(Topic ID: 161595)

How was your Amusement Arcade in the 70 and 80´s ? let's post the pictures here…

By pabloshootagain

7 years ago


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There are 263 posts in this topic. You are on page 2 of 6.
#51 7 years ago

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#52 7 years ago
Quoted from pabloshootagain:

Did you mean the Aladdin's Castle ?, the arcade that was in College Mall across from Radio Shack

Yep. Did you learn that from Google or have you been there?

#53 7 years ago
Quoted from dmbjunky:

Yep. Did you learn that from Google or have you been there?

I have a friend from here who lived in Ellettsville, or something like that, years ago, and he knew the arcade.
Yesterday I asked him about the place.
He told me that he will look if he has pictures. He now lives in Brasil

#54 7 years ago

Hi all , This was a Pizza place down under in Perth Western Australia from the early 80's, Called Pizza Showtime , These pics i found on the net btw.
It only lasted a few years , and i managed to visit the place a few times with friends.
2 story building full of video and some pinball machines,
There was a big stage also and about every 15 minutes they had a animatrons doing songs like "The Devil went down to Georgia" and others ,

The City back then would of had about 20 big amustment centres or arcade back then , I have found more pics of them , But mainly just the building fronts , not so much the insides of them or the games they had unfortunatley.
I will post more pics later of the Pinball Parlours as we called them down here ...

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#55 7 years ago

I bet leveling a machine on grass would be fun. We had an arcade here once that was in a tent.Had sawdust floors and you got 10 peso "tokens" for a buck. No pins but lots of bootleg video games.....Fun City it was called...........

#56 7 years ago

Wizard's World Arcade opened in the summer of 1973. This pic was taken between 1976 & 1979. The arcade added the space of the Skillo in 1980 & remained open through the summer of 2001. The site is now occupied by Serena Restaurant in Pier Village, Long Branch, NJ.

Wizard's World Postcard (resized).jpgWizard's World Postcard (resized).jpg

#57 7 years ago
Quoted from Straight_Shooter:

Wizard's World Arcade opened in the summer of 1973. This pic was taken between 1976 & 1979. The arcade added the space of the Skillo in 1980 & remained open through the summer of 2001. The site is now occupied by Serena Restaurant in Pier Village, Long Branch, NJ.

Wow !!!

#58 7 years ago

Not my childhood arcade, but if you went to Penn State before mid 2000s timeframe you probably know about Playland.

Fondest arcade memories are of the one at the Fairgrounds Square Mall in Reading, Pa....once I was sixteen and had a car I'd drive there on a Friday or Saturday night for a Chick-fil-a sandwich, video games, and pinball.

#59 7 years ago

These were my haunts but I've not been able to find many pics of them. All around in the 80s and early 90s. If anyone had pls post

Pirates Cove arcade, Alhambra, CA
Tai Lai arcade, also Alhambra
Pac Man arcade, Pasadena, CA (there probably are google pics of this one around)

#60 7 years ago

Anyone with pictures from either Wonderland Mall in Livonia, Michigan arcade was called Main Street then the Video Drome....or how about the arcade at Livonia Mall in Livonia, Michigan?

If I had a nickel for every quarter I put in an arcade game.....well my pin collection would be awesome!!!

Thanks!

#61 7 years ago
Quoted from toyotaboy:

I had about 3 arcades at various times in the 80s and 90s within a couple miles of my house, but the most memorable one that you had to drive to was Galaxy world / Brunswick zone in Carol Stream, IL that closed about 4-5 years ago. It's now a Pilot gas station (but google earth hasn't quite updated the building yet)

I had some great times at Galaxy. Miss that place.

#62 7 years ago

I know this video has been posted here before, but it bears another post. I wanna go back...

#63 7 years ago

Reminded me of this old video. Great animation and sound track.
It was fun to have been there.

#64 7 years ago
Quoted from Fulltilt:

Another thing Buddy did that was quite the class act... he put games in the local county fair... WAY before there was Pinball on a Stick.
Check out that Kiss under the tent! (said he sold the Kiss for $295. My how times change...)

