When people's stories are aggregated in one place it makes it sound bad, some places were always bad news though, always. And even if a place wasn't bad in general, if you play long enough you'll eventually have some story to share. Other places were quiet and rare to see any trouble. Arcades were everywhere in corner stores, video rental stores, laundromats and some are dedicated arcades (some inside malls) and so on.
It's a shame arcades are a phenomenon of a past era in the west. I know there are some current mediocre casual-places calling themselves "Arcades", but you pay up front to enter and there isn't exactly pro-players putting quarters on top of the cabinets and the big (Time Crisis / Fist of the North Star / Dancing) machines they have are usually busted-up, no sound working or something wrong with them (like worse than usual lol).
