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What's your arcade game memories?

Stags6969

Stags6969

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Born in 69 I am old enough to remember the advent of the arcade.
My local arcade was actually a pool arcade (8 ball) that transitioned into an arcade as we know it, during the 80s.
So what did you used to play, what were you best on, what did you like to watch everyone play who were better than you.
And fast forward to now, what do you still like to play from those early bygone days?

I'll start you off.

Like to play: Anything that came into the arcade. 10p a game you just had to try them all at least one.

Best on: Galaga was probably the game I was best on. Still never quite as good as my mate though. 🤬

Like to watch: Star War sit down version. I was rubbish at it, but loved sticking my head in the cab and sneak a peak at others playing it.

Nowadays: Just dusted down my bartop that I built (wait for the cries of derision from the purists) and I'm currently playing a bit of scramble and time pilot. Scramble takes me back to the chippy across from school and time pilot back to my youth club.

Happy carefree days!!

Whatever your memories of arcades etc, I hope they make you smile 😀
 
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Born in the early 80s, so late 80s and the 90s were my era in the arcades as a kid.
Must have been around 6 or 7 when we had a youth club in my town which had Double Dragon, Bad Dudes vs DragonNinja, ChopLifer, Galaga, Ms PacMan, TimePilot loved them all, remember watching a big kid (in reality he was probably about 15!) clearing BadDudes
Both my local towns had small arcades and we used to go down there after school and TimeCrisis, Super Hang On, PowerDrift, NBA Jam were the favorites
Used to go over to France on the small P+O ferry that went Portsmouth to Cherbourg, it didn't have a proper arcade, but it did have some MVS cabinets under the stairs which I remember, League Bowling, Brutal Soccer, OverTop (or the similar NeoGeo isometric rally one), Baseball Stars and King Of Monsters
My mates all played SF2 which I was never all that good at to be honest - never been great about memorising button combos so never lasted very long
I played my first pin at this point too - Swindon Ice Rink had at least one, but I can't remember what it was - I think it might have been Black Rose, but it's been bugging me for years - I know it had a multi-ball and I think it was piratey and the time matches as it would have been 92-93.

Caught the very end of Trocodero in London in 2002 when I was at Uni there, and popped into the ones on Goodge St and Wardor Street while I lived in London, although mostly to play the (barley playable) Pins, always happy to stick a quid in time crisis 2 or Outrun 2 though.
Although not my bag, I was always impressed watching the people who were really good at the dance games that were big in the mid 2000s

These days. I've got 2 scratch built Mame cabinets - a MVS, and Sega Rally, so I can play pretty much what I like, but I generally gravitate to Galaga, PacMan, NBA Jam and the NeoGeo titles on the stick cab, and OutRun2 on the driver.
My wife isn't really into games, but loves Tetris, so the arcade version of that gets quite a bit of use in 2 player mode and the fighting games - MK, SF2, Marvell vs Capcom etc are very popular with the nieces and nephews when they come over.
Very satisfying to see kids at the same age now as I was then playing the same games and still enjoying them for what they are - give em a bag of 10ps and they're good for hours :)
 
I grew up in Acton W London (born 68) machines were in all kinds of shops. Greengrocers, chippys, newsagents, there were loads in a Honda motorbike dealership near our school and an arcade. Loved them all especially the ones my 10p lasted the longest, loved Defender but the 10p was gone in no time😔

Chippys even had pinballs back then.

Loved Scramble, Donkey Kong, space invaders, Pole Position, Battle Zone.

Pinballs was Black Knight and Gorgar that I can remember and a bit later loved Mr & Mrs Pac-Man.

Used to get the bus to Soho as there was a few arcades there back then with the latest games.

If only I had more pocket money.

Ive got a converted MK 25” crt cab with mame but don’t really turn it on that much but good to have as just having the cab there brings back the memories of simple times.
 
