What were your favorite Arcade places?

[The Loner]

I used to live near East Los Angeles and there was a place called "Miami Mice", it was both a video store and an Arcade. I used to pay $2 so I could roam around and play any Video Game I wanted. I didn't have to pop in quarters. If I wanted to play for two hours I would pay $4. There was a card that they would mark every time I came there, so If I came often enough I would get a discount. What the discount was I never found out.

I also am very fond of the old Chuck E Cheese. When they had countless video arcades and plenty of rooms before they ultimately streamlined it during the 90's.

[Roemello]

Let's see...in Salem there was the East India Mall. Way back when it was a rat hole before the renovation not too long ago, they had a pretty cool arcade I frequented a lot. Then there's Willows...not only a big arcade, but things like skee-ball and other misc. games you play to earn tickets to get prizes Another that was good but less frequented due to it's distance was the Liberty Tree Mall arcade in Danvers. That's about it.

[Trixter]

Here in Corpus Christi, during the 80's, the place to be was "Diamond Jims"!! This arcade was tops! It had everything your heart desired. And on Tuesdays you'd get 5 tokens for a dollar instead of 4!!! Woohoo! But I remember going there on Tuesdays, of course, and playing Mario Bros., Tron, Elevator Action, pinball, and an array of other titles! I spent some of the best times of my life there! Sadly they took "Diamond Jims" out of the mall and it's now but a memory!

[80sSmurf]

We only had to good arcade halls in Copenhagen in the 80s. One was located on the goundfloor of a Cinema called Palace. They always had the newest machines...

The other one, named Rainbow, was located in an amusement park (Tivoli), unfortunately you had to pay the entrance fee to the park to get into the arcade, and then you had to dish out more money just to play...Didn't really go there untill I got a job in Tivoli...That meant free acces to the park, plus I got to know the mechanics in Rainbow = free play

[scott28883]

I live south of st louis called south st louis county. There is a mall there called south county shopping center. The arcade there was called Time out. I sure was there alot. Of course the arcade isnt there anymore. Also there was a really new kind of cinema called Ronnies with 7 theaters. Back then that was big and new. It had a great arcade. Of course that place is gone now. Its replace with a new and much bigger Ronnies, I think it has like 20 shows and a bigger arcade..

[Boggle]

There used to be a place in Glenbrook Mall here in Fort Wayne called Gold Mine. The enctrance to the place looked like the entrance to a mine They had a lot of games. The games that stick out the most for me at the place were Deadly Discs of Tron, Dragon''s Lair, and Bionic Commando. Ah.. the memories. Unfortunately it is now a memory since the lower part of the mall was expanded into a larger food court.

[Shakey]

I always hung out in the seedier establishments. Let's see. There was TJ's, where you could play a game and then get the crap kicked out of you. The Cardinal (an arcade/restaurant) and Vicki's (a greasy spoon that turned the front of their place into an arcade). Oh, the memories. A spot of blood on the floor, the smell of greasy food and cigarettes in the air and a fistfull of quarters. Good times.

[lostboy]

I loved the old Chuck E Cheese and we had a place called "Space Port" that was all games as well.

[80sTrivia]

For me, it was "The Maze Monster" at Oxmoor Mall and "The Quarter Drop" at Bashford Manor, right next to the Orange Julius!!! Primo hang-out spot for a teenaged boy, back in the day!!!

[Flix]

Originally posted by 80sSmurf
We only had to good arcade halls in Copenhagen in the 80s. One was located on the goundfloor of a Cinema called Palace. They always had the newest machines...

The other one, named Rainbow, was located in an amusement park (Tivoli), unfortunately you had to pay the entrance fee to the park to get into the arcade, and then you had to dish out more money just to play...Didn't really go there untill I got a job in Tivoli...That meant free acces to the park, plus I got to know the mechanics in Rainbow = free play

I believe those were the two only places to go in all of Denmark. I think I played most arcade games on vacations to Italy and Spain as a kid.

[PoloPlayr]

80s Smurf...how can you forget 'Professor Olsen's Spilleland' (Professor Olsen's Gameland) in Copenhagen...that's a pretty nice place that I still visit when I'm in Copenhagen...unfortunately it seems like they're not doing too well, cause they'e not updating their games that often...sad...but the arcade in Tivoli is pretty good too...ahh. remember going there with my family when I was a kid...well, a younger kid

[Shortie Blonde]

There's this place in the Holyoke Mall now, that's like a restuarant thingy and arcade. They've got Pod Racers in there!!! Anyone know the name of that place that lives in Mass?

[80sSmurf]

Just remembered that Palace (from my previous post) had 2 VR machines...You were standing on a platform and equipped with googles and a gun, and had to shoot monsters. It was something similar to a FPS, but even worse done than Wolfenstein...I think half of the people who tried it got sick from playing it, it was more fun to watch people after a 5 min game than to actually try it yourself

[Harket]

I remember my favourite 80's Arcade vividly and fondly It was located beneath the local cinema called "Bio 5" in Aalborg where I grew up in my teens. You had to venture down a long dark corridor to get into the Arcade (or heaven if you asked me back then) and as you walked, your senses were slowly filled with the louder and louder blips and blops, the dim lights from the screens and the smell, which were a bid rancid When you finally arrived to the poorly lit room, you were more than ready to spend your paperroute money

It was great - a total different world. But of course it's gone now

[Iluvthe80s]

In the 80's and up to the early 90's there was a place in the mall closest to my house called The Gold Mine. They had lots of different kinds of arcade games. Another place I enjoyed to play games was at Malibu Grand Prix. They would always have some of the newest games, plus the old favorites too.

[D-BOY]

Though it's quite a drive from here in Detroit, there was - and still is - a very sweet arcade in Toronto, Ontario on Young street two blocks from the Delta Chelsea hotel. It's just pass that record shop with the huge annoying, ostentatious, neon dics that blink all night long and prevent anyone on that side of the hotel from sleeping.

The walk is pretty interesting as you get to pass the usual street urchins (pickpockets in the day and crack dealers and hobos at night) but it's a really sweet arcade with a lot of games.

If you head ot the back of it they still have a lot of older machines including a Nintendo PlayChoice-10 (remember the old cabinet where $0.25 got you 10 mins of play ont he game of your choice?) Last I recall their PlayChoice-10 had VS Dr. Mario.

Good fun.

[MagnumPI]

I remember playing games at 7-11 in the morning on my way to school and the people that were on there way to work getting coffee would stare at us and shake there heads.........
I dont really miss the stickiness of the floor..

[galaga-girl]

I live in a small town, and I have lived here my whole life, but we had the best arcade!!! It also doubled for a video store and it had two squash courts out the back. There was also a room where there was a VCR and a TV and at night a lot of the older teenagers (i was only around 8) would go there and watch horror movies!

The guy that ran it used to give me lots of free games because I was the youngest kid there who could actually play the games better than some of the older kids. There wree around 30 arcade machines and a really cool jukebox that always seemed to be playing "Run to paradise". Man I wish that place was still there

[bklujan]

Was that in the Newpark Mall?? Sure sounds like a place I used to go...

Originally Posted by Iluvthe80s

In the 80's and up to the early 90's there was a place in the mall closest to my house called The Gold Mine. They had lots of different kinds of arcade games. Another place I enjoyed to play games was at Malibu Grand Prix. They would always have some of the newest games, plus the old favorites too.

[atari_kid74]

We used to have a place called Tilt. I remember the first game I ever played there was Dragons Lair. I loved that game but could never get anywhere on it. Sadly Tilt closed in 89 and I started going to Aladians Castle. It was ok but not as retro as Tilt.