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Gonna nab some quarters from my change bucket, ride my bike up to the mall....


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Posted

...I'll be home by dinner time or so.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/02/business/chuck-e-cheese-adults-arcade-spinoff

f_avif

"Inside each Chuck’s Arcade will be a mixture of immersive virtual reality games and classic games like Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga, Mortal Kombat, Donkey Kong and Centipede."

Yep, once there's one of these nearby, I'll be killing time there one weekend afternoon for sure.  Yeah, I go to Pinballz sometimes, but shit....that's the good stuff.

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Posted
3 minutes ago, MissingInAction said:

Will there be a ball pit to piss in?

Isn't there always?  And you haven't lived till you've had sex with your gal on the air hockey table in her parents' garage/rec room.  Or, so I'm told.  I'm guessing doing it at the mall is one better, right?

Posted (edited)

Try as they might they can never get back the feeling of an 80s arcade. There's no Rock-Afire Explosion. There's no more tokens. There's a few places here in DFW called Freeplay that scratch that itch with old arcade games. As a kid, I wanted nothing more than $20 in tokens and that could last me a few hours at Putt-Putt or Aladdin's Castle. Now when I play these games at a place where you pay a set fee and everything is free play, it's a lot easier to just get bored quickly with a game and walk away mid-game. At least Freeplay has decent food and beers.

Edited by mdmost
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Posted
Just now, mdmost said:

Try as they might they can never get back the feeling of an 80s arcade. There's no Rock-Afire Explosion. There's more tokens. There's a few places here in DFW called Freeplay that scratch that itch with old arcade games. As a kid, I wanted nothing more than $20 in tokens and that could last me a few hours. Now when I play these games at a place where you pay a set fee and everything is free play, it's a lot easier to just get bored quickly with a game and walk away mid-game. At least Freeplay has decent food and beers.

The games at Pinballz cost per play -- you get a card loaded with credit and use it.  There's one corner that's old arcade games.  My son and I will go, and I'll go set high scores on several of them.  He can occasionally beat me at Sea Wolf, though.

Posted

Chuch-e-Cheese used to sell beer too. Made the kids birthday parties much more enjoyable back in the day (way back in the day). No idea if they still do as I haven't stepped foot in one since the early aughts. But a few beers and some Stargate and Joust sounds like a really, really good time.

Posted

Yeah it'll need to have an even better beer and Scotch selection than Pinballz does, to get me there.

But I'm sure I'll hit it once just to erase all of you losers' scores from Galaga.

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Posted
11 minutes ago, utee94 said:

Yeah it'll need to have an even better beer and Scotch selection than Pinballz does, to get me there.

But I'm sure I'll hit it once just to erase all of you losers' scores from Galaga.

bring-it-are-you-ready-1.gif

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Posted
12 minutes ago, utee94 said:

But I'm sure I'll hit it once just to erase all of you losers' scores from Galaga.

You go right ahead and live your best life

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But the adults are going to be over here in the corner playing the adult games

joust-arcade-games.gif

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Posted

btw if you ever are in the Pikes Peak/Colo Springs area, Manitou Springs has a whole city block that's basically nothing but old arcade games and kids old quarter slot rides. It's pretty fuckin cool. Except I got Covid there. 

Posted
8 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

You go right ahead and live your best life

giphy.0.gif

 

But the adults are going to be over here in the corner playing the adult games

joust-arcade-games.gif

Ha!

This is the first, and I'm pretty sure last, time I've ever heard of Joust referred to as an "adults' game." :)

But of course my first love was tabletop Space Invaders at Scampi's Organ Grinder.

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Posted
11 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

But the adults are going to be over here in the corner playing the adult games

joust-arcade-games.gif

Adult?

What did it have, a couple of buttons?

If you didn't get crippling hand spasms and early onset arthritis from hours of Defender, you may as well have been playing Mappy.

defender_a.thumb.jpg.2fdf5771465eabb91f7afb3310fe06d6.jpg

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Posted
2 minutes ago, Bill Brasky said:

"don't you ever come back to chuck-e's you son of a bitch!!!"

I’ve always been surprised at how most people I know have never been removed from a Chuck E. Cheese in handcuffs.

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Posted

I have 3 pinball machines in my house.  Have played competitively( yes that's a thing,) for 11 years now.

Pretty much like a casino without legit craps is just another bingo hall; an arcade without pinball is just not the same.

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Posted
7 minutes ago, Iceman said:

I have 3 pinball machines in my house.  Have played competitively( yes that's a thing,) for 11 years now.

Pretty much like a casino without legit craps is just another bingo hall; an arcade without pinball is just not the same.

This sounds like an 80s movie. Or a 70s rock opera.

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Posted

The only thing better would be to leave the arcade after a couple of hours to hit up the waterslide. Remember when towns would have that one big waterslide where you'd pay by the half hour, get a mat, and ride over and over again? Damn that was a blast.

