Classic Arcade Era Survivors

I'm on the survivor list.
Lots of people my vintage here -1970- and I think we were in a sweet spot for all the mayhem.

Pong clone at the house then a 2600 to whet the appetite just as Space Invaders and then the rest appeared.
What an epic time to be a kid.
Pocket full of quarters from your paper route and mowing lawns and a bmx bike to be a neighborhood terror with your friends.

Played a shit ton of all sorts of games everywhere (because they WERE everywhere.)
Always fun to see new titles and squander some coins on them for bragging rights with friends.

Bums me out that my kids didn't get the same experience that I had but times have changed.
They always do of course.

I invite people over to play vids and pins and occassionally (rarely) it happens.
Everyone has a blast! ...and then goes back to their own life.
And then the games all sit with only me tinkering and playing them again- typically for a long while.

It's a unique hobby in that you can share the fruits of it with a bunch of other people all at once, and confusing to all of us when others don't jump at the chance to partake.

But it is just that- a hobby.
I've had a number of them the last 5 decades.

This one is even more fun for most of us here it appears when shared with others, but if it turns out to be just for you/us then so be it!

But have fun with it.
 
36 years old here, so can't really say I'm a survivor. But I still love the hobby, mainly doing the work part. Almost immediately after a build or restore, I'm ready to move on to the next thing.

I'll agree with @Pinball Wizard that cost is a huge factor. I think the hobby has gotten to a point where many people are priced-out. Even if they're willing to do repair work.

I think I'm an example of hope for the hobby though. I have no *real* nostalgia for arcades themselves. I'm old enough to remember them in malls in the 90s, but we never went to them. I never really played arcade games, except one Red Tent at a nearby pizza hut once in a great while. My most cherished video game memories are from a PlayStation 1. What actually brought me INTO the hobby are two things 1) Wreck It Ralph 2) The King of Kong documentary. Those two things led me to an interest in ownership, repair work, youtube channels, and eventually the Arcade Outsiders podcast starring one @Phetishboy himself!

My point being, the hobby doesn't have to be completely about nostalgia. An interest can still be had!
 
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Anyway, I think 1965 would have been the perfect birth year to enjoy the peak of the Golden Age.

CORRECT. That's my year. Perfect for the Golden Age of Arcades. Perfect for the original consoles - 2600, Colecovision, Apple computers, the best Rock n Roll, fashion and more. I feel lucky and privileged to have experienced those years as a teen. Good memories.
 
36 years old here, so can't really say I'm a survivor. But I still love the hobby, mainly doing the work part. Almost immediately after a build or restore, I'm ready to move on to the next thing.

I'll agree with @Pinball Wizard that cost is a huge factor. I think the hobby has gotten to a point where many people are priced-out. Even if they're willing to do repair work.

I think I'm an example of hope for the hobby though. I have no *real* nostalgia for arcades themselves. I'm old enough to remember them in malls in the 90s, but we never went to them. I never really played arcade games, except one Red Tent at a nearby pizza hut once in a great while. My most cherished video game memories are from a PlayStation 1. What actually brought me INTO the hobby are two things 1) Wreck It Ralph 2) The King of Kong documentary. Those two things led me to an interest in ownership, repair work, youtube channels, and eventually the Arcade Outsiders podcast starring one @Phetishboy himself!

My point being, the hobby doesn't have to be completely about nostalgia. An interest can still be had!
Yeah, between you and passive Pacman, this gives me hope. Young dudes within driving distance that still love these classics. I really should throw another Arcade collector party soon. I used to do it all the time at the old Galaxy Blue, then we moved the new place. Been here seven years now and I've had exactly one half-assed Arcade party. The clock is ticking.
 
