Anyone else remember Bally's Tom Foolery Barcades?

XXI21

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I remember two locations opening up in Madison WI BITD... One on the eastside, which I visited. I think they were a little ahead of themselves, as far as the barcade idea... And a little behind the overall arcade craze.

Anyway, just wondering if this was just a regional midwest thing... Or were there other locations throughout the U.S.

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Never heard of them, but I do remember Barnaby's. Wonder if they ever converted them all or if the crash put an end to that venture.
 
Never heard of them, but I do remember Barnaby's. Wonder if they ever converted them all or if the crash put an end to that venture.
I remember looking forward to the openings in MadTown... I was sadly disappointed.

I don't think there was much conversion... Seemed like an 11th hour half-ass attempt to cash in on the arcade craze. The location I went to only had about 7 games. And, those were just regurgitated units from a local vendor...

Tom Foolery was not set up like chuck e cheese either. Mind you, if you weren't 18 (drinking age at the time) you weren't getting in to play games. Menu was very limited as well... don't remember having any pizza either.

Yeah, they didn't last long. A year or 2 IIRC... 82-83ish
 
Seems there were a few locations in the Milw. WI area.

Milw. Sentinel article dated july 1 '83. How 'bout it milwaukee-ans... remember?

I did get my free token though...:)

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There was one about 5 minutes from where I lived when I was young. It was in Lombard, IL on Butterfield Road. I loved that place, my parents used to take me there fairly regularly. One the first floor was the restaurant and the game room (probably about 20-30 games in it) and there was an upstairs that had the bar and dance floor. My parents even got me a Tom Foolery satin jacket they were selling there. It was this really ugly green color but man at the time I thought it was the coolest thing! I was sad when that place closed down. It only lasted about 2 years, if that.
 
There was one about 5 minutes from where I lived when I was young. It was in Lombard, IL on Butterfield Road. I loved that place, my parents used to take me there fairly regularly. One the first floor was the restaurant and the game room (probably about 20-30 games in it) and there was an upstairs that had the bar and dance floor. My parents even got me a Tom Foolery satin jacket they were selling there. It was this really ugly green color but man at the time I thought it was the coolest thing! I was sad when that place closed down. It only lasted about 2 years, if that.
Cool! So far I've got Madison, Milw. WI and shytown... as I already suspected... 20 to 30 games... wow. The location I went to didn't have a dedicated gameroom. The half dozen games or so were right inside the door as you walk in... across from the bar. Not much space there either.

Looks like MadTown got the short end...

Yep, remember the jackets... They also had funky Pac-Man shaped menus.

Thanks for the input.:)
 
I remember there being a Barnaby's near the Cherryvale Mall in Northern, IL. (don't remember which town it was in, maybe Rockford).

Unfortunately, I don't remember it being converted to anything. It was a Barnaby's for as long as I could remember and I loved it every time I was fortunate enough to go there.

Steve
MM
 
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