I'm excited to announce the 1980's Arcade at the Southern Fried Gameroom Expo. This area of the show will be dedicated to recreating an authentic 80’s arcade experience, with the best pins and vids from 1978-1985. These nicely-restored, great-playing games will take you back to your best years. Do you remember putting your quarters on the glass, and couple-skating to Journey's "Stone in Love"?

Here's a forecast what we expect to be available:

Pins
'85 - Game Plan Andromeda
'83 - Zaccaria Farfalla
'82 - Bally Vector
‘82 - Bally Eight Ball Deluxe LE
‘82 - Bally Mr. & Mrs. Pac Man
'81 - Bally Fathom
'81 - Bally Flash Gordon
'80 - Williams Black Knight
'80 - Williams Firepower
'80 - Bally Space Invaders
'80 - Bally Xenon
'80 - Bally Embryon
'80 - Stern Flight 2000
'80 - Stern Galaxy
'79 - Bally Harlem Globetrotters
'79 - Bally Star Trek
'78 - Bally Mata Hari
'78 - Bally Playboy
'78 - Bally Silverball Mania
'78 - Gottlieb Strange World

Vids
‘86 - Rampage
‘85 - Gunsmoke
‘84 - Punch-Out!!
‘83 - Mad Planets
‘83 - Gyruss
‘82 - Tron
‘82 - Mr. Do
‘82 - Q*Bert
‘82 - Zaxxon
‘82 - Donkey Kong Jr
‘81 - Wizard of Wor
‘81 - Tempest
‘81 - Vanguard
‘81 - Frogger
‘81 - Galaga
‘81 - Defender
‘80 - Missile Command
‘80 - Pac-Man
‘80 - Phoenix
‘80 - Warlords

An arcade is more than just a bunch of games. We're hoping to create something really memorable, with music and memorabilia that will really take you back. We'll have hours of 80's music, and some great pictures.

Here's where you Pinsiders can help: if you have a great picture of yourself from the 80's, send it to me in a PM. I want to show everyone what we were like back in the day. It doesn't have to be arcade-related, but there should be something that ties it back to that era. Here are a few examples to get you thinking. Don't be shy - we'd love to see what you were like 30 years ago. Console and arcade pics are especially welcome.

OK, I figured out that Pinside doesn't like pics with punctuation in the filename. The 2nd pic below is me.

erich jamming on Atari.jpg

Moonshadow Saloon.jpg

(argh, having trouble posting pics...will try again tomorrow)

Post 'em here if you're brave enough.
I would be more afraid to post a current picture of myself.

Those are awesome, thanks!

It's kind of sad to think of all the great arcades I was in back then, but never had a camera. The smartphone really has changed how we remember things - we have a camera 24/7 now.

I'm not so sure about Fathom now. At one point there were 2 Fathoms listed here; now there's just 1:

http://www.southernfriedgameroomexpo.com/index.php/games2014/

My Fathom has been promised to the tournament, so it won't be in the '85 Arcade. But I'm sure we can replace it with something equally awesome. I'll pack 'em in until we're out of room.

Thanks! You were a great help last year; I really appreciated it. I'm planning to load in Friday morning this year.

Lol, I'm buying if you're helping. And...I just worked out a way to unload Thursday night, although it will probably be after 9pm. I might put off the set-up to Friday morning.

Hmm...I have a nice JROK MultiWilliams (in a Joust cab). I could make it boot to Robotron, which is all anyone plays anyway. If it'll fit with my 8 pins I'll try to bring it!

I was in the class of 1982. There were tons of arcades back then, but my favorite memories are about playing pinball at a place called "JP's Steak and Eggs". They only had 1 pin, but they'd change it out every 2-3 months. I clearly remember Black Knight and Rolling Stones. We'd finish closing the Burger King around 1:30am on weekends, and play pinball at JP's until 4 or 5 in the morning.

Here's the actual list of games (mainly for my future reference). We had a few casualties (Vector, Embryon, BK), but most of the games performed admirably. Thanks to anyone who contributed to this awesome lineup! And I apologize if your was game listed above and we couldn't fit it in. I definitely overestimated how much I could fit into that space. But overall, I'm very happy with how it turned out.

Pins
'78 - Gottlieb Strange World
'85 - Game Plan Andromeda
'83 - Williams Time Fantasy
'80 - Williams Black Knight
'80 - Bally Embryon
'79 - Bally KISS
'79 - Bally Harlem Globetrotters
'80 - Bally Xenon
'80 - Williams Firepower
'82 - Bally Vector
'80 - Bally Space Invaders
'80 - Stern Trident
'80 - Stern Galaxy

Vids
'79 - Asteroids
'79 - Galaxians
'81 - Frogger
'80 - Missile Command
'81 - Wizard of Wor
'81 - Vanguard
'81 - Stargate
'80 - Phoenix
'83 - Gyruss
'82 - Zaxxon
'82 - Xevious
'81 - Galaga (cabaret)
'78 - Space Invaders (cabaret)
‘81 - Tempest (cabaret)
+ renegade Neo Geo

IMG_3834.JPG
IMG_3836.JPG

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IMG_3838.jpg
IMG_3841.jpg

Love Trident! I'll get to mine some day.

I'm not sure if I'll have the 80's music set up this year, but I do think there's going to be an 80's area. My Fathom and Skateball will be there.