1974 here. I dont believe there is a "sweet spot" I think its time and place. I didnt have much of an opportunity to play at the "big" arcades, never stepped foot in a time out, and maybe went to chuckie cheese once as a kid. However what drew me in was a little convenience store right beside my elementary school. Back in my day, you started walking to school on your own when you were in first grade. It was over a mile id walk to school, and back home. I would stop in the convenience store before school to spend my lunch money every morning. It started out with bags of indian pumpkin seeds and garbage pail kid cards. I was addicted to them and had to have them. Then i noticed they had a few games in the back. Widebody mario and hogans alley. I started on mario and was hooked from day one. I would be late to school every day, sometimes so late that i had to walk away from the game in the middle of it. Mario would become one of my top 3 games. The next phase of arcade games would come from camping with my parents. They got a permanent spot at a campground and we would spend most summer weekends there. They had an arcade of about 20 games and a few pinballs. This is where i found my love for dig dug. I cant remember what i had for dinner last night, but i can remember every game they had AND in what order they sat in on the floor. They layout is permanently etched inside of my mind. This is where my true love of games came from. I never had alot of free money as a kid, and actually used to swipe dollar bills from my moms purse while they were at bingo to play them.

So I think its more of what "opportunities" you had as a kid to play them as opposed to age. My oldest never showed much interest in any of the games, but my youngest seems to be a natural. He LOVES all the pinball machines, and frequently plays my star wars upright. (he is surprisingly a HUGE star wars fan)

Back when my father in law passed in 2005, he had amassed a stunning collection of lionel trains, that was his thing. My wife struggled very hard when we sent them all to auction, wondering what her dad wouldve thought about his lifelong collection being broken up and sold off. I assured her at this point, im sure he really didnt care. I told my wife, if i go before her, to sell everything off that they dont want to keep, and i will be OK with it. My games are for "me" to time travel back to my childhood. They dont need to have any special meaning to anyone else. Its a bonus if they do, but not necessary. Dont keep them when im gone, in memory of me, because i wont care about them. The kids can keep whatever they want and sell the rest. Ive also told her which arcade friends she can call that will help her sell them off.

Personally, I dont care what happens to the arcade scene when im gone. It will always be a part of history even if no one remembers.

In the end, they are for me. And they will be in the house until i pass away, even if i never play them again, just looking at them and knowing they are there brings me great peace and fond memories of some of the greatest times in my life.
 
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1974 here. I dont believe there is a "sweet spot" I think its time and place. I didnt have much of an opportunity to play at the "big" arcades, never stepped foot in a time out, and maybe went to chuckie cheese once as a kid. However what drew me in was a little convenience store right beside my elementary school. Back in my day, you started walking to school on your own when you were in first grade. It was over a mile id walk to school, and back home. I would stop in the convenience store before school to spend my lunch money every morning. It started out with bags of indian pumpkin seeds and garbage pail kid cards. I was addicted to them and had to have them. Then i noticed they had a few games in the back. Widebody mario and hogans alley. I started on mario and was hooked from day one. I would be late to school every day, sometimes so late that i had to walk away from the game in the middle of it. Mario would become one of my top 3 games. The next phase of arcade games would come from camping with my parents. They got a permanent spot at a campground and we would spend most summer weekends there. They had an arcade of about 20 games and a few pinballs. This is where i found my love for dig dug. I cant remember what i had for dinner last night, but i can remember every game they had AND in what order they sat in on the floor. They layout is permanently etched inside of my mind. This is where my true love of games came from. I never had alot of free money as a kid, and actually used to swipe dollar bills from my moms purse while they were at bingo to play them.

So I think its more of what "opportunities" you had as a kid to play them as opposed to age. My oldest never showed much interest in any of the games, but my youngest seems to be a natural. He LOVES all the pinball machines, and frequently plays my star wars upright. (he is surprisingly a HUGE star wars fan)

Back when my father in law passed in 2005, he had amassed a stunning collection of lionel trains, that was his thing. My wife struggled very hard when we sent them all to auction, wondering what her dad wouldve thought about his lifelong collection being broken up and sold off. I assured her at this point, im sure he really didnt care. I told my wife, if i go before her, to sell everything off that they dont want to keep, and i will be OK with it. My games are for "me" to time travel back to my childhood. They dont need to have any special meaning to anyone else. Its a bonus if they do, but not necessary. Dont keep them when im gone, in memory of me, because i wont care about them. The kids can keep whatever they want and sell the rest. Ive also told her which arcade friends she can call that will help her sell them off.

