Just yesterday I wrote my profile story of growing up on the Jersey Shore in the late '70s and '80s and the memories and the sheer amount of arcade machines I managed to see in that time: https://pinside.com/pinball/community/pinsiders/valis666/stories/my-story-playing-for-decades-but-only-able-to-own-in-the-last-few-years

Born in 1972, I was at the perfect age for video games to make more of an impression on me when every month or so a new classic would come out like Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Robotron, and so on, but I did enjoy EM pinball, particularly the pitch and bats. As I mention in the story above, Cyclone was the first pinball I became obsessed with thanks to its humor and personality and toys. That started my transition over to favoring pinball, along with all the B/W classics that would be released in the following years.

Thinking back on those times are some of the best memories of my life. Rows and rows of woodrails next to wedgeheads next to mechanical arcade games and fortune tellers and skee ball, next to the newer solid state pinballs and video games. Most arcades would be packed, too. People crowding around the latest and greatest, ages 6 to 60, flashing lights everywhere and a roaring wall of chimes and bells and digital noises. And on places like the boardwalk in Seaside, NJ, you'd walk out of that sensory overload of a hundred or so games and people, take 20 steps down the boardwalk and go into one of the many others.