dollars. I think the rampant piracy of PSX in Venezuela was one of the factors that killed Arcade places there.

The last arcade games I remember being somewhat popular by 99-200 were Hydro Thunder and Time Crisis 2.

 

[Benny Del Toro]

A mall located near my school, it had multiple arcade areas and shops where you can rent consoles. Spent almost every day there after school. Played SF Alpha/Zero series, Samurai Showdown, X-Men Children of the Atom, etc. Had fun with the King of Fighters series, my friends and I would pick one character each and rotate when one is defeated.

Also rented a PlayStation console, started and finished Final Fantasy VII that way. Fun times.

 

[Ant78]

Where I grew up in NJ I mainly frequented mall arcades. Almost every mall had one, but the Primetime Playhouse in the Rockaway mall was the one I went to most. Fun N Games in the Willowbrook mall was the best, especially during the 90s and early 2000s,place had a pretty good fighting game scene.

Also, just about every diner and restaurant had at least 1-2 arcade machines. I played many new games that way while I went out for meals with my family. It often influenced where I wanted to go eat based on what games were at what restaurants.

Fuck, I miss arcades.

 

[The Riot Inside]

Mall arcade at the mall in Leominster, MA, and a stand-alone arcade in Fitchburg, MA. Here in Phoenix, there was also the mall arcade at Metro and the arcade inside Castles and Coasters.

I really miss the FGC scene at arcades. Finding out our arcade was getting a new machine and everyone getting in and figuring shit out for the first time are some of my fondest gaming memories.

 

[Sixfortyfive]

Mall arcades. Mom would drop us off and then go shopping.

Learning how to get the most out of those $2 to $5 dollars in quarters is an underrated '90s gaming skillset, imo.

 

[JaseMath]

Aladdin's Castle
Southern Hills Mall; Sioux City, IA
ca. 1988

 

[ToD_]

There was a nice arcade on the old canal (Oudegracht) in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Half of the building had slot machines, and the other half had arcade games. Both my parents worked in Utrecht, and we would often go shopping in the area during my young teens in the early to mid 90s. I always had to go to the arcade when visiting the city. They always had the latest games, and I would just be amazed by it all.

Unfortunately, in the late mid 90s they gradually replaced all arcade machines with slot machines. I would basically just find arcade machines on vacations out of the country after. Thankfully, there's a pretty lively retro arcade scene where I live now. I'm sad to see a lot of arcade operators replacing CRTs with LCD panels now, however. I get it, but it's not the same.

 

[skeezx]

hate to be grandpa simpson but in my day arcade cabinets were *everywhere*. gas stations, mcdonald's, grocery stores... i wouldn't have been surprised to see a Final Fight cabinet at the DMV

go anywhere within a .5 mile radius with a fistful of quarters... boom you got your arcade games

 

[bionic77]

In high school both were at the mall.

There was one next to the theater that we went to way more often. Business went crazy for both after Street Fighter 2 and MK came out.

I will always contend that online is a very poor substitute to getting together to actually do something. Sucks that it has gone away.

 

[mrbogus]

My mom forbid me from going to our local arcade. She thought it was a den of drug dealers.

So I went all over my town to play arcade games. Mostly at the grocery store and the drug store that was right next to it. I also played games at local pizza places and gas stations when possible. I could find all kinds of games in my area.

The arcade games in those locations that I can remember: Time Pilot. Double Dragon. Mario Bros. Donkey Kong. Jungle Hunt. Guerrilla War. Toki. Tron. Tokio. Captain America and the Avengers. CABAL. Altered Beast. Thunder Cross. Q*bert. Popeye. VS Castlevania. Tempest. Pole Position. A.P.B. Kid Niki. Crime Fighters.

As for actual arcades I was allowed to go to the bigger arcades in the malls miles away from where we lived. Also sometimes movie theaters and bowling alleys.

 

[IronicSonic]

6 player Daytona USA arcade cabinet in the early 00. It was in pretty good shape and it happens to be located near my college campus. My mates weren't the most videogame enthusiasts out there but they all become masters of the game, making even perfect laps in the expert ciurcuit. Those where the days!

