My dream is to open a classic 80s arcade, complete with well-maintained minigolf, pizza, and waffle cones.
Here’s a look inside the Luna City arcade, which is exactly what I want to do one day:
(via Gizmodo. Thanks to Bob S for the link. RSS subscribers probably need to click through to see the video. Offer available for a limited time. Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.)
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Whoa! That brings back a ton of memories of going to the “Spaceport” Arcade after school complete with a happy hour style buffet. Man!! That place ROCKED!!! \m/
Thanks Wil
Fracking Tron, Gorf, Zaxxon, Star Castle, etc.!!! I think that I just figured out where I’m going on my next vacation.
Hey Wil – bring the family to the Jersey Shore, I’ll show you around the boardwalk. It’s best in the spring, before the huge influx of tourists. We’ve got minigolf, arcades, and more pizza and waffle cones than you can shake a stick at.
mmm. waffle cones. I worked at a Ben & Jerry’s on the boardwalk one summer and we made fresh waffle cones. Man, those were good.
The only thing missing is the small room at the back, with a bunch of gamers playing D&D (that’s what ours had)..and the other side being a donut shop (ok, it wasn’t healthy, but it was cool).
That arcade is so freaking cool. I remember a retro arcade at the Phoenix airport in the late 90’s. Sadly, it’s since closed.
BTW, have you seen this product? I’ve been lusting after it although I can’t afford to buy one right now.
http://www.x-arcade.com/htm/cabinet.shtml
Hey Wil,
Those pics on flickr of “The Tour” are awesome! Especially the “Guardian”. Fucking Hilarious!!
You know, when you combine the words “game room” with the words “I built a new building to make room for my,” you’re moving into radical redefinition territory. Granted, that’s the jealousy talking, but still.
Total Win! If I found an arcade for the public that looked like that (in my city) I would be there all the time. That is what I want my basement to look like one day! Thanks for sharing!
Oh my toes! /me swimming in childhood memories. The Tron game takes me back to the roller rink that was on the other side of town. Holy moley….
My husband is wanting to do something similar to our basement after other, more important renos are complete (like the main bathroom 😉 ). He’s already “collected” 19 classic games. Lately, he’s been pricing out payphones. I’m all for it (especially since I bought the first cab) but hopefully the obsession won’t get to the “we need to build a new building out back” stage.
Oh, the sounds, the smells, the black light, it reminds me of my youth and my favorite place in the world at the time, The Red Baron. Many is the quarter that was pumped into everything from Black Night pinball to The Wizard Of Wor. Sadly, those times and the Red Baron are gone. I AM THE WIZARD OF WOR — shiver……..
It won’t be the same without cigarette burns on the consoles, and hardened gum in the coin slots. If you’re gonna take me back, take me back right.
Yeah… pretty sure I could live in there. Oh, the memories. That arcade is full of “teh win” the kids are all talking about these days.
Oh my god, it’s the old Star Wars game, complete with Death Star assault, where you used to shoot the laser cannons off the towers – I remember plugging so much cash into that thing just because i HAD to get my name down every place in the high score league.
All that’s missing are the doughnut / drinks kiosk and the sullen guy with the body hair problem in the token booth, who occasionally used to grunt his disapproval at the frustrated players taking it out on the machines, and that IS my old arcade.
I would regularly waste money at Wil’s Space Oddity Arcade. It’s gotta have the cool planetary carpet, blacklights, disco lighting, jukebox and cool stuff painted on the walls.
You know in downtown Portland there is an arcade (I think it is called the Atomic Arcade or something like that) that has all of the great 80s arcade games–the ones that only cost a quarter to play. There isn’t any minigolf, pizza or waffle cones but there is a bakery down the street and Chinese food nearby.
oh man! can we call it “Uncle Willy’s” !? can it play NOTHING but pop music from the late 70’s and early 80’s!? instead of change machines, can we have employees walk around with change belts!? can we have big projection screens all around the walls playing kick ass movies like ‘Flight of The Navigator’ and ‘The Goonies’ with out sound non stop!? can we!? CAN WE!?
PS: the place in Portland is Ground Kontrol, on Davis i believe….
This brings back memories of the Showboat arcade and miniature golf in Puente Hills. The one that was next to one of those Grand Prix go-kart places? And it had an arcade too!
For some reason, one of my most vivid memories from there was while I was playing Star Castle. After punching a big enough hole in the enemy ship’s defenses, I finally managed to fire off the killing shot. But so did he! And so my ship and his exploded at the same time. It was awesome.