Born in 71 - Star Wars: Luke Sky Walker saying “ look at the size of that thing” - not sure why he knew I was hung like an 🐘 😂
Bunking off school playing Pac-Man, Defender and Galaxian - getting chips at lunchtime covered in vinegar and stuffing Bazooka Joe Bubble gum in girls hair 💪 awesome.

edit: Got my arcade and chippy money selling smokes, 10p a fag
 
Grew up in the 80s and 90s and loved spending time in the Arcades!

My two favourite games were Outrun and Street Fighter II, I am lucky enough to own both now.

Despite the age, Outrun still plays amazing today and still puts a smile on my face when I play it.
 
I first discovered pinball in the 6th form at school 1978-80. one of the teachers had two he put in the 6th form centre. i was hooked. Around the same time space invaders hit the pubs and cafes. I was hooked on that too.
I went to Manchester uni Oct 1980. in the halls of residence they had a Space invaders and a Paragon Pinball. I was in heaven, those two and plenty of beer! (Explains why i didn’t last long at uni) I was first to clock the space invaders and then i lost interest, got into the Paragon. Took me 37 years to buy my first pin (star trek) and then a month later my own Paragon.
 
Born in 81. Many days were spent going to Thornton Cleveleys on the bus on train from Preston with school friends to hit the arcades as there were loads back then on the sea front back then. Never really paid much attention to pinball at the time, it was all about Street Fighter 2, TMNT and Mortal Kombat. Was an absolute ace on SF2, winner stays on of course! Later on it was the sit down racing games like Virtua Racing, Daytona and Sega Rally that I was into.

Also spent many a day in bowling alleys up and down the country (used to play for Lancashire juniors) which were also a haven for arcades and pins. My local bowling alley had a TaF, TZ and CFTBL along with some great arcade cabs.

Then once the home consoles got to the point of arcade perfect ports it pretty much ended and we just played games at someones house instead after school / college.
 
Bloody Hell born in 54 and just realized what an old git i am compaired to you young whippersnappers , Blackpool has fond memories Arcades galour along the prom but most games were an old penny then ( i am to old for this forum ) i remember pinballs without flippers so thats says it all
 
Born 82, played games like pole position, roadblasters, S.C.I, - some game like tango & cash- 1 drives 1 shoots.. then on to games like Tekken, Killer Instinct etc..

Folkestone used to have 2 huge round arcades on the beach front. They had all the new games, I remember Ridge Racer was an actual sports car with huge screens 180 degrees round it. It was £5 a go back then. Top money! 😂
 
Dave Bishop said:
I remember Ridge Racer was an actual sports car with huge screens 180 degrees round it. It was £5 a go back then. Top money! 😂
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An old MX-5, or something like that i think? They had one in Plaza arcade in Skegness. £3 per credit in the Summer, £1 in the Winter 🤔

I miss the vibe of arcades - it was like a pub for us under 18's back then.
 
Born in 68 had a family friend who was an operator so was fortunate to play most machines for free, at school used to go the the local arcade armed with strimmer wire to clock up credits on Mr Do, Carnival and naughty boy. A bag of broken biscuits for lunch (healthy) and a bit of strimmer wire brilliant, in contrast fires up my x-box one the other day it took 8 hours to update and 16 hours to download the game, you seem to need to plan in advance in the modern era :oops: Forgot to mention Robotron everything about that game did it for me sound, theme, speed Awesome
 
Cursaw said:
Born in 68 had a family friend who was an operator so was fortunate to play most machines for free, at school used to go the the local arcade armed with strimmer wire to clock up credits on Mr Do, Carnival and naughty boy. A bag of broken biscuits for lunch (healthy) and a bit of strimmer wire brilliant, in contrast fires up my x-box one the other day it took 8 hours to update and 16 hours to download the game, you seem to need to plan in advance in the modern era :oops: Forgot to mention Robotron everything about that game did it for me sound, theme, speed Awesome
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Strimmer wire😂 Forgot about that😬
 
Born ‘66 living in Southend my auntie owned large chemist and resturant on the front, my mum worked serviing the prostitues that came in for the profalatics on the counter...i use to spend my time in Wonderland playing pong, and the largest scalextric set they had upstairs. Before that mum went to bingo at the palace on top of pier hill whilst they were playing i went to the little arcade they had downstairs....fire truck, lunar lander, red baron, Atari basketball. Then i got job when i was 16 as saturaday boy in Dixons, lunchtime went down the front arcades, got skilful at robotron 2084, spy hunter, monaco GP, tempest, and almost got all the way through Dragon’s Lair, although i was crap at Space Ace and still am. chip shop in Southchurch had Galaxians and space invaders. i’m crap at Pacman, but very good at bezerk.
 