In the end, they are for me. And they will be in the house until i pass away, even if i never play them again, just looking at them and knowing they are there brings me great peace and fond memories of some of the greatest times in my life.
Right on brother. I guess that's why I keep mine too. It makes me feel good and transports me back to what I consider one of the best times ever. I'm just hoping my kids build a nostalgia of their own for dad's arcade, so that when I'm gone, they each have a few good memories and maybe keep a few games for themselves to share with their kids. But even if they get rid of them all, they'll still have the memories they can share. Which I guess sometimes is all we can really hope for.
 
Kids are going to have their own nostalgia, Id assume at this point when they are our age it will probably consist of a cell phone collection. But it would be nice if they "kept a little piece of dad" around to add to it.
 
My kids have friends sleep over pretty often. They rarely ever turn the games on when friends are over. Maybe once or twice in the past year?
Make it an Arcade Sleepover!

Whenever the kids had friends sleep over, all the games were on and able to be played.

Then again, so was the Nintendo and Legends of Zelda, which also got a lot of play.

It's a compromise. Our results were a little better, but I worked the marketing end a bit more.
 
Kids are going to have their own nostalgia, Id assume at this point when they are our age it will probably consist of a cell phone collection. But it would be nice if they "kept a little piece of dad" around to add to it.

So true. For my kids, one of the nostalgic triggers they have is the original Diablo. We played that game together for what probably adds up to HUNDREDS of hours. Just the other day, I get a picture in a text from my 31 year old...he was in the grocery store and looked up and saw a sign the said "Fresh Meat". He said he had an instant flashback and busted out with his best Butcher impersonation right in the middle of the store (got some strange looks from those around him). It warmed my heart that a sign in the grocery store immediately took him back to fun times with his dear old dad (but I wonder if I'll be forwarded a bill for future therapy).
 
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This all sounds very familiar. It also sounds like most of us are squarely in "Generation X".

I'm 52 and have been collecting for 22 years. Have 30 games (vids and pins) ranging from fully restored to non-working long-term projects. Last big vid restoration (720, for a good friend) that I had time for was 4 years ago. Last big pin restoration (Black Knight, because that's the only pinball that my wife has nostalgic memories of playing as a teenager) that I had time for was almost 6 years ago. We've been in our current house for over 8 years, but I still haven't done the electrical work needed to power up my entire game room at the same time. Last vids that I bought were in 2020. I bought one pin in 2022 since buying two in 2020.

My wife and I don't have any kids. Our nieces and nephews will play a few games of pinball when they come over. They don't have any real interest in the classic vids but will play the Rush 2049. The youngest of them will graduate high school in another seven years...

I sometimes think that I should pare down the collection a bit. I don't have room in the house for all the project games that are stored in the garage. I definitely think about my wife getting stuck with all this stuff should anything happen to me. I can't see keeping this whole collection into retirement. I wonder sometimes - if I keep these games too long, will anyone be left who will want to buy them from me?

So, that's all very "down". On the upside, arcade collecting is still very nostalgic to me. I look at my Tempest and remember playing one at the county fair as a teenager. I look at my Battlezone and remember playing one at the roller skating rink. I look at my Roadblasters and remember being obsessed with playing it in the arcades at the Minnesota State Fair. I look at my Asteroids and remember playing one at a mall arcade with my dad. I look at my Star Wars and remember playing one in the rec room of my college dorm. I enjoy the games, the artwork, the history, the friends that I've made, the community of collectors, and the big events (CAX, MGC, etc). I find a lot of satisfaction in restoring and preserving these games.
 