 

[Instant Vintage]

Where do I begin? Portsmouth, Virginia's Tower Mall in the early 80's, but once that started closing shop, I alternated between a place called Funscape by Greenbriar Mall and the arcade in Chesapeake Square. Funscape closed in the late 90's, so it was off to Aladdin's Castle in Lynnhaven as well as the arcade in Greenbriar Mall. (Chesapeake/Virginia Beach)

The last arcade I remember going to before they switched to the D&B "casino arcades" was this place in Virginia Beach called Flipper McCoy's. That was back in 2013. They were still using tokens and even had a Tekken 5 machine that had the game cards you could pay for.

I really miss going to the arcades. Round One is a good attempt at bring back the feeling, but it just doesn't feel the same.

 

[sugar bear]

Early 80s arcades for me, mostly. Played so many hours of cocktail Donkey Kong. Plus Chuck E Cheese for Star Wars and Paperboy.

 

[Mekanos]

In the late 90s/early 00s, I'd go to the one a few minutes down the street, it was an arcade/outside fun area (bumper cars, batting cages, minigolf, etc.). Had tons of fun there. I still go there to play minigolf every once in a while but I haven't played the arcade there in probably 15 years at least.

 

[Metalmucil]

I grew up in a small town, so there were only 2 options, one was an actually small arcade in the mall, Jukbeox Junction. My favorite memory of that one was when Tekken first came out. I put my quarters up on the machine to claim the next game (I miss that!) and randomly picked Law because I loved kung fu movies. Then I proceeded to somehow beat the crap out of everyone else in line through pure luck for like 30 minutes. Good times. Oh, and Bloodstorm. Terrible game, hilarious fights.

The other was this place called Bump N' Tilt, which was located weirdly far out of town, where you could pay an entrance fee and just play whatever you wanted. They even had a console room with SNES and Genesis that you could use, but they were locked up, so you had to go ask to change the game.

 

[Deleted member 54580]

There were always arcades in the malls when I was a kid. Me and some friends would go all the time.

 

[KamenSenshi]

Arcades in the mall mainly, but then there were some big stand-alone places that eventually became a thing for a short period of time which were nice.

 

[sugar bear]

I put my quarters up on the machine to claim the next game (I miss that!)

Click to shrink...

Holy moly, I completely forgot about that!

 

[Laxoon]

First cab I remember is Fatal Fury 2 at my local 7/11 like a minute walk from my house. There was a bigger selection at a mall across from a laundry mat, played a lot of X-Men and Turtles in Time.
Then in my teens/early twenties a lot of the fighters/beat em ups disappeared in favor of light gun and DDR type games. Golf Land always had a great selection but it was was a 15-20 minute drive out of the way. Still whenever I ditched school I'd usually make the trip.

 

[nicoga3000]

Odyssey Fun World in Tinley Park, IL. That was about 15-20 minutes from my childhood home, so it's where I went all the time. Nowhere else close offered anything in comparison.

 

[rsfour]

I wish arcades were still a thing. I started going in the early 90s, then in the late 90s to maybe 2007ish, we'd arcade hop to three or four different ones every friday/saturday, sometimes on the same day. There were plenty of places to play here.

Go to the mall after school, then another arcade (which had two in the same strip plaza) where most games, even the new ones were a quarter. Then in the evenings we'd go across town to one or two more. It was a great time for fighting games, especially capcom ones. The two in the strip plaza would get almost anything, even random niche ones. Some games were even in both, so there'd be people going between them playing marvel 2, or third strike etc.

Funny thing is, different parts of the city mained different games, because those parts of the city didn't have some of the fighters. Fortunately, I grew up where I had access to all the capcom fighters instead of, say, mvc2. There were core groups of players from these cities, or specific arcades.

The last real arcade that I used to go to closed in maybe 2012? There's one near me, but it's mostly a redemption arcade.

edit - when I'd visit family in Michigan, I could never find a damn arcade, goddamn 'burbs. But sometimes on the way back across the border, family would eat at some restaurant in Windsor, and there was an arcade next to it. I used to live across a pool hall, so went there when I was a kid, and played Street Fighter and MK.

 

[GringoSuave89]

Never had a true arcade experience. Closest was trips to Ontario Mills Mall to visit Gameworks.

 

[ShinUltramanJ]

Space Port and the Supercade at two different malls. Those were the big ones that got the latest games.