You could make a photo exhibition of arcades !!

Quoted from Fulltilt:

Reminded me of this old video. Great animation and sound track.
It was fun to have been there.
» YouTube video

sweet sounds !! I love the videogame williams Defender

#65 7 years ago
Quoted from pabloshootagain:

sweet sounds !! I love the videogame williams Defender

Sinistar is so cool. When my daughter was young, she refused to play Sinistar when it would say: "I Hunger!"

#66 7 years ago

If anyone from York Pa has any photos of Funcade at the old Delco Plaza late 70s to early 80s please post them. I've been kicking myself for not thinking to take pictures back in the day.

#67 7 years ago

The castle and arcade are still there, but the pinball machines are long gone...

camelot (resized).jpgcamelot (resized).jpg

#68 7 years ago

Excuse me, but I have a question :
to post a video should be just from youtube or can I do it differently ?

#69 7 years ago
Quoted from pabloshootagain:

Excuse me, but I have a question :
to post a video should be just from youtube or can I do it differently ?

Put it somewhere else and post the link here.

LTG : )

#70 7 years ago
Quoted from mac622:

Holy shit - totally forgot about that place!! Great pic. Do you remember the place in the Morris County Mall? Can't remember the name but it was there for ages.

No I wasn't up in Morristown at the time to remember the arcade at "The Murder Mall"

#71 7 years ago
Quoted from Guinnesstime:

Spaceport, Woodbridge Center Mall, Woodbridge NJ.

We had one of these in Seattle. I never knew they were a chain.

#72 7 years ago
Quoted from HughesDForce:

We had one of these in Seattle. I never knew they were a chain.

Neither did I. We had a Space Port in Oxford Valley Mall when I was a kid. I always remember the spaceship looking entrance that had this gaudy black carpet incorporated into it. Still a very cool place, and the only mall arcade I ever knew.

#73 7 years ago
Quoted from Colsond3:

Neither did I. We had a Space Port in Oxford Valley Mall when I was a kid. I always remember the spaceship looking entrance that had this gaudy black carpet incorporated into it. Still a very cool place, and the only mall arcade I ever knew.

There was one in the Lehigh Valley Mall, too...I think.

#74 7 years ago

Space Port New Employee Training Videos

Part One:

Part Two:

"It is against the law to have anyone else punch your time card for you!"

#75 7 years ago
Quoted from klr650:

Space Port New Employee Training Videos

Part One:

"the most important rule to remember is that our customers are number one. Without customers there's no space port, no jobs, and no paychecks. So treat every customer with respect, making them feel welcome, and letting them know you appreciate their business"

Hmm, stern could learn something from this video

#76 7 years ago

I felt bad for the Stern Galaxy pin. It "just don't work right"...

#77 7 years ago

I don't think there was a Space Port on this side of the 49th parallel. It looks like it would have been a cool franchise theme back in the day. I think the space uniforms were a nice touch. Much less humiliating than a bright red shirt and a hair net.
AFAIK, the only "franchise" arcade that we had here was called Wizard's Castle - There were several here in Alberta (Lethbridge, Calgary, and Edmonton). I don't have any photos though. I had a good camera, I just never would have considered photographing an arcade... Back then that would have been like photographing the inside of a Burger King.

#78 7 years ago

Hal's Billiards in Concord, CA back in the early 80's!

Pool Hall (resized).jpgPool Hall (resized).jpg

#79 7 years ago
Quoted from MrBellMan:

Hal's Billiards in Concord, CA back in the early 80's!

Woohoo! I see a Joust in the distance!

#80 7 years ago

Used to frequent the Circus Circus arcade in Vegas. They had this huge arcade (at least in my memories!) I got no pics but there must be some around.

Also there was a Star Wars (vector) sit down arcade machine on hydraulics which I could not get enough of

#81 7 years ago
Quoted from dmbjunky:

You probably won't be able to. I might make a trip to the library or local paper and see if I can find some pics.