Kids are going to have their own nostalgia, Id assume at this point when they are our age it will probably consist of a cell phone collection. But it would be nice if they "kept a little piece of dad" around to add to it.

It's harder for kids these days. BITD things were not as disposable and were truly "new". The fact that we are still saving 40 yo games and that there are so many collections out there is a testament to a different way of thinking. These days every car with few exceptions look the same and are all plastic with near zero "wow factor". Most electronics are very small surface mount parts and nearly impossible to repair. Vintage PCs and the great early games all brought something new with either graphics or characters whereas everything I see now is another COD clone or a dragon and wizard remake. Minecraft being the rare exception.

My son never got into car building mostly due to the huge amount of hard work required and he wasn't old enough to actually drive anything we built. He did get into games with the xbox and then PC titles but was never able to see how the magical images were being created, it was just a black box. As he gets older he is able to work with me on monitor and PCB projects while being able to see how the machine works right down to a chip level.
I am just now starting to gather project cabinets for us to work on with the hope that his interest expands in the hobby. My goal is to one day watch my future grandkids playing on these machines.

That said, if I die anytime soon get ahold of @KaBoom1701 because my wife will be dumping everything on him to get rid of it. :ROFLMAO:
 
Couple that with my love and fascination with early home computers ( Apple II, C-64, TRS-80 )
and the 80's was more than life-defining for me ; it was existential. ... I never really left .
My home is a shrine to the 80's, ... much to my wife's despair .


Steph
I'm right there with you. We just sold our 1985 Fiero GT. But I still have my Colecovision, Apple IIe, Commodore 64 and Vic 20 and a Timex Sinclair 1000.
Plus my Atari 2600, Sega Master System and so many handhelds. It's like the 80s exploded in my house. We have a room dedicated just to 80s stuff. Rack Stereo, Boom Box, all the old Computer and Gaming Systems. 80s Posters. 80s Toys. You name it... Like I said... Closest you can get to a Time Machine.
 
I hate seeing people say they are "Priced out" no way... just look around, and get the word out to friends and family etc.
I don't even look for games much anymore they find me. I have 2 Arcade Games and a Pinball I have to pick up next week.
Total $ for them is $300. One of the Arcade games and the PInball work (they need serious cleaning) and one has a bad monitor.
People come to me and ask ask... hey my friend has these do you want them... or I know where there is a game not being used etc...
I'm about out of room... I'm not sure where these are going... I have 18 Arcade games now. Assorted Redemption stuff and a Carousel.
 
Screen Play Arcade on Richie Hwy in Glen Burnie, MD.

Heh, Screen Play was one of the competing arcades for where my dad worked. He was over at That's Entertainment on Ritchie, it was in what is now the Family Dollar next to the McDonalds. Screen Play supposedly would take ideas from That's Entertainment all the time. TE ran a Pennysaver ad with a coupon for free tokens? Screen Play was running a clone of the ad next week. Platformed flooring for the "new games" area? Few months later and Screen Play was doing the same. Realistically, everyone was stealing everyone else's ideas back in that day, but I just find it comical to hear the Screen Play name after all these years.
 
49 here. I got into this mostly for me but also thought it might be appealing to my grandkids. Turns out the ones old enough to understand / play the games have almost no interest. The only ones who love to go out and play in papa's arcade are the toddlers. They do enjoy running around mashing buttons, jammin on joysticks, spinning the wheels etc but I suspect when they get a little older they'll join the no interest club. I bring in 2p simultaneous games as I can usually get the grandson to play those but 2p alternating games just don't seem to do it.

I guess in the end it's all about me and I hope if I suddenly keel over that my wife doesn't call the flippers to come clean my games out and give her next to nothing for them. Worse yet would be they all end up in the landfill. Ugh.
 
18 in '81... as far as playing, old school before there was a school.

Shoot... I'm a stone(d) age, bronze age, golden age and crash survivor (could 'feel' it coming) all wrapped into one.

