Whack-A-Mole? Skee-Ball? DDR? Pinball?
You have questions... I would sure like to find out more information in order to answer them.

I learned a lot about Amusement Parks with the last forum, and now I want to learn more stuff about arcades. So ask away. Don't be shy.

I guess everybody already knows everything about this.  ;)

You weren't around in the 80's.

Back then, arcades were dark, smoke-filled places where the badass, dropout headbanger stoner dudes hung out with their slutty girlfriends, and if you were a nerdy type (as I was back then) they could be a little intimidating.

And that's what made them so awesome.

Now they have these lame "family fun centers."  :P

In the 90s when I used to frequent arcades, it was hilarious.  Getting death threats from punks who lost after I beat them in 'Street Fighter II'.  They'd be all like "Yeah, you think you're so tough, let's take this outside"

One guy had a knife and threatened to stab me right in the arcade.  Wasn't the first time some punk tried that with me either.  Forget being in the crowd at an English soccer match.  The real violence happens in the arcades ;D

do you have a favorite Pinball game?

do you have a favorite Pinball game?


My favorite Pinball game is the one that used to have a glitch that gave you unlimited free games by just pressing start (And for some reason nobody seemed to use it). Good memories about that Pinball machine, but alas the arcade got rid of it in order to put in some stupid DDR machine (Don't get me wrong I like DDR, but the DDR game wasn't free it was like 75 cents a game).

My favorite Pinball game is the one that used to have a glitch that gave you unlimited free games by just pressing start (And for some reason nobody seemed to use it). Good memories about that Pinball machine, but alas the arcade got rid of it in order to put in some stupid DDR machine (Don't get me wrong I like DDR, but the DDR game wasn't free it was like 75 cents a game).


There was an arcade in the back room of this little burger/ice cream joint in the town I grew up in, and they had this Konami Track & Field game in there. While I thought the game was just OK, someone had figured out that if you reached on top of the console, there was an on/off switch up there, and if you turned the game off and then back on you'd get a free game.

The owner's wife (who was also the school nurse and wasn't a particularly pleasant individual) also somehow caught wind of this and started keeping an eye on that game. One day she caught me resetting it and kicked me out.

Their solution to this was to put a piece of duct tape over the switch, as if that was supposed to stop us.

I think she kicked me out 2 or 3 times because of that.  ;D

Do you have a favorite themed mini golf place? My absolute favorite is this one called, Pirate's Cove...in Hilton Head, SC. It's all decorated with the Pirate theme...it's really cool.

Do you have a favorite themed mini golf place? My absolute favorite is this one called, Pirate's Cove...in Hilton Head, SC. It's all decorated with the Pirate theme...it's really cool.


There's one like that down in Flordia that I loved going to back in the day. I love Mini-Golf, but I'm still looking for one that's like the massive amazing ones they have in the movies and TV (Such as The Simpsons, and Happy Gilmore), most of the ones around here are just typical waterfalls, bumps, rocks, tunnels, perhaps a few peices of scenery (That aren't even in the way of the ball... Man, I hate those). There was one really good one at a Dairy Queen by my house, but it's run down and falling apart I took a picture of the place for a High School photo class and I think if they worked on fixing it up it really could be a hot spot for a lot of teenagers and young couples to go on dates, but now it's pretty warn down and you barely see anybody there except for a few parents with their kids (Who's kids were probably too high strung and the parents needed them to go do something), but back when I was a kid I had a lot of Birthday Parties there, and I still like going there because it's a very intresting spot.

You weren't around in the 80's.

Back then, arcades were dark, smoke-filled places where the badass, dropout headbanger stoner dudes hung out with their slutty girlfriends, and if you were a nerdy type (as I was back then) they could be a little intimidating.

And that's what made them so awesome. 


Sort of.  Let my try my version of it.

"Back then, arcades were dark, smoke-filled places where the badass, dropout headbanger stoner dudes hung out with their slutty girlfriends, and if you were a nerdy type (as I was back then) and you had the high score, they were the only place where the nerd and the headbanger could stand as equals."

Much better.

It's 20 years on, and I still remember using my newly-acquired drivers' license as an excuse to leave half an hour early, and somehow show up half an hour late, to my church's youth group (yeah, I was brung up fundie, but I got better!).  Somewhere in the intervening hour of joy (and this was at the seediest of arcades, the kind that actually had a "18+ only" section that none of us dared venture into, but it was the one that made enough money to have the best selection of games, which was all that mattered to me :), one of the jocks who'd always hassled me (nothing serious, just the occasional ribbing) at my school locker walked up behind me playing Tempest and exclaimed "Foo!  WTF are you doing here!  This is the wrong part of town!  Wait!  Holy sh*bleep*iat, are you the guy who signs himself as "FOO"?  I had no idea you were that guy!  Wow!  You lead a double life, man!"

