W.C.Frank’s arcade.
There were about four of them around Omaha.
It was where I had my first cheese dog, it changed my life….
(Topic ID: 319312)
Ames, IA
Quoted from Jumpydoctor:Came back to work in my old town and found the building that housed my old arcade had the facade pulled off to reveal the old arcade sign. It was about 1983 I played there.
[quoted image]
Wow it would be so cool to save that.
Quoted from ultimategameroom:Odyssey Land was about a mile bike ride from home.
Spaceport was at the Mall which was another 1/2 mile further.
Odyssey Land was awesome! That's where my love of System 11 pins began. Spent TONS of quarters in Space Port too when mom was shopping at JC Pennys.
There was also an arcade behind the King's store in Lansdale, but I can't for the life of me remember the name now and it's really annoying me. LOL
Chris
Well I guess I'll weigh in with a few names,
These are Arcades that I owned and operated in the general Los Angeles area
Family Fun Arcade, Granada Hills Ca
Known in the Street Fighter community as FFA
1973-2013
Noah's Arkade La Mirada Ca 1975-1988
Skatercross (Skateboard park and arcade) Reseda Ca
Power Zone Simi Valley Ca
Interface (Internet cafe and full arcade) Simi Valley Ca
Japan Arcade. Little Tokyo (Los Angeles)
Super Arcade Walnut Ca
If you are attending Cal Extreme in Santa Clara next weekend, I'll be giving a presentation of the history of my arcade experiences in these locations and more. From Pong to Pinball, from Asteroids to Zaxxon, from Dragon's Lair to Dance Dance Revolution and everything in between (especially STREET FIGHTER) Be sure to join us on Saturday !
Quoted from SilverUnicorn:Odyssey Land was awesome! That's where my love of System 11 pins began. Spent TONS of quarters in Space Port too when mom was shopping at JC Pennys.
There was also an arcade behind the King's store in Lansdale, but I can't for the life of me remember the name now and it's really annoying me. LOL
Chris
Me too! I usually played The System 11 pins at Odyssey Land while my buddies played video games. Now it’s a Verizon store.
I vaguely remember the arcade behind Kings which is now a hardware store. As a youngster I lived one block from there! I thought it was up on the other end of the shopping center behind Beemans five and dime across from the YMCA!
Four arcades from my youth:
Starbase One
Sharkey's
Silverball
The Library
That last one was the best name by far. All those kids telling their parents they were "going to the library"!
Quoted from play_pinball:Really shocked we’ve made it into page 2 and no one has said TILT!
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Loved this place. Had a Hercules right as you walked in, which looked cool. (Adelaide South Australia)
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Another local one to me "Magic Mountain" which was situated on the beachfront - 5 min away from where I live.
bc65-8bf4-5dd0-b05e-9ac67de64299 (resized).jpgMagic-Mountain-Holdfast-Bay-History-Centre (resized).jpg
Hucky Finns in the Pennyrike Mall in Hopkinsville Kentucky was the only arcade in town.. My dad would give blood and the blood donation place would give him $10 certificates for the arcade. Always loved when dad gave blood!
Canberra
Quoted from gliebig:Replay
Tollgate mall baby.... that was my dads place. 2 floors.
He also had fun attic in westview mall, Salisbury mall, and Palmer park mall in Easton pa.
Space station in Owings mills and dover mall. Down in ocean city, there used to be an arcade on somerset and the boardwalk called Jim’s Place. Dad and the owner of that place partnered up and opened “space place” in the now demolished ocean plaza mall on 94th (combo of space station and jim’s place).
He also owned machine shop aka penny arcade on Baltimore and Howard (the block) in Baltimore, across from the civic center. It’s a parking garage now.
Blazing Flippers In Westminster, which I think was an ode to blazing saddles. No idea what blazing saddles has to do with an arcade to this day, but it was a cool name.
The last one he opened alone was winnerz in the valley forge mall in PA. I opened 3 more winnerz arcades with another fella in west Manchester mall, york galleria, and north hanover mall. All in pa, all closed now.
It’s been a fun life lol.
Mike
Pinball Petes
Mickey Rats AA
Double Focus AA
Putterz in Ypsi
Blasters in Brighton
The Butterfly in Warren
Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum
I almost feel like this is a Goldberg’s episode…
Back in the 80’s at the “Solano Mall” in Fairfield, CA, we had the Gold Mine (like some others have posted from other malls across the country). Once the 90’s came, it moved from a downstairs corner in the middle of the mall to some random, less visited entrance next to JC Penny and rebranded itself with a much more hip name, The Tilt [/sarcasm]!
The Gold Mine was magical, long before redemption games flooded the scene.
Closed before I moved here, but there used to be an arcade here in Sioux Falls called “gigglebee’s”.
We currently have “The Electric Rainbow” in a local mall.
Christchurch
Quoted from pinsanity:Magic Mountain.
Adelaide, SA, Australia.
An oversized hollowed out fibreglass mountain built within 100 yards of the city beach with waterslides that looped around the top.
Front entrance:
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Back facing beach:
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Post #69!
Duisburg
Pleasure Pastimes, Manchester, England.
Very seedy and you often had to “lend” someone 10p. I want there late 70s till early 80s. It was quite cavernous and had a great and eclectic mix of games from EM right up to latest pin and vid releases.
If you Google Pleasure Pastimes Arcade, there’s a long nostalgic thread on it.
Tropical Island Golf and Games Funpark, Greer South Carolina.
Parents owned and operated the place from the early 80s to the late 90s so I practically grew up there.
8,000 square foot arcade.
2 Mini Golf Courses
Mile long go-kart track
Batting Cages
Bumper Boats
Laser tag
An absolutely miserable childhood /s.
Quoted from FalconDriver:Space Port, King of Prussia Mall- PA
Spent a lot of quarters there, they always had great pins.
Gateway arcade
Sheraton hotel arcade
SantaEatsCheese
So you were deprived of books and homework as a child, you poor thing
Quoted from tomdrum:Playland and Campus Casino in State College, PA.
Both were great. There were also a few games in the lower level of the HUB. BTW, CD Cellar below Campus Casino was a pretty cool place too!
-Rob
-visit https://www.kahr.us to get my daughterboard that helps fix WPC pinball resets or my replacement Type 1 sound board for Williams games.
Quoted from play_pinball:Really shocked we’ve made it into page 2 and no one has said TILT!
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I bought my WhiteWater machine from a Tilt arcade that was going out of business. Eventually that whole mall closed and was demolished. Now that space is all condos.
Leduc, AB
Prague
Quoted from Guidotorpedo:Tollgate mall baby.... that was my dads place. 2 floors.
He also had fun attic in westview mall, Salisbury mall, and Palmer park mall in Easton pa.
Space station in Owings mills and dover mall. Down in ocean city, there used to be an arcade on somerset and the boardwalk called Jim’s Place. Dad and the owner of that place partnered up and opened “space place” in the now demolished ocean plaza mall on 94th (combo of space station and jim’s place).
He also owned machine shop aka penny arcade on Baltimore and Howard (the block) in Baltimore, across from the civic center. It’s a parking garage now.
Blazing Flippers In Westminster, which I think was an ode to blazing saddles. No idea what blazing saddles has to do with an arcade to this day, but it was a cool name.
The last one he opened alone was winnerz in the valley forge mall in PA. I opened 3 more winnerz arcades with another fella in west Manchester mall, york galleria, and north hanover mall. All in pa, all closed now.
It’s been a fun life lol.
Mike
Replay was awesome. That's so cool. I'd love to find some pics of the place, do you have any?
I had to sneak in there because arcades were where the "bad kids" hung out, according to my parents.
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