Arcades in the 80s - An experience like no other. Check this out

[DAPUNISHER]

I never got into arcades... home video games are better in every conceivable way.

Not in the 80's.

 

[Platypus]

man I miss those places

 

[irishScott]

Lol, sorry I missed it. Born '87. Least I still caught a lot of the cartoons. 80s were kickass.

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Ahhhh... Sinistar.

Run Coward!

There was a sit down version of this game with 'surround' sound, and it was scary as fuck the first time you heard that...

 

[ProfJohn]

I'd love to have a sit down version of Mrs Pacman.

My friend and I would order subs and I'd be able to eat the whole thing during his first life and he'd eat his during mine.

Two quarters would give us at least 30 mins of play.

Maybe I'll get one for the home theater room

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Brings back a lot of memories, arcades were THE place to be in those times. In my area there were two places within a 1/4 mile of each other fighting for supremacy and they got into a price war. Place A offered 5 tokens for a dollar, Place B upped it to 6, Place A countered with 7 and finally place B tried 8. Despite that place A won and when B folded A dropped back to 5 for a dollar and 30 for $5. I

 

[dwell]

I'd love to have a sit down version of Mrs Pacman.

My friend and I would order subs and I'd be able to eat the whole thing during his first life and he'd eat his during mine.

Two quarters would give us at least 30 mins of play.

Maybe I'll get one for the home theater room

That reminds me of another story from back then. When Ms. Pac Man came out our local Pizza Hut got in the tabletop version of it. Me and a bunch of other little kids didn't have the money to play so we watched this 20-something fat kid play. He was totally Comic Shop Guy in that he was being really obnoxious to us the whole time. He had a pattern down that he could keep playing all day but all we really wanted to see were the new intermissions between levels. Every time he got to an intermission though he would lean over the tabletop and open is coat to cover the screen so we couldn't see it. What an ass!

 

[Born2bwire]

There was a sit down version of this game with 'surround' sound, and it was scary as fuck the first time you heard that...

http://www.schoenke.com/tyler/sinistar/styles.htm

Man, it never gets old.

 

[BoomerD]

I was already "old" when the arcades like the one in the video came to be. I had kids of my own by then. I DO remember the first "Space Invaders" video game in the late 70's. The local bar got lots of my quarters for that one...followed by "Missle Command."

My all-time favorite for fun play was "Joust." There was just something about that game that was tons of fun.

 

[ScoobMaster]

Two more things stand out in my memory of the time.

1. Lining up quarters on the cabinet or overhead marquee to "claim" the next game and people actually GETTING IN A LINE waiting for their turn to play a hot new game.

2. At an Aladin's Castle in our local mall the placed a huge second CRT display on top of the "hottest" new game so that crowds could watch the play action. I distinctly remember watching Dragon's Lair this way the week it first came out. There were so many people crowded around watching that overhead display that you couldn't get anywhere NEAR the actual game cabinet.

 

[mr_cluck]

The machines aren't too expensive if you can find a local dealer. I just recently got a Donkey Kong upright in very good condition for $450. They just take up a ton of space, especially if you want a variety.

 

[Pepsei]

i have to finish my mame cabinet... i paid good money for that defender cabinet to let it go to waste.

 

[leeland]

Pitfighter always was a good one for us at the local redneck arcade when I was growing up...

 

[Pheran]

Arcades were fun, but what I miss most is Photon, the original "laser tag" game. The arenas were fantastic, full of catwalks and cubbyholes, lighting and fog machines, you wore about 15 pounds of gear and ran around like crazy, so it was a great workout. The gear had wireless links to a central scoring computer, and each team had a base that you could shoot for a lot of points, so there was a "capture the flag" mechanic to it, not just a free-for-all.

I made the mistake of trying one of the newer laser tag centers a long time ago, and it didn't even remotely compare. You weren't allowed to run, and the teams were actually roped off from one another - completely stupid.

 

[Pheran]

Ahhhh... Sinistar.

Run Coward!

Sinistar is awesome, one of my favorites.

 

[CPA]

When I was 13/14, my best friend and I worked for a guy at the campground we lived at (not a typical campground like KOA, but much larger on a lake with many year-round residents). At this campground was a very large restaurant/bar with a nice sized arcade section.

Any case, every weekend we would drive around a pick up the garbage cans and unload them. We would collect all of the cans out of the garbage and deliver them to the campground owner. He paid us a nickel for each can. Once paid, we would immediately head over to the arcade room, which they guy owned, at spend all of our money. The guy had a good racket going - get some arcade obsessed kids to pick up the campground trash, collect recyclable cans he could later turn in for cash, pay the kids who would then turnaround and give the money back for a few hours of arcade bliss. It was a highlight of my childhood.

 

[cronos]

I'm obsessed with pinballs. Can never get enough of them.

 

[wheresmybacon]

Arcades were awesome. I remember my buddy's alcoholic dad gave him a roll of quarters to share with me @ the arcade and I nearly fainted. My parents would give my brother and I a dollar at most...

Galaga was one I loved but wasn't very good at. "Mario Brothers" (sans "Super") was one of my favorites, along with some wrestling one I can't recall the name of...

 

[sdifox]

Arcades were awesome. I remember my buddy's alcoholic dad gave him a roll of quarters to share with me @ the arcade and I nearly fainted. My parents would give my brother and I a dollar at most...

Galaga was one I loved but wasn't very good at. "Mario Brothers" (sans "Super") was one of my favorites, along with some wrestling one I can't recall the name of...

this one?

 

[1sikbITCH]

Meh, you only like arcades because that's what you had when you were a child. I'd gladly take almost any game console newer than the NES over an arcade place.

I hung at the pool hall coming up but it's the same thing. We liked these places because we we were too young for the bars. The games had nothing to do with it.

Most people would gladly take hanging out with friends, hopefully meeting new girls and finding out where the parties are on a Saturday evening over sitting alone in the house all night.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

My all-time favorite for fun play was "Joust." There was just something about that game that was tons of fun.

Joust really did have great game play. I remember I scoffed at it when I first saw it, and ended up pumping more quarters in than just about any game ever.

 

[zanejohnson]

neo geo anyone?

 

[JPS35]

I built a tabletop arcade machine that has over 5000 of these classics and love it. Still, I miss the dim lighting, loud noise, chicks, energy, and everything that went into these quarterfest dream machines. PS3, Wii, PC, and XBox got nothin on these...

 

[trmiv]

Ahhhh, I've watched this video like 8 times over the past couple of days. I'm now trying to convince my wife of the merits of converting our bonus room into a mini arcade with 7-10 machines.

 

[Zebo]

Ahhhh, I've watched this video like 8 times over the past couple of days. I'm now trying to convince my wife of the merits of converting our bonus room into a mini arcade with 7-10 machines.

I don't think it will work for you as well as it did back then. Back then it was leading edge tech, a place to hang with friends, hook up with girls and ditch school....the whole package. I would not want one of those monstrosities in my home let alone 7.