OMFG I loved Showboat! It was next door to a Malibu Grand Prix, which was just like the one I used to go to all the time in Northridge.
I haven’t been there since 1995 or 1996, but boy was that place awesome.
That place is pure awesome, but how can you have an arcade so perfect without putting in a Twilight Zone pinball machine???
Yeah that’s right! Malibu Grand Prix. I remember playing Mappy and The Real Ghostbusters in their arcade quite often, hahaha!
It could have only been better if there’d been a Farrell’s across the street. 😀
But I remember there was a PJ Pizzaz not very far away, up near
Twin PinesLone PinePuente Hills Mall.I always thought pinball was underrated. Bring on more pinball!
I work pretty hard to not want things. Watching that video triggered a pretty overwhelming feeling of want.
It also triggered a pretty overwhelming feeling that there should be a roller skating rink behind one of those doods.
Knowing that something like that exists today is almost enough though. At first I thought that if I won the lottery that I would build something like that. Then I realized that the time investment is not something I would probably want to do. But if I won the lottery, I would totally cover that guy’s expenses as long as he was willing to put in the time.
wil,
i know you make it to portland every now and again. next time you go to powell’s you should check out ‘ground kontrol’ down the street. it is pretty much like that video except less spacious, more beer and more cute punk rock chicks (punk rock chicks that like video games, at that). i have wiled away many a night there playing pinball, tempest, galaga and many other great games.
“If you build it, they will come…”
Atleast I will, anyway. Sounds just like putt-putt. 3 minigolf courses and an awesome arcade.
*sigh*
yeah, the Washington Post profiled Hirschberg and his home arcade a couple years ago, but that was before he built the outbuilding to house all his machines; he had them all crowded in his basement at that time.
They just revisted with him this past Sunday: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/02/02/ST2008020201061.html?sid=ST2008020201061 & http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2006/06/21/VI2006062101648.html?sid=ST2008020201061
That brings back memories. I lived for the arcade. They had their own smell to them. Do you remember the Disneyland Starcade in it’s 80’s prime? I would be lost in their for hours.
Seeing what Starcade has become (a storage area and a few useless DDR-style games) just makes me sad.
There was a time when I could go there and spend an hour or more playing pinball, air hockey, and a ton of different arcade games.
Wow, this brings back memories.
Specifically, memories of a semi-fictional piece I wrote a couple of years ago, and have reposted here: How I Broke The Tron Machine And Became A Man.
OMG – do you know how many quarters and hours I spent on my local arcade. They just don’t make them like that anymore and all the games are classic.
I especially love the STAR WARS And TRON games. That would be very cool – no current games – not ultra realistic shoot em ups or anything – just quarter suckin’ good gameplay.
That is why I appreciate the Nintendo DS greatly – it doesn’t have the greatest graphics (compared to PSP) but it has great gameplay.
My local arcade was GALACTICAN (I believe).
All I knew is my mom used to say not to go there because of DRUGS and bad people hang out there… I went anyway – never saw drugs – dropped a boatload of change – and had a blast – the 80’s were AWESOME.
Thanks Wil for that video – good luck in the venture (for the future).
Bill
There’s a place here in South Florida called Boomers. Decent-sized warehouse with all sorts of great games from our collective childhoods, and newer games as well. They have a small pizza/snack shop, a climbing wall (so cool!), Air Hockey, and LaserTag inside, and outside there’s minigolf, bumper boats, and go-carts.
A part of me reverts to the young proto-gamer from the early 80s every time my wife tells me its time to leave.
Man, I miss the Silver City arcade and putt-putts that used to be out here. Makes me feel nostalgic watching that.
I remember finding this guy’s web page when he started collecting machines, and recognizing some of the machines that he was hunting parts for now up and running (with people playing them!) is awesome!
I enjoyed that posted video arcade tour – it had just the right amount of digital clatter in the background.
My only complaint, however (forgive me, I’m an arcade purist) is for the lights to be turned down even lower except over the exit doors.
My favorite childhood arcade in suburban Chicago (which is now a “family fun center” with damned few video games, but lots of machines which vend little toys) was pitch-black on the inside – the only illumination provided by the games themselves.
The result was a very intimate feel, albeit in an 80s style.
I visited Starcade during a trip to Disneyland in 1984.
I had never seen an open-air arcade before.
Beautiful.
Sorry to hear it’s become a sad shadow of its former self.
While watching that, I was waiting to see Flynn flexing his video game muscle at the Space Paranoids game. But I guess being Sr. Exec at Encom has him a bit busy these days.