i would love to link my fb page to this somehow..have approximately 1,600 photos of pinball, jukes etc in arcades from circa 1920 to 1980..have been collecting old photos like this for the past 20 years.

if i get some time tomorrow will post some up.

The arcade I worked in years ago had the ashtrays everywhere. It was almost a full time job just emptying them lol. I smoked for 23 years so it made no difference to me. Funny how back then you really didn't pay any attention to it, but smoking indoors now is so rare when you do see it, you're almost in shock lol.

I went to Crystals too! Big place. Had one of my end-of-year soccer banquets there I remember.

I was watching the Green Room on Showtime. It's a comedy talk show on showtime. One episode all of the guests were smoking. It gave me good memories of seeing Johnny Carson smoking on TV. I've never been a smoker.

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Post a Facebook link or Facebook user name if it's a public page.

Even us nonsmokers can appreciate smoking.

Here are a couple of pin pics a year or two before closing. Still needed several ash trays in 1999.

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Thanks xTheBlackKnightx for all the great pics of Playland from back in the 70s. Believe it or not, I actually looked closely at the people to see if I might have been in one of the photos.

I had forgotten about the free pizza days, as shown in frame 8. I recall Playland used to have a couple sheets of pizza delivered on Thursdays (probably from Highway pizza) for the customers enjoyment.

I recall there used to be an employee named Jack, who was an older man that usually sat at the change counter and could often be heard to loudly bellow: "quit beating on the machines".

Great stuff. Attached are a couple more pics of Playland from 1977. Sorry for the low Q, but they photos of photos.

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Whoa there's a Allied Leisure Thunderbolt! in that last pic. In '77 that would have been at the very beginning of Solid State.

Those pics were from May 1977 and the digital games had just started showing up, at Playland anyway.
Can't believe I cut off the backglass of the Jacks Open on the end. That is one my favorite EMs.

The worn carpeting in front of the machines in the second photo is awesome.

Linoleum. You can see the squares.

LTG : )

The only pictures I've ever been able to find of the arcades and my hangout in Atlantic Beach (NC) in the 60's.
It was referred to by all locals as "The Circle".
Absolutely great times and permanent memories.

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Hey, there's Gilligan in the first picture!

And that's a 1949 Chicago Coin Midget Skee Ball in the background of those guys playing pool!!!

And there was the "Big Surf" just down from the arcade. I'll never forget seeing Big Brother and the Holding Company on the beach front.
Good beer and good times.

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2 Lawlor pins have the most play... TAF has #1 wear followed by Earthshaker. I concur.

Dialed In has no wear so far...

The Armstrong vinyl asbestos floor tiles were installed in 1975. A lot of the wear came from Gottlieb electro mechanical pins. Many proto types were tested right there in the late 70s.

Thanks for the pictures of Playland, I mentioned them earlier but no pictures. As a 1995 Penn State grad, my memories of that arcade are a little different.

But I'll tell you something, the pinball machines were on that same wall next to the cashier when I was there and that's where I fell in love with World Cup Soccer...and it was those memories of intoxicated, late night pinball that led me to getting my first pin last year.

How cool is that? I can see the spot in that photo that motivated me to build a finished gameroom!

I was 16 in 1975 and remember taking the subway down to Young and Dundas from Don Mills to buy albums and play pinball. I remember hearing Deep Purples's album 'Come Taste the Band' featuring Tommy Bolin in Music world and still have the album. In this picture you can see the Pinball Spot, and up the street is Sam the Record Man. Directly across the street from Sams was The Arcade. Needless to say I would have had the fashionable green checkered lumber jacket and long hair at the time.

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OK, I got no where to put this.

The summer months was also spent by the Rockaway Boardwalk.
I could see the Fireworks from there, while on Atlantic Beach.

I love summer fireworks....it takes me back, and I saw this.

Its a must watch from beginning to end to see the Worlds biggest firework. 576 pounds!

Great topic, Pablo!

Palisades Amusement Park in Northern New Jersey closed in 1971. Here is a great pic of the B&M Arcade. You can see plenty of 5cent/5ball pins in the back center section. Use to scour my house for 5 pennies & walked to the park to play at least 1 game.

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Gameland in Lake Geneva, WI.

I was born in 85 (31 y/o) so missed out on the golden era of arcades. I have a variety of arcade/pinball memories from my childhood, but this place sticks out well. Awesome variety, tons of EM games, and a massive row of pinball I missed. I took these photos when I was 16 (2003) and into MAME/arcades so missed all the pins. Went back in 2008 to find a sign on the door saying it was closed and I missed the auction by a week

More here
http://imgur.com/a/owpw6

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yep haven't forgotten..atm i have my photos all locked..and need to figure out how to make them all public and the rest of my page private..so *may* be easier to just copy some of the photos and post them here..not all 1,600 as i sure don't have time for that

also have about 500 photos from sydney's luna park pre 1978.