 

Looks like there's still one out in the middle of nowhere Missouri.

image.png.c7962c499411beccf8393e8f970c951b.png

 

Posted
22 minutes ago, SimonBolivar said:

The only thing better would be to leave the arcade after a couple of hours to hit up the waterslide. Remember when towns would have that one big waterslide where you'd pay by the half hour, get a mat, and ride over and over again? Damn that was a blast.

 

Looks like there's still one out in the middle of nowhere Missouri.

image.png.c7962c499411beccf8393e8f970c951b.png

 

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Posted

Us 90s kids in Northwest Hills had Tilt at Northcross Mall. Give me some Mortal Kombat and TMNT followed by the Great American Steak and More. Then a visit to Petland and Oshman’s. 

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Posted
3 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

Us 90s kids in Northwest Hills had Tilt at Northcross Mall. Give me some Mortal Kombat and TMNT followed by the Great American Steak and More. Then a visit to Petland and Oshman’s. 

Was named the Gold Mine before that.  Lock ins at north cross mall were phenomenal peak middle school fun. 

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Posted
1 minute ago, troph said:

Was named the Gold Mine before that.  Lock ins at north cross mall were phenomenal peak middle school fun. 

Tilt was on the opposite side from where Gold Mine was.

But yeah, broom ball, Gold Mine, and junior high kids.  Recipe for... something, anyway.

 

 

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Posted
1 hour ago, atomheartbevo said:

You go right ahead and live your best life

 

But the adults are going to be over here in the corner playing the adult games

joust-arcade-games.gif

I have the egg shitting sound from joust as the notification alert on my phone.

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Posted

Aladdin’s castle taught you real life lessons like if you take the tickets given to you, and slowly and gently tug on the sides, your returns will compound. 

Aladdins castle taught me how to steal 

 

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Posted

They opened Williams Arcade in Bridgeport in the early 70's. Before that the only place to hang out was the pool hall downtown that had full reg size tables you rented but nothing else, which sucked. Williams quickly became the youth epicenter and the first introduction to gang violence for the sleepy little burg. It was so early that they had Pong for 25¢ a game the rest were pinball and a couple of small bar size pool tables. The winning move was a concession stand.

Posted
4 hours ago, mdmost said:

Try as they might they can never get back the feeling of an 80s arcade. There's no Rock-Afire Explosion. There's no more tokens. There's a few places here in DFW called Freeplay that scratch that itch with old arcade games. As a kid, I wanted nothing more than $20 in tokens and that could last me a few hours at Putt-Putt or Aladdin's Castle. Now when I play these games at a place where you pay a set fee and everything is free play, it's a lot easier to just get bored quickly with a game and walk away mid-game. At least Freeplay has decent food and beers.

Lulz we have so much childhood crossover. Aladdin's Castle. 

Games were limited but vibe was amazing at Crystal's, pizza, a cartoons on a big screen, a few video games and unlimited self serve sundays. Putt Putt in Mesquite off Gus Thomasson. Malibu Gran Prix... oh hell yeah, batting cages, bumper boats, mini golf, game and go-karts.... fucking a man.

Posted
5 minutes ago, BurntEyes said:

Lulz we have so much childhood crossover. Aladdin's Castle. 

Games were limited but vibe was amazing at Crystal's, pizza, a cartoons on a big screen, a few video games and unlimited self serve sundays. Putt Putt in Mesquite off Gus Thomasson. Malibu Gran Prix... oh hell yeah, batting cages, bumper boats, mini golf, game and go-karts.... fucking a man.

I worked at Crystal's Pizza off Inwood from the summer of 1992 till it closed in the fall of 1993. That was a great place to work. My friend was the MOD in the evenings and when it was slow enough or we were closed for the night, we'd open up the video game coin returns with his key and set everything to free play. 

My mom would take me to Putt Putt every couple of Saturdays and just leave me there with enough money to play video games and get a hot dog while she went shopping. We would also do Midnight Madness where you paid a set amount and they came by with buckets of quarters to load into the machines.

But by far the greatest arcade was the two story Chuck-E-Cheese at Walnut Hill near 75. That was where I first played Dragon's Lair and Space Ace. 

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Posted
3 hours ago, troph said:

Was named the Gold Mine before that.  Lock ins at north cross mall were phenomenal peak middle school fun. 

 

3 hours ago, utee94 said:

Tilt was on the opposite side from where Gold Mine was.

But yeah, broom ball, Gold Mine, and junior high kids.  Recipe for... something, anyway.

 

 

 

3 hours ago, smuggs said:

Resurrect Gold Mine and then you have my interest.

 

8h69mmiXSEDHV398DB4dSncZsNCjAJCFe8Lage_o

Some of us definitely crossed paths in the 80s. 
 

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Posted (edited)

Last weekend, I had to take the girl child to the mall.  We went to the food court, and she said they had opened a new arcade.  I glance over, and it's full of redemption machines and whatnot.  Looks pretty boring.

She wants to go over, so we stroll in, and I'm just underwhelmed.  This isn't an arcade, by God. Foghat isn't playing cranked, there's no sketchy guys off in a corner, and no one has quarters lined up on the marquee of a game.  Until I spot in a corner an Asteroids, Dig Dug, Robotron 2084 and some fighting game that I had no interest in..  Oh boy, now I found something.

