I miss a lot of the arcades I used to frequent. i still have tokens for 2 of them, I may scan them sometime.
Pinball City was a smallish arcade. It was in a strip mall, and consisted of a hallway, from the entrance, to the back of the place, where the owners sat behind a counter. This was so they could oversee all going on, and it was also a place for you to eat snacks, and drink without chancing a mess ahpenning on their machines.
They had special tokens in their token machine. If you received a red token, you could bring it to one of the folks and the counter (looked more like a bar) and they would give you 5 tokens.
I went there in the late 80's, to mid 90's. This was the place I first saw Magic Sword. They also had a Neo Geo machine. Cabal, Caveman Ninja, Pole Position, Street Fighter 2, TMNT Arcade, Golden Axe, Whirlwind Pinball machine, and otehrs that are slipping my mind. The place probably had 30-45 arcade machines and pinballs, difficult to say.
Golden Dome was another. Someone I know of, born earlier than I was, used to install cable around that area (Greenbelt, MD). He's told me of all the time he'd spend on his breaks at this arcade. Buying a 6 pack of beer with his coworker, drinking in the company van in the parking lot, then running into the arcade during lunch, between calls, hahah. This arcade wasn't within walking distance, so I only went when family went to the mall it was located. He is also proud that he was able to roll-over the score to all 0's again in Punch-Out, hahha.
It was, actually, a Golden Dome! It sat int he mall parking lot, away from the mall, so it could have it's own hours and such. The place had at least 65 games. As arcades waned, the place became a bit seedy during the mid 90's. Probably weren't making as much money as they used to, either. So, they relocated all their machines inside. They had 2 spots within the mall, with arcade machines. This worked out pretty well, as when I went there with friends for a movie, we could walk around the mall to the arcade locations and play the games, not having to go outside into the parking lot to the Dome.
The Dome, it was turned into a FuncoLand, and now I think it's a gamestop. Still kept with video game,s in one way or another.
Inside, late 90's or so, One of the two arcade spots in the mall closed (Each one had about 35 games, maybe more). Last I looked, there was still that single location in there. I think they call themselves Family Fun Center. They also had a few arcade machines set-up around the mall. This is one of the few places I know of that still has a Neo Geo cabinet.
There was an arcade at many malls. I'm not going to go into all of them, however there was one at a now defunct mall in Bowie, MD. I forget the name, it was located next door to a movie theatre. The arcade was about 50 games. This was the first place I saw Time Killers, I watched the demo for a few minutes, wathcing arms fly off and such. wow. Playing the game now, I really think the demo is better. I recall they also had a 4-slot Neo Geo cabinet, a big screen version (50 inch?) of Street Fighter 2, World Heroes 2, some classics, etc.
Another place that deserves a quick mention was a restaurant that had it's own separate gameroom. They had about 15-20 machines, however, they were all memorable games to me, as I didn't find any there that were dull. Pac-Man, Outrun, Arkanoid, Operation wolf, TMNT, Moonwalker, etc
Thinking back on arcades, something that often pissed me off, would happen more often on the beat 'em up games (Smash TV, Final Fight, X-men, Simpsons, etc). Games where not too many would be playing for a High Score. Folks who would be playing, get far, and I'd wait my turn. Then, during the countdown, they would block off the machine so they could tap the buttons to make it reach 0. That would bother me sometimes. I recall asking one person why they had to count it down like that. He told me it was all his money he put into it, and he wasn't going to let me start playing at the point he reached on HIS OWN money. What a bunch of shit.
Not all people were like that. Mid 80's, I used to enjoy some of the Nintendo machines (Hogan's Alley, Duck Hunt, Super Mario Bros). I recall this one guy I would see at this place often who worked there, as he left work he would drop one quarter into Super Mario Bros and play 'til he lost all his lives, then he would leave and go home. He played very well, I'm guessing he did this every day. One time while watching him play he noticed the time, and mentioned he had to leave, however I could have his play if i wanted. I didn't argue, I was thankful, haha. Though, i had never been that far in the game before, and that free gametime didn't last too long.
Present day. There are VERY FEW arcades around, HOWEVER, I did recently hear about a place with 70+ arcade machines and pinballs. CrabTowne USA/
I've yet to visit, though from what I read they're not maintaining all the machines very well. Still, it's better than nothing, AND you can drink BEER in the arcade.
http://arcadelocations.classicgaming.gamespy.com/PlaceSearch.php3?code=mdglecraI intend on visiting sometime in the next week or two. I'll post in this thread when I visit, see if they also allow some pics.