Born in 69 had plenty of arcades in Weymouth. My Favs were Space Invaders, Galaxians, Joust, Digdug (I used to take this to Max score), Jump Bug, Mr Do, Hyper Sports, Snow Bros.
Not to forget the pinballs I think the first I played was Gorgar then onto Space Invaders, Black Knight, High Speed, Funhouse, Back to the future.

I would love to own a Back to the Future.
 
Born '63 in the middle of nowhere - no arcades except when on holiday. No idea what pins I played, but I did play some. Remember loving a periscope based game on Lytham pier; then Pong came out & I was hooked. Then my parents split up & holidays were off the cards for a few years, but soon I was 15 & started going in pubs with space invaders machines. Southampton uni in 1981 has loads on pins - Space Invaders, Flash Gordon, Haarlem Globetrotters, Medusa, Firepower, Centaur, Silverball Mania, one that I can't remember the name of that I think had both a pyramid & noughts & crosses theme, plus others & many video games. Was pretty good at Tron (useless at it now) & had a sit down Star Wars. I blame these for me only getting a 3rd ;)
 
The the only on site pin i can ever remember seeing in the wild was dat east guns and roses and our local warner brothers cinema, i couldn't believe it was 2 pound coins per game , must have been 1994ish ??
 
We were blessed in Leeds as there were loads of arcades around in the late 70s/early 80s. There was one just round the corner from where I lived. We used to go in every school day on our way home. Remember the dread seeing the tail lift lorry parked outside when they were swapping the games over. Was your favourite making way for a duffer ?:eek:
I recall Gorf being delivered. Blew me away. I played Scramble, Missile Command and Battlezone in there for the first time.

This picture brings back loads of memories for me. Starlight Room. It was an arcade in Leeds City centre. I played Pac-Man for the first time in there. And DigDug. Radical departures from all the shoot em ups around at the time.
Also in the picture is Class clothes. An essential shop for all teenagers in Leeds. I used to get Fred Perry shirts, Sta Press trousers and white towelling socks from there in my Two-Tone days.
The Contact shop was essentially a pawn shop. I bought my first guitar (a 1973 Fender short scale bass) and synthesizer (Casio CZ101) from there.

F6751EDA-FE27-41FA-A898-4542CB670D75.jpeg
 
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Friend of mine mentioned Newcastle had a building near the train station that was filed with em and early 80 stuff, it burnt down back in mid 2000’s everything gone , anyone else hear that ?
 
Born in 63.
Best on Galaxian, also really enjoyed Quasar. Played Kiss & Flash in the local arcade.
Pool hall opened and got an Eight Ball Deluxe. That was it, hooked for life on this machine.
Only got one pin, Eight Ball Deluxe Le got it in March. This box will only be leaving after I leave in a box, but the amount my son calls around to play it, there may be a future home for it already sorted.
May be able to make room for a 2nd pinball, don't know what it will be. Maybe I'll have a better idea after Pinfest.
 
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Born in 82
Best arcade place I saw was Folkestone sea front, with the 2 huge domes filled with games.

