Childhood arcade magic!

sabrewulf69

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Donor 3 years: 2015, 2024-2025
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When I was a kid in the late 90's/early 00's my father managed a large grocery store next to a small mall that had a movie theater/arcade inside here in the middle of the appalachian mountains. Every weekend that I went with my mother to go shopping at the mall and my father's store my dad would give me a hand full of quarters to spend at the mall. I would run straight to the arcade while my mother shopped my father's store and the mall. In the theater arcade they had Carnevil, Sega 18 wheeler, Ice Ball Skeeball plus several redemption games and my childhood favorite... KILLER INSTINCT!!!

Such a large selection right! 😆, but I loved it! AND! I always made sure to save a few extra quarters to take home because I knew depending on where we ate I would be able to play more cades! The nearby Pizza Hut in town had Crusin' World, the Pizza Plus had Hard Drivin' and Ms. Pac-man, the smaller mall where the Subway was had one of the House of the Dead games for a short while and the Pizza Hut on the other side of town had my other favorite, Daytona USA! I looked forward to going shopping every time lol and on top of all that, I was able to rent a new SNES, N64, Gamecube or PS2 game every few weeks from the video rental section in my father's grocery store, it really made for a kick-ass childhood 😆. I already knew when I was 10 I wanted my own personal arcade when i got older. I'm very thankful for the life I've lived until now.

It was a magical time, but the reason I bring this up is I really love this forum and I read through it often and I really appreciate all of the knowledge and wisdom you guys share here daily in an effort to keep these pieces of history alive so I really wanted to hear your childhood arcade/video game magic stories, go all out! What were you favorite hang out spots, games and memories! What were the games you played as a child that got you into this hobby? Please tell me!
 
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We had a very small arcade scene in my hometown. One favorite memory is a Catholic church/school would run a haunted house every year. The line would be packed and you would wait hours. But for whatever reason, they had a Mortal Kombat in the area where you would wait in line! I thought that was so cool. We had a bowling alley with a small arcade, but I very rarely had money to play any games. That's one of the reasons some of the games I look for are what they are, I always wanted to play them but never got to! The one game I remember playing the most was a two player 1942-ish game at a hotel. Another kid and I had like 10 quarters each.... we made almost to the end to beat the game, but we ran out of quarters!

Thanks for sharing your story.
 
We had a very small arcade scene in my hometown. One favorite memory is a Catholic church/school would run a haunted house every year. The line would be packed and you would wait hours. But for whatever reason, they had a Mortal Kombat in the area where you would wait in line! I thought that was so cool. We had a bowling alley with a small arcade, but I very rarely had money to play any games. That's one of the reasons some of the games I look for are what they are, I always wanted to play them but never got to! The one game I remember playing the most was a two player 1942-ish game at a hotel. Another kid and I had like 10 quarters each.... we made almost to the end to beat the game, but we ran out of quarters!

Thanks for sharing your story.
That's a cool story! And I didn't remember until I read yours that we used to have a bowling alley with an Area 51 in the arcade, but i can't remember the rest of the games they had...
 
I'm very thankful for the life I've lived until now.
Wow, great story until I read this part, scared me for a second. I had to reread it to know that you are ok.

I could feel every part of your story as if I lived it because I did, other that my father owning a grocery store...

(y):cool:(y)

.
 
Wow, great story until I read this part, scared me for a second. I had to reread it to know that you are ok.

I could feel every part of your story as if I lived it because I did, other that my father owning a grocery store...

(y):cool:(y)

.
haha I see now how that could be misinterpreted lol. No I was just acknowledging I'm fortunate to have lived as good as a life as I have. Especially considering I'm adopted and now knowing how my biological family turned out my life could have been INCREDIBLY different lol. So I'm very thankful I had an awesome childhood.
 
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