Apart from the fact that my real life (that is, arcade :) initials weren't FOO, yep, I was that guy, and I proved it to him while keeping that quarter alive over the next 20 minutes.  In the weeks that followed, yeah, he still ribbed me a bit at my locker - but it was a lot more good-natured from that point forward.  Underlying it, there was respect.  A few years after high school, when the rules governing our respective geek/jock cliques had long since been rendered obsolete by virtue of everyone having being invited to our friends' respective weddings, we ended up as friends. 

The arcade, like the gym, was a meritocracy.  You were either part of the top 3 (Atari) or the top 10 (Williams Immortals), or you weren't.  Jocks learned that geeks could actually be good at a competitive activity.  Geeks learned why jocks spent so much time in training and on the football field.  Whether it was man against man (gym), or man against machine (arcade), it was ultimately all about sport. 


And that's what made them so awesome. 


Different reasons, but yeah.  What he said. 

Is there a favorite arcade game of yours?

Is there a favorite arcade game of yours?


Skee-Ball (Because I love bowling, and it's just like it), you don't get a lot of tickets that way but it's still a lot of fun and usually only costs one token.

There's one like that down in Flordia that I loved going to back in the day. I love Mini-Golf, but I'm still looking for one that's like the massive amazing ones they have in the movies and TV (Such as The Simpsons, and Happy Gilmore), most of the ones around here are just typical waterfalls, bumps, rocks, tunnels, perhaps a few peices of scenery (That aren't even in the way of the ball... Man, I hate those). There was one really good one at a Dairy Queen by my house, but it's run down and falling apart I took a picture of the place for a High School photo class and I think if they worked on fixing it up it really could be a hot spot for a lot of teenagers and young couples to go on dates, but now it's pretty warn down and you barely see anybody there except for a few parents with their kids (Who's kids were probably too high strung and the parents needed them to go do something), but back when I was a kid I had a lot of Birthday Parties there, and I still like going there because it's a very intresting spot.


we have a few around here that are somewhat above average. There's this one called Statlers (it also has a driving range and go-karts, and an arcade). The one hole is very unique. You have to hit the ball into a stream of water, which then rolls onto a grate from the water...then goes onto the green. There's another mini-golf around here that has lots of neat attractions on the holes. It's somewhat run down...but still pretty cool.

Skee-Ball (Because I love bowling, and it's just like it), you don't get a lot of tickets that way but it's still a lot of fun and usually only costs one token.


I can never win at skee ball. :(

I can never win at skee ball. :(


It's a hard game, but it's fun

How good are you at Whack-A-Mole?

How good are you at Whack-A-Mole?


I'm pretty good. That also is one of my favorite games, as a kid that used to be my number one favorite game (Something about beating rodants made me happy)
Now my favorite is Skee-Ball (But my favorite carnival game is Darts, always was, always will be)

Do you have a favorite Mario game?

Super Smash Brothers without a doubt

What level did you finish in Super Mario Brothers?

What level did you finish in Super Mario Brothers?


Good game, I can't really remember it's been such a long time since I played the original

Good game, I can't really remember it's been such a long time since I played the original


The one from 1989?

The one from 1989?


Yup
They made a Game Boy version of it, and I have that

Yup
They made a Game Boy version of it, and I have that


Was that Wario,6 Golden Coins?

Was that Wario,6 Golden Coins?


The first Super Mario World

Did you know that there is an awesome Pinball tournament in Pittsburgh every year?

http://www.papa.org/index.php  I'm hoping to get back to play in it.  I was a contestant in it about 6 years ago and I had a blast and got a cool t-shirt, although my scores left alot to be desired.  I played in the beginners level and still sucked.  lol  It was fun though.

When did Super Mario first appear?

When did Super Mario first appear?


Mario the character appeared in 1983 in the game "Jumpman" in which you had to dodge barrels tossed by Donkey Kong and climb ladders in order to save the princess

The first Super Mario game appeared in 1985

What's your favorite Donkey Kong game?

What's your favorite Donkey Kong game?


Donkey Kong Country 2 (Donkey Kong is my favorite character, because he was the first Nintendo character that I was exposed to. When I first got a Game Boy that was the first game I got with it, and I loved it)

How often do you make it to the arcade to play games?