Ridge Racer with Full size car, C.S.I, Roadblasters, Outrun, Metal Slugs, then it was on to the MK games, Tekken etc
 
Born in 68
My parents moved into their first pub in 81 no video games in that one just fruit machines ...moved to the next pub in 84 until 88 and this one had a games room whereby we had a standup video game in the assembly room and a cocktail video table in the bar
Fruit machines and video games were changed every month and the engineer would always clock me 50 credits on the vid games so i got to play an awful lot of games for free and became very good.
Frogger, Space Invaders Donkey Kong, Donkey ,Kong Junior , Popeye, Pac Man, Phoenix , Scramble , Asteroids, the Pit and Hunchback all on the cocktail I was a MASTER lol
The standups had Boot Hill , Tempest , Amidar , and Galaga that i can remember
At weekends I would go into Nottingham City Centre and head to Hockley Arcade whereby i could just about High Score all of the above plus sneak a few 10ps in the fruit machines when they were not looking :-) always finish with a bag of chips and a bottle of pop on the way home Very happy Days :-)
by the time i was 17 i was also playing in the Darts Superleague for the Tiger Inn in Long Eaton and came 2nd in the Long Eaton Darts Open (always had to ask for permission for me to go into pubs before i could play darts) Mis-spent childhood but loved every single minute of it

I have a 60-1 today its nots the same but does bring back fantastic memories
Cheers
Stef
 
Matrixnetuk said:
Born in 68
My parents moved into their first pub in 81 no video games in that one just fruit machines ...moved to the next pub in 84 until 88 and this one had a games room whereby we had a standup video game in the assembly room and a cocktail video table in the bar
Fruit machines and video games were changed every month and the engineer would always clock me 50 credits on the vid games so i got to play an awful lot of games for free and became very good.
Frogger, Space Invaders Donkey Kong, Donkey ,Kong Junior , Popeye, Pac Man, Phoenix , Scramble , Asteroids, the Pit and Hunchback all on the cocktail I was a MASTER lol
The standups had Boot Hill , Tempest , Amidar , and Galaga that i can remember
At weekends I would go into Nottingham City Centre and head to Hockley Arcade whereby i could just about High Score all of the above plus sneak a few 10ps in the fruit machines when they were not looking :) always finish with a bag of chips and a bottle of pop on the way home Very happy Days :)
by the time i was 17 i was also playing in the Darts Superleague for the Tiger Inn in Long Eaton and came 2nd in the Long Eaton Darts Open (always had to ask for permission for me to go into pubs before i could play darts) Mis-spent childhood but loved every single minute of it

I have a 60-1 today its nots the same but does bring back fantastic memories
Cheers
Stef
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Love to see these posts Stef. The games that you list, makes me think "where did I play that one"
Boot Hill, I'd completely forgotten existed, but that must have been one of the first arcade games I played in my local youth club.
Scramble and Pac Man at the chippy across from my middle school.
Amidar and Phoenix at the local pub, locked in waiting for my dad to finish his after shift drinks.
Hunchback was another I'd forgotten about. Played in the local Cashade arcade.
As you said. Happy Days
 
Scramble
Space Invaders
Defender
Asteroids
Missile Command
Pac Man
Donkey Kong
Galaxians
Galaga
Gorf
.................


Greatest time of my life as a kid in an arcade shoving 10p in the slot and being blown away by these 'high Tech' games.

Probably my favourite was Donkey Kong which I had to travel to a mini cab office in Actor just to play it. Still an outstanding game and if anyone hasn't seen 'King of Kong' needs to watch it. The Nibbler documentary is even more hard core..................
 
Born 79, never had much contact with arcades being a country kid until a school trip to the local ice rink, thought they looked ace but did t have any money , next arcade I saw was at Center parks bowling alley in 1989 ish massive row of games. Completed Simpson’s having saved 10 quid spending money and spent the rest of the wheel skint ! We also had metroland arcade , which was cool I’m sure both Center parks and metroland had Addams family’s , tho 50p a go it was to expensive for me. Happy days
 
Born in 71 in France.
Came across a proper arcade when I left the village I came from to go to secondary school.
Being france, we used to get close to a 2hr break at lunch time. And many of these breaks were spent playing pinball in a local arcade.
The games of that era that I remember were pinball machines: haunted house and punk are two I remember. The arcade was full of pinball and only had a handful of video games. Never gave the video games a second look, they never interested me.
 
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