During my early teen years, spent a lot of time playing pins, EMs (target zero one of my faves) and early B&W games at that proverbial mall babysitter, Aladdin's Castle. And when my dad was babysitting, I got to play a bunch of different wall games at bars.

Shit, summers in the mid-70s I was regularly playing sea wolf at the greyhound station in San Clemente... until the cops came and kicked me out.

At the time the only big-time, outside of Madison, Wisconsin, experience I had was playing a few games on main street Disneyland...
Notably, 8 player tank and the for-play star trek. And after playing 8 player tank, my sole purpose in gaming was to be able to beat the 'older' guys!

My big introduction and transition to the golden age came when Village Lanes Bowling Alley, directly across the street from the apartment I grew up in, got an SI in the bar. The glow of the machine in the dark bar made it even more alluring to a game addict. Us underage players were allowed to play when the bar was not busy. Sucked at SI, but still loved to just watch (with permission of course) the older and better players.

One of the first big milestones came in the late 70s-1980-ish, when village lanes brought in asteroids, galaxian and BZ. They were placed in the main concourse/lobby, so everyone could play. Asteroids was WILDLY popular... I sucked at rocks, and it always had a crowd waiting to play, so I gravitated to Galaxian. Galaxian was the first game I ever scored 100k on. And a crowd actually gathered while I was playing... even some of the high school jocks congratulated me. I've been trying to relive that glory ever since... Got real good at BZ, too... my first million pt game, on any game, was there.

During that time, I met people whom are best friends to this day.

So that went on for a while... mostly looking forward to Saturday mornings and the gang gathering at the 3 games. pretty much the only game in town...

In our later teens, a special thing was going to uptown/campus mad city to uncle stanley's (had a computer space at the front door and it got very little play) and UW madison union arcades. Mostly for a change of scenery and to test are games against the older guys. That was the space wars phase... a friend and I dropped 5 bucks at one time, never really finished that particular game.

70s going into 80s, the bowling alley added 2 more games... so there were 5, and 2 would be rotated regularly depending on amount of play.

For me, the big addition was Missile Command. THIS was the game I was going to play better than anyone else! I played a lot... but mostly observed other much better players, especially those who had more money to plug than I did... One of my early missile command memories was being late for the bus on a school field trip because I was sneaking a game of MC at a Wausau WI diner. HA

and then one day...

A couple friends and I were walking home from high school, when some random guy walked up and asked if we liked playing video games! WAIT WHAT?

HELL YEAH

This was the real beginning of the golden age...

John Duane was his name... EVERYTHING CHANGED... and to be continued... :) just wanted to get this posted.

article from sept 1981...

1707413070391.png
 
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I was born in 1966. I think I grew up at the ideal time, for everything. I LOVED the '80s as a teen.

I agree and identify with all the comments mentioned in this thread. I am here everyday and read alot on here. I don't pop my head up very often, 'cause I don't have much to say.

my children, alas did not take to my games. My oldest had already went off to college when I picked up my first piece, Tempest. Back in 1998 when I thought I was one-and-done...............fool.
my youngest, didn't take to them at all. my grandchildren(11 & 16, if ya want to feel old), do like to play some of the games including pinball, but like playing my bumper pool table (don't count, not a vid) most.
I still love being in the hobby, my activeness/passion comes and goes. Being an 'empty nester' and retired certainly affords me the time.

I'm not a 'king off kong' high score striver, I just like the feeling when I look at or play my games. someone mentioned a time machine....... yeah.

I wanted to concise, but ended up blathering like a sinner in confession. In the end, my wife knows what to do, and there is a spreadsheet to guide her on how she wants to unload my stuff...........
 