Hello you were right, my friend was looking for pictures of that time and has no idea where they could have been, because he thinks that may have lost among so many changes, since he lived in, Fort Lauderdale, New Jersey and now in Brazil.
Apologies for the illusion that, perhaps, I caused you.

#82 7 years ago
Quoted from Baiter:

I have no pics of the arcade I grew up with in the Denver, CO area which was bulldozed in 1995 and turned into a Home Depot. Let me give you a little idea what it was like: 80 bowling lanes, Bar, Restaurants, Pool Tables, Olympic size indoor swimming pool w/slides, full sized shooting gallery, skeeball, even indoor bumper cars... and of course 250 or so video games and pinball spanning multiple rooms and levels. The origin of Celebrity Sports Center is interesting... from wikipedia:
[Opened in 1960] The original investors included Walt Disney, his brother Roy, Jack Benny, Bing Crosby, George Burns, Charles Laughton, Burl Ives, Art Linkletter, John Payne, Spike Jones and Jim and Marion Jordan (Fibber McGee and Molly). There are some sources that suggest Walt Disney Company used the business as a training facility for its employees prior to deployment to Disney World.
It was a substantial place, and has proved extremely difficult to find pics that properly reflect it... but there are a handful of fairly old pics around the internet, including a few reflecting the name change over the years

Hey Baiter, I grew up in the Denver area from '74-'86 and used to go there! Place was huge. That's some cool history about it! I remember going on a field trip there in 7th grade and going on the water slide. Played games, went bowling, skee-ball. Good times.

Did you ever go to Nautilus arcade at the Southglen mall? That was my gameroom! Had a submarine theme! Tried finding pics but nothing on the net.

Todd

#83 7 years ago
Quoted from HughesDForce:

We had one of these in Seattle. I never knew they were a chain.

The arcade at the Seattle Center used to have pinball machines back in the 70's. I haven't been back to the Northwest since 2007. Do you know those are still there?

#84 7 years ago

When I feel old I come here.

You guys are old.

Hah.

#85 7 years ago

We had dream machine in the East feild mall springfeild mass.. unfortunately I have no pics.. but would love to c some if anybody has any...

#86 7 years ago

This is one of the dream machines .. not posative if ours ..

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#87 7 years ago
Quoted from Jeekayjay:

When I feel old I come here.
You guys are old.
Hah.

Haha, yes man you are right !! and may be you are very young and belong to the generation of Xbox ...

#88 7 years ago
Quoted from pabloshootagain:

Haha, yes man you are right !! and may be you are very young and belong to the generation of Xbox ...

Just teasing you guys I'm old too but not quite old enough for arcades in the 70's

I do love my Xbox but I'm classically trained

#89 7 years ago
Quoted from toyotaboy:

I had about 3 arcades at various times in the 80s and 90s within a couple miles of my house, but the most memorable one that you had to drive to was Galaxy world / Brunswick zone in Carol Stream, IL that closed about 4-5 years ago. It's now a Pilot gas station (but google earth hasn't quite updated the building yet)

A bit of history: WMS used Galaxy World as a test location for new games. I used to live in Bloomingdale and I saw many prototype WMS games at Galaxy World.

#90 7 years ago
Quoted from TG:

Hey Baiter, I grew up in the Denver area from '74-'86 and used to go there! Did you ever go to Nautilus arcade at the Southglen mall?
Todd

Prime arcade years! Unfortunately I never went to Nautilus. For me it was Celebrities or Crystal's Pizza, among other local smaller arcades. Crystals was in Aurora, big place, 2 levels, pizza and arcades games. I believe there were more around the country.

#91 7 years ago
Quoted from Jeekayjay:

Just teasing you guys I'm old too but not quite old enough for arcades in the 70's
I do love my Xbox but I'm classically trained

#92 7 years ago
Quoted from Baiter:

I have no pics of the arcade I grew up with in the Denver, CO area which was bulldozed in 1995 and turned into a Home Depot. Let me give you a little idea what it was like: 80 bowling lanes, Bar, Restaurants, Pool Tables, Olympic size indoor swimming pool w/slides, full sized shooting gallery, skeeball, even indoor bumper cars... and of course 250 or so video games and pinball spanning multiple rooms and levels. The origin of Celebrity Sports Center is interesting...