The games don't take quarters, only a prepaid card you tap.  She wants to "win" something so I buy her a $10 card, then buy myself one as well.    The games I was interested in only used a dime credit per play.  My goodness; 10 plays of Asteroids for a buck?  The mind reels.

After what was probably less than 5 minutes, she came back. She had burned through her card trying to win something stupid, no doubt.  I'm still on my first game of Asteroids.  She says something like "you are pretty good at this". Well, I once was, but no one else is playing this fossil, so I'm going to quit with the high score.   I play some Dig Dug and Robotron, and she was mesmerized with how many moving characters were on the screen at one time.  I scored something like 78,000, but man, my 57 year old reflexes aren't what they once were. 

After the game was over, I spent the rest of my credits on air hockey with her.   To be honest, that was more fun.

 

 

Edited by Francisco 2.0
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Posted

gJ7L65PBtScxbYwcJ3fD8n-970-80.jpg.webp.0479d9b39ec35df15f4765d9f696e502.webp

Fiddy cent and worth every god damn penny.

This thread is truly missing pics. Without further comment here were some of my favorites from childhood to drunk on the Drag in Austin Texas baby:

gaming-mortal-kombat-arcade-3.thumb.jpg.d3a93748b0d5db1097e0d30fa0bc3f20.jpgIcentipede(nokay).gif.526948341518dd4ec33cb21adcd31e1d.gifmaxresdefault.thumb.jpg.275da770b012c95e7bd855cb461ad46c.jpgQbert.png.6a4815c4e75ecec53d31561876fe125d.pngspace-invaders-atari-2600.thumb.png.05e857ac9b356f0fa56a128bdd8a5482.png

images (1).jpeg

Digdug.png

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Posted (edited)
18 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

Last weekend, I had to take the girl child to the mall.  We went to the food court, and she said they had opened a new arcade.  I glance over, and it's full of redemption machines and whatnot.  Looks pretty boring.

She wants to go over, so we stroll in, and I'm just underwhelmed.  This isn't an arcade, by God. Foghat isn't playing cranked, there's no sketchy guys off in a corner, and no one has quarters lined up on the marquee of a game.  Until I spot in a corner an Asteroids, Dig Dug, Robotron 2084 and some fighting game that I had no interest in..  Oh boy, now I found something.

The games don't take quarters, only a prepaid card you tap.  She wants to "win" something so I buy her a $10 card, then buy myself one as well.    The games I was interested in only used a dime credit per play.  My goodness; 10 plays of Asteroids for a buck?  The mind reels.

After what was probably less than 5 minutes, she came back. She had burned through her card trying to win something stupid, no doubt.  I'm still on my first game of Asteroids.  She says something like "you are pretty good at this". Well, I once was, but no one else is playing this fossil, so I'm going to quit with the high score.   I play some Dig Dug and Robotron, and she was mesmerized with how many moving characters were on the screen at one time.  I scored something like 78,000, but man, my 57 year old reflexes aren't what they once were. 

After the game was over, I spent the rest of my credits on air hockey with her.   To be honest, that was more fun.

 

 

Might not make her core memories but it will yours. Well written too. Copy and save that shit for posterity. 

 

Edited by troph
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Posted (edited)
12 minutes ago, BurntEyes said:

gJ7L65PBtScxbYwcJ3fD8n-970-80.jpg.webp.0479d9b39ec35df15f4765d9f696e502.webp

Fiddy cent and worth every god damn penny.

This thread is truly missing pics. Without further comment here were some of my favorites from childhood to drunk on the Drag in Austin Texas baby:

gaming-mortal-kombat-arcade-3.thumb.jpg.d3a93748b0d5db1097e0d30fa0bc3f20.jpgIcentipede(nokay).gif.526948341518dd4ec33cb21adcd31e1d.gifmaxresdefault.thumb.jpg.275da770b012c95e7bd855cb461ad46c.jpgQbert.png.6a4815c4e75ecec53d31561876fe125d.pngspace-invaders-atari-2600.thumb.png.05e857ac9b356f0fa56a128bdd8a5482.png

images (1).jpeg

Digdug.png

 RAMPAGE and Ikari Warriors !! 

 

 

IMG_7239.jpeg

IMG_7240.jpeg

 

Edited by troph
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Posted
6 hours ago, mdmost said:

Try as they might they can never get back the feeling of an 80s arcade. There's no Rock-Afire Explosion. There's no more tokens. There's a few places here in DFW called Freeplay that scratch that itch with old arcade games. As a kid, I wanted nothing more than $20 in tokens and that could last me a few hours at Putt-Putt or Aladdin's Castle. Now when I play these games at a place where you pay a set fee and everything is free play, it's a lot easier to just get bored quickly with a game and walk away mid-game. At least Freeplay has decent food and beers.


I ain’t walking away until I get my three characters on that leaderboard.

I showed all those yale punks up in new haven how genX does it at barcade.

JAM

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