 

[DiscoPizza]

There was a bowling alley called Camelot Bowl with an arcade room called Camelot Fun Center within walking distance. It's an adult education center now.

Some of the games were TMNT, Punch Out, Hang On, Operation Wolf and some huge setup along the back wall with trash cans and animatronic cats that would pop out and you had to throw beanbags inside while they were open. The only employee I ever saw was an older lady that was always smoking.

 

[bionic77]

Space Port and the Supercade at two different malls. Those were the big ones that got the latest games.

Click to shrink...

My friend lived in another town and they had something very similar in his mall.

It was pretty amazing. Greasy food and arcade magic all in close proximity.

What more could a human want from life?

 

[Cabal]

I usually went to the mall or a local pool hall(until someone got murdered in the parking lot anyway). Every Friday night in high school, we played the various Capcom fighters with about 10-15 regulars. It was a blast and something not easily replicated now.

 

[mute]

I didn't have a single consolidated arcade that I went to regularly growing up, I was somewhat out in the boonies and on the tail end of things at least where I was at. The grocery store I went to every week had a SF2 Championship Edition, and the Pizza Hut had a Neo Geo. Roses had a Pac Land and Spy Hunter. The two closest malls had arcades (think one was an Aladdin's Castle) but I didn't get there regularly. Every year though I looked forward to our beach trips and at the time Myrtle Beach was covered in tons of arcades, the Pavilion being the largest and huge. I'd spend almost every night there on our trips. It has long been bulldozed but there are some smaller joints along the strip that are still around, though what they have today isn't nearly as good as you can imagine.

 

[mrwilt]

We had a local arcade in town back in the mid 80s. Would go there all the time. Unfortunately, too many fights would break out in the parking lot so the owner had to shut it down. Was a real bummer - loved that place.

 

[Soapbox Killer]

hate to be grandpa simpson but in my day arcade cabinets were *everywhere*. gas stations, mcdonald's, grocery stores... i wouldn't have been surprised to see a Final Fight cabinet at the DMV

go anywhere within a .5 mile radius with a fistful of quarters... boom you got your arcade games

Click to shrink...

This was me also. In the early 90s. Pizza stores, almost every corner store, gas stations, supermarkets and check cashing and laundromats. If you knew how to budget you could go to McDonald's, get a 2 for $2 (2 Big Macs for $2. and a courtesy coke) and walk around the neighborhood playing Samurai Showdown, SF2, MK and whatever else until the street lights came on. Then you go check in and play games on the small tv on the porch till 2am.


I wanna go back.

 

[JusDoIt]

A pool hall that would kick us out when the adults started showing up to drink at the bar.

 

[Lardonate]

Was lucky enough to live in a seaside town in the UK so had about a dozen local arcades to frequent and I did every weekend from about 1986 until around 2000 when they basically stopped getting new videogames. First game I played in the one I went to the most was Ghosts and Goblins, the last game was Crazy Taxi.

Arcade is still going, and even has a bunch of the games from the 90s that they got in before I stopped going all the time.

 

[JustinH]

There were a couple of "main" arcade joints, if I remember correctly, at the air force base I lived on in Okinawa, Japan. A line-up at the food court. A Neo-Geo machine right next to a Playchoice 10 right outside the shoppette. I remember there was a Samurai Shodown cabinet right outside the bookstore in the main shopping area connected to the PX. Then there were a bunch at the Base theater and a couple "big" ones like Afterburner cost more I think. I think I maybe only went off-base to a Japanese arcade like maybe once, and if I did I didn't stay long.

When we moved back to the states, there was a small arcade in the mall near where I lived I went to with a friend, but I think we spent more time at the cheapo theater (one of those crummy theaters that plays old movies and stuff?) because there was a Killer Instinct machine there.
When I was in high school, my girlfriend's grandfather owned a batting cages type place with an arcade indoors and it was one of those places you paid to just be there and all the machines were free play (I of course didn't have to pay or at least I don't remember paying), but I think I only went there actually a few times? Seems like a waste now... I should've spent wayy more time there, if not for the video games then for the batting cages. I remembering playing arcade games like Daytona at the bowling alley too, but honestly if I was going to the bowling alley it was with "high school friends" and back then I really didn't want people other than my close "also nerd" friends knowing I even liked video games.