I love this thread, wish I had some pictures to contribute but I don't. Keep them coming in. Going back to the good old days, bringing up a lot of great memories, when things were just easier not a whole lot of confusion like today. I guess a good way to describe it back then was that our lives were less "cluttered" if you can follow what I am trying to say. Anyway great thread.

WOW. What year was that??? I bet there are a ton of people that frequent this site that has no idea who or what that is. Your showing your age. If you saw them on the beach while drinking beer you must be older than me, I was in my teens when that band was big. More great memories. Must have been one hell of a concert!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, I'm probably showing my age. It would have been somewhere in the early 70's, post Joplin. It was still a GREAT show with many of the old favorites. That was the only rock club on the beach. Everywhere else at the time was beach music and soul.

Awesome, a whole row of cabarets/minis in the wild! I have 2 of those in my collection.

Yea I didn't even know at the time. The Robotron is extremely rare.

okay..have made all my old arcade photos public on my fb page, ther are about 1,600 and copied all the ones in this thread..search tony mather and look for this excellent profile photo from 30 years ago

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Holy smokes, what a great bunch of pictures!

Thanks for sharing all those wonderful photos - amazing!

Long post but:

Wow. I am looking through these in awe. I was not born until 1998 so it very weird looking back on all of these times before I existed and thinking of where all of those machines are today, knowing all of those buildings are now vacant if not destroyed, and so many people in these photographs that could be anywhere right now. Mostly the machines. This really makes me wish I could see where all of my collection has been, "if only they could talk". So many different machines, so many different stories.

I've always had these weird distant deja vu-feeling memories of my early life that I can't remember when the 80's stuff was still decently prevalent (or at least it seemed that way to me, the world was also a much different place already, not only from a child's perspective but looking back now) and a lot of these are sending that through the roof, along with early memories of growing up in outdated campgrounds with arcades similar to a lot of those in the pictures. Love it. Thanks so much for uploading!

Since I wasn't alive back then and with the modernization of things like having these forums, pinball shows, reproduction parts, etc., I find that it is sometimes easy forget the coolest part of all about these machines and that is the history. It's really hard to explain, like the history (who made it, what year, how many were made, "it's old") is always really apparent of course because we always talk about it, but the actual history of where these machines have been and their stories is something I find that passes me by sometimes for some reason, probably because I wasn't there. Like I can go down in my basement and look at my games and know they're old and lived their lives out there in the world and can *think* about where they've been, but then you look back at these old pictures, evidence of the times, and you see one of the titles you own and it all really just kind of puts it into perspective and I find it very fascinating. Everybody focuses on the history of what happened at the factory and who made what game and whatnot, but I think the more exciting part is what came after that, each machine has it's own unique story of where it has been and most of them are unknown. They are all truly survivors and they sure had a long journey. Really makes me appreciate them even more.

We all try to discuss which machine is the best and what reproduction playfield is coming out next and how iconic machines like Atlantis or Eldorado or Fathom or Funhouse are and how great they are in a collection, and I find it very fascinating how they were all just out there doing their thing long before any of this even mattered, long before this whole collecting thing we have, before any of this was relevant, so long ago. When I think "Atlantis", naturally I think "very popular 70's wedgehead on 2016 modern-day Pinside" before "1975" because it's what I'm most familiar with, while picturing it in somebody's basement or at a show rather than picturing it in a candy shop or arcade. Although the history and age is still obviously apparent, it is nice to switch it around a little and think of the roots rather than the times I'm familiar with and actually lived in, which are the times of today, filled with pinball shows and pinball parties in the homes of collectors. I suppose in a way *right now* is my 1975 or 1985 or whatever for you guys.

The whole popular culture thing is cool too, seeing what is now a niche hobby once cover the world as a very normal part of society - and now those same exact machines that were in those coffee shops and candy stores and arcades are now in our homes. Fantastic.

I'm gonna shut my trap now before I start to sound insane. Most of you are here because your main pinball experience was back then, but mine is a little backwards so sometimes I tend to ramble as I try to describe what I'm feeling, hah. 90% of my glory days of pinball and pinball playing were spent right here in the hobbyist culture enjoying yesterday's show or home pinball party and it's mostly all I know, so discovering just how big and mainstream it once was is a very cool thing and I am glad all of this was able to be documented.

I feel this way about games of the 1950s and 60s, that were before my time...

We've seen your pinball machine collection, so sorry, that ship has already sailed.

At least I'm not alone!

The edited words of Billy Joel: I'd rather laugh with the pinball lunatics than cry with the saints!

You are in very good company.

This thread just keeps on giving. Such a great thread. Keep the pictures and stories coming I am totally enjoying it and I am sure a lot of us are.

Because of some family health issues, I'm heading back to Bremerton next month, and will be there for an extended period. My intention is to see if any of the old arcades are still around. I will send pictures if they are.

The best place to enjoy a fireworks show in Florida is at the beach. I was at St. Pete for my first and my second was at Amelia Island.