Barrel of Fun Arcade Pictures?

BlaineLocklair

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Hello everyone,

One a year or so, I try to send out an "all call" on the net to see if anyone has pictures of a Barrel of Fun arcade. I do exhaustive Google research before asking, just in case they're already out there. This year, I found two pictures - one of a Barrel of Fun sign from Columbia, SC, along with a token booth from the same game room. No other pictures seem to be out there.

Does anyone have pictures of a Barrel of Fun arcade they'd be willing to share?

Thanks,
Blaine
 
There is a strip mall on Decker Blvd in Columbia where there used to be a Barrel of Fun. I believe there is a Hair Stylist in there currently but the round doorway is still there.

K
 
I have some tickets and tokens from the place. It was mostly in the south and twoard the end was bought out by Atari arcades. I remember going to one once. The entrance was round and shaped like a barrel. A little history I found doing a google search.

1987

Atari Games purchases Barrel of Fun, Inc. owner of "Barrel of
fun" and "2001 Entertainment Center" arcade chains, and spins them off under the Atari
Games subsidiary, Atari Operations, Inc.

September 1: Atari Games purchased all assets of Barrel of Fun, Inc., owner/operator of the "Barrel of Fun" and "2001 Entertainment Center" chains of video game arcades, located primarily in six southeastern U.S. states. The acquired arcade operations would now be run by a new wholly-owned subsidiary of Atari Games, named Atari Operations, Inc.

1990
March: Namco Ltd. (of Japan), via Namco America Inc., took over the Funtasia games arcade at San Francisco's PIER 39. The arcade would be among the first, if not the first, to adopt the Namco CyberStation Amusement Zone concept. The PIER 39 location featured bumper cars and more than 100 games.
June 26: Namco Ltd. (of Japan), via Namco America Inc., purchased Atari Operations, Inc. from Atari Games Corp. Atari Operations would adopt the new name, Namco Operations, Inc. Namco Operations would continue operations at more than 40 "Barrel of Fun" and "2001 Entertainment Center" locations in the western and southeastern U.S.

1991
Namco began to gradually convert Atari Expo, Barrel of Fun, and 2001 locations to the Namco CyberStation Amusement Zone concept. (The Atari Expo, formerly Funtasia, site may have been the first to operate under the new CyberStation name.)
 
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I Still have a token from the Dutch Square location, somehwere in my house!! I've had it almost 30 years, now!! I moved away from Columbia in 1982.

I'd love to see those pics, as well. I have vivid memories of the Dutch Square location. It and the Land Of Oz at the now defunct Bush River Mall.

Namely playing Flash Gordon pinball, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and Vanguard.

Oh, and I never will forget when they got their Ms. Pac-Man machines in 1982... The line waiting to play was literally streching out the door. They got 2 machines, and they had to install an extra monitor on top of the games so people waiting could see it being played.

And I could've swore those entrances used to move, when the arcades first opened... But kids would hurt themselves from playing around in them.
 
Did it look like this? I always wondered how popular those extra monitors were.

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=70926&highlight=midway+extra+monitor

I had to dig this thread up from the netherworld, since I haven't visited this site in quite a while...

YES! those were the exact ones!

Sorry that I missed this - here is the sign pic.

Too bad you didn't save the entire entryway... It was like walking into another dimension, all tacky cliches aside.
 
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I found the pics online, and didn't take them personally back in the day. Hindsight is always 20/20, isn't it? If I could be there today, I'd take all the 35mm and Polaroid pictures I could, and have them converted into slides (it was the 80s, after all). :)
 
Barrel of Fun - Goodlettsville TN

No pictures that I know of. Went to one in Rivergate mall back in the day. Loved the place. Remember games such as 2 play Atari Football, Kangaroo, Battlezone, Robotron, and many others. Also so Dragon's Lair for the first time there (with spectator monitor). Entrance was a barrel you walked into.

We had a second arcade in the mall (as part of an outdoor strip mall section) that was good but much different - pool tables, could smoke, etc. Both were great places. Remember going to a birthday party here and getting tokens while you played (no limit). Filled my pockets with tokens that I could use later on.
 
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I found this one doing a Google search. Looks like there's a place called Barrel O Fun in Austin but I would assume that's a completely different company.
 

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Play the music from the song "Jungle Boogie" in your head and sing along!!!

Necrobumping...

Necrobumping...

(I can hear the horns now...)

Necrobumping...

Necrobumping...

:D
 
Play the music from the song "Jungle Boogie" in your head and sing along!!!

Necrobumping...

Necrobumping...

(I can hear the horns now...)

Necrobumping...

Necrobumping...

:D

I was so busy at work I didn't even notice this was from 2011. I just saw it at the top. :D
 
I found this one doing a Google search. Looks like there's a place called Barrel O Fun in Austin but I would assume that's a completely different company.

That was the exact arcade I played at during High School in middle Georgia, link to the full article here - https://middlegeorgiabuzz.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/top-5-things-missing-from-warner-robins/

- - snippet from the webpage - -
"""
#1 Barrel of Fun

Barrel of Fun 2- Todd Lewis.jpg
Photo from Todd Lewis
Warner Robins native and Barrel of Fun aficionado Amy Brown (NHS Class of 92′) recalling her totally awesome to the max youth, "The Barrel of Fun had a unique doorway, it was like you were walking into another world. It was every young person's dream. Unlike today, it was a place where you could play the games but still have actual social interaction."

Sometimes I'd hit the games at the Putt-Putt but it was not quite the same. Putt-Putt culture is starkly different than Barrel of Fun culture. The Putt-Putt was way more California surfer and the Barrel of Fun was a refuge for the hoods, dorks and the marginalized of society.

Recently, my search for redemption and lost youth brought me to back to the old Houston Mall. If you listen to the wind on a fall evening, the ringing of pinball machines from the Barrel of Fun DO indeed still echo 25 years later.

John Wilson, Mid-GA Buzz
"""
 

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I lived in this place as a 12/13 year old growing up in Charleston, SC.

I knew the whole staff and this is where I cut my teeth working on games and pinballs at that age.

I played games for free in exchange for private work, because they could not pay me or hire me directly because of insurance purposes. You had to be 18.

This later led to my employment at Aladdin's Castle In Charlestown Square in 1988/89 when I could be hired. My tenure as an employee here was cut short because I had t go to college.

I then went to college in Atlanta, Ga in late 89 for electronics. I then worked for the Goldmine in Northlake Mall in the early 90's as a second job to fund my arcade addiction until I got fired.

Many many years later I found out I worked with a now other KLOVer at Goldmine at that point in time and also Gene Lewin's tech out in California was my regional manager at Aladdin's Castle when I worked there.

I also went to Middle school with Blaine Locklair who started this thread.

Hi Blaine!

Small world or not?
 
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