Well, after reading all of these replies, I guess I'm the oldest one here! Born in '59, I was a teenager when arcade video games were gaining popularity. My first recollection of playing one was a blue Computer Space at the Thrifty drug store in North Highlands CA in the early '70's (about 10 years old or so). I still love that game! As a teenager, with his newly acquired drivers license, I used to go the arcade at the back of the Arden Fair mall in Sacramento and play Bi-Plane, Anti-Aircraft, pinball and the like around 1976. Then there was an arcade called 'The Underground' in Old Sacramento that really was under ground, under the street level, old brick building and was the coolest spot! There is no way I can recap this many years, but I'll say that I've been collecting since 1995 (RGVAC) days and still do a bit. I sold off about 1/2 my collection last year in prep for a move out east which we did last October. I brought a 30' trailer with my remaining games and jukes. At the moment we're remodeling our small basement to hold it all (hopefully), that should be done shortly. For me it is some nostalgia of a simpler more fun and carefree time. I also just love the vib of having them all on and playing / looking at them. It's like electronic art. My kids always liked when a new game would come home and as others have said was kind of upset when a game would leave. They were never really into the repair / restore / upkeep of them. They'd play them for a week or so then hardly ever unless I made some kind of point about it.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll always have some games, but I agree, that when I'm finally gone, it'll be my wife or my kids that will deal with all of my various collections. I'm pretty sure none of them will keep any of it and that's ok. They were for me originally, but I do really enjoy having someone with me that enjoys them as well.
 
I was born in 1982 currently, I am 41, and I grew up in a small Kansas town with less than 200 people. Around 1985, my dad bought a brick double storefront building. My grandpa and grandma operated a cafe on one side. My dad wanted to give kids something to do so he opened an arcade in the other half. My dad originally worked with an operator from a larger town 20 miles away. The operator did not want to put anything new in such a small town so all the games were much older. So everyone who went to the arcade was exposed to the older games. Eventually, my dad found out about video games auctions and picked up a few games. Of course, the operator did not like this and quickly pulled all his games. So my dad went back to the auctions and picked up more games.

He ran the arcade from around 1987 to 1993. Then someone wanted to rent the arcade side of the building so all the games went into storage.

Fast Forward to a snow day when I was in high school. My friend and I were playing the Midway \ Williams CD on the computer. We got to talking and I told him my dad had a bunch of these games in storage. So being the smart high schools that we were in the middle of a snow storm my friend, his sister, and my sisters, walked across town and went through the storage building looking at the games.

The internet was really getting going around this time and I was surprised to see that people collect these games and that it could be a hobby. It was not long until it was my hobby.

At about that same time, my dad bought the old town gas station and in the office area, I set up a majority of the games. Very unofficially, I had an arcade for the rest of high school and then my first couple of years of college. I would be open Friday nights and the younger town kids would come in and then later in the evening some of my high school friends would stop by. In college, a friend had her 80s-themed graduation party at my arcade.

After college, I got married and moved away. The gas station was rented and most of the games went back into storage. Wherever I have lived since then. We have always had 2-5 games in the house and I continued to collect and buy things along the way.

In the last few years, we moved back to my hometown. My dad still owns the old brick building where he had the first arcade. However, time is not kind to vacant buildings that have not been used for years. My wife and I investigated fixing it up. However, termites, asbestos, lead paint, brick pointing, and many other things have stopped us from using that building.

Recently, we have been trying to work out a deal to relocate a couple of modular buildings. Having an area to share the games with the public is what we want to do. However, life keeps getting in the way. However, as this thread has discussed time keeps moving and the years keep going by. So we need to make something happen as my daughter enjoys the games.


Regarding my Dad, people still bring up his arcade to him.

Recently, my dad was eating at a restaurant and ran into someone who went to his arcade years ago. He bought my dad's lunch and told him his side business was buying and rebuilding pool tables. He said he went into that business because of how much he loved going to his arcade when he was younger. He told him he wants to open an arcade.

For me, even though my dad had an arcade it took some time to get into the games and now I have been in the hobby for 27 years.

I do not have the answers. However, I hope you enjoy your games and it is okay if they are just for you. However, if you can and are willing to share your games it is a great way to pass the hobby along. You never know the impact it could have on someone.

Good luck with all your endeavors.
 
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