Arcade memory

netropolis

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Recently my cousin came 1/2 way across the country to visit. Of course one of his stops was my arcade.

He and I used to visit our local arcade together and while playing games in my basement he jogged an old arcade memory.

My local small-town arcade consisted of about 30 arcades and about 6 pins. Five of which were old EM's. "The Pool Hall" was filled with eye level purple cigarette smoke (eye level for us 12 year olds) and most of the scary people in town hung out there to play pool, smoke and likely sell drugs.

There was no change machine at this place and no tokens - it was all quarters. My cousin reminded me of how we would take our Five Dollar Bills to the counter slap them down. Without a word, the clerk would open the till, grab a hand full of quarters and slide a pile across the counter at me and a pile at him. The remaining 3 or 4 back in the drawer. We would of course count and it was always Five dollars in quarters.

Magic! Not the quarter trick. That memory is now so fresh in my mind.

Just thought I would share...
 
Had a sweet arcade in my small town in South Dakota, a dark and spooky joint called Jakes. Would finish chores and race down there with my brother.

Place burned down the year I graduated high school. I can still can see that place in a dream occasionally.
 
Best Arcade I went to BITD was Larry's Arcade back around 1979 so it was all pinballs mostly and had a few pool tables and a Rockola 450 jukebox and I still remember Tom Sawyer at full volume always! Me and a buddy played Flash on 50 cents all night long one night..Good times!
 
There was no change machine at this place and no tokens - it was all quarters. My cousin reminded me of how we would take our Five Dollar Bills to the counter slap them down. Without a word, the clerk would open the till, grab a hand full of quarters and slide a pile across the counter at me and a pile at him. The remaining 3 or 4 back in the drawer. We would of course count and it was always Five dollars in quarters.

Magic! Not the quarter trick. That memory is now so fresh in my mind.

How was that trick performed! do tell!
 
I remember when me and my brother (RIP) use to cut grass in the summer and shovel snow in the winter for whatever we could make (we grew up extremely poor) and walk to this
one arcade near west farms mall in hartford CT.
My older brother took care of me.. My father took off when i was six and my mother
was always at the bar. we never even really had food in the house .
My brother was the only person i looked up to.
We would always stop and get pretzle rods and mountain dew at the gas station next
door to the arcade.
My brother would hit the zaxxon machine, id head over to the Us vs Them machine .
then they got a dragons lair machine.. once a week that bitch broke down lol.
I always wanted to spend all my money at the arcade but my brother wouldnt allow me to.
He would remind me "save some money so you can eat later"
we had a cumby farms near the apartment (projects) that had a few machines.
one of them was a pengo cocktail. If i ever find a pengo cocktail im gonna buy it.

Before my brother passed away a few years ago, i told him i was rebuilding arcade machines
and wanted him to come visit me ,he was in alabama, very sick but would always tell me
he was ok... the night after that phone call he died in his sleep.


Once a year , i put out a bottle of mountain dew and a bag of pretzle rods
and turn all my games on.
the phone gets shut off , i dont answere the door .
I just sit in a chair listening to aerosmith , acdc , van halen ... whatever
my brother would pick on the jukebox i played.
 
Had a sweet arcade in my small town in South Dakota, a dark and spooky joint called Jakes. Would finish chores and race down there with my brother.

Place burned down the year I graduated high school. I can still can see that place in a dream occasionally.

holy crap.. we had a place called jakes near my highschool that had some machines lol.
it was like a small store on a corner.. it closed down after i graduated high school.
 
That's funny as I was about to post this link based on the thread title...

http://www.arcadechips.com

:D

As to your post, your mind records every second of your life. It's great to pull out those memories like that...

One of my favorite moments involves slapping a fiver on the bar at Shakey's Pizza and counting every quarter which was exact every time...
 
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How was that trick performed! do tell!

Back at "my" pool hall, I was allowed to make change for customers. I can't fully explain it, but you "get good" at it after a while. While I wasn't really employed there(from a legal standpoint), I was trusted to do the same things their son was. It was about a year after "I started", that I noticed I could do it. The amount didn't matter.... $1 to $5.... I could do it. Every single time.

I was told to "always double check", which I did. I could reach in, scoop out a bunch, put both hands together and shake them into a stack.

That last, I could still do, but I've long lost the "perfect Count" ability.
 
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