Celebrity was gone by the time I moved to Colorado, but supposedly the Whirlwind I have in my basement came from there. As I was told, a guy in Denver bought the games when Celebrity closed. He had two arcades: one in Denver and one in Longmont. He closed the Denver location in the mid-90s and then lost his lease in Longmont and had to auction all of the games, which is where I bought my WW. I have no real proof that it is true but it's a good story none the less.

#93 7 years ago
Quoted from Dooskie:

The arcade at the Seattle Center used to have pinball machines back in the 70's. I haven't been back to the Northwest since 2007. Do you know those are still there?

Was it still open in 2007? I thought it shut down before that, but maybe it was shortly after. I was there once in mid 2000s, but don't remember if there were pins or not at that time. There's plenty of other places around now to play pinball though if you come back this way.

12
#94 7 years ago

One of my customers found a picture from about mid 1991 of SS Billiards.

Jr. Pac on left, Pinbot, Funhouse, Fire, Whirlwind, Harley Davidson, Roller Games, sit down moving Out Run on the back wall.

LTG : )

DSC00149 (resized).JPGDSC00149 (resized).JPG

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#95 7 years ago

Playland Arcade (State College, PA)
The Pennsylvania State University - University Park Main Campus
1970s, less than decade after opening in 1968.
Closed in 2003.
Operated for 35+ years by my first pinball manager and boss, Gene Steele.

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#96 7 years ago
Quoted from xTheBlackKnightx:

Playland Arcade (State College, PA)
The Pennsylvania State University - University Park Main Campus
1970s, less than decade after opening in 1968.
Closed in 2003.
Operated for 35+ years by my first pinball manager and boss, Gene Steele.

Look at all of the freaking ash trays! Holy crap! LOL!

#97 7 years ago
Quoted from MrBellMan:

Look at all of the freaking ash trays! Holy crap! LOL!

Cause we all smoked and you didn't want your machines being used as a cigarette holder!
(FANTASTIC pics. I miss all those great EM machines)

#98 7 years ago
Quoted from xTheBlackKnightx:

Playland Arcade (State College, PA)
The Pennsylvania State University - University Park Main Campus
1970s, less than decade after opening in 1968.
Closed in 2003.
Operated for 35+ years by my first pinball manager and boss, Gene Steele.

Wow !! beautiful pics , thanks for sharing
I used to wear this type of clothing on friday and saturday night in the early 80's !!! Haha

#99 7 years ago

We had a few arcades in my home city of Leeds. Not many photos exist but here is one. It is now a sex shop.

IMG_0762.JPGIMG_0762.JPG

33
#100 7 years ago

My dad passed away Oct 21 of a sudden heart attack at 73. I felt blessed to have him in my life especially when he was coding in 2008 from his first heart attack. He survived and had triple bypass surgery this Jan so I got another 10 months with him, from that procedure. Those pics Don Fulltilt posted plus many more I will scan. Here is a few i used my cell.phone from the originals that have really helped me go thru the grief process. I used to "help" change the records on the jukeboxes but they were often dirty so he made me a special outfit to protect from the dirt and grease. He had a real job and we often loaded up a jukebox from home that night to get ready the next day. One of the best parts was trying out the jukebox to see if the record skipped and still worked. To pass the time he would play like he was teaching me to dance. I can really see the love the between us in these pics and I wish all kids had a dad like mine. Thanks Dad for taking the time to show me the business and still teach me it's fun. I believe we are still in the fun business but some days are really hard with customers and locations.

I think the world of Jack at JJP for taking a few minutes to talk about the loss of my dad and not even bring up distributor stuff. I wish you had meet him and everyone who still has a dad please give him a hug. I know death waits for nobody and I am proud to continue in his tradition of doing all we can for our customers and clients. It's not always about making a sell. Sometimes it's fun to just relax and play some pinball or in his heyday pong and a beer.

Just wanted to share as its 2 weeks and I missing him terribly.

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