Games in the wild: strange locations?

VectorAddict

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What's the coolest or strangest place you've seen a coin-op game? Back in the late 70s / early 80s, it was a "get rich quick" thing, so we saw them all over. There was a guy who loaded a mobile home with games and set it up on the side of highway 78; I think he was shut down because he didn't have licenses for the games. I also remember seeing a pinball machine in a restroom once, but I can't recall the details.

Looking forward to your "BITD" stories.
 
Holiday Inn "Holidomes" I've stayed in had the arcade right next to the pool under the dome. So kids would get right out of the pool all wet and go play arcade games. Not the best idea in the world. Up until around the first of this year there was a still a pool / arcade combo here in town. Had a Funhouse, Gauntlet 2, Sky Shark, and a couple others I can't remember. Hopefully they had a hefty GFI circuit.
 
Those Holidomes were funky but kinda cool too. I've still stayed in a couple but I don't think there are many left.

I recall being somewhere in San Diego or Oceanside back in the 80s and this hotel had an arcade about 25 feet from the pool. It was all outside on the pool deck, the arcades were safe under a roof but it had the feeling of a beach resort. I recall a Karate Champ, Moon Patrol, the lineup of games was crazy....
 
I remember playing Super Mario Brothers cocktail at a Holidome back around 1988 -- a friend had a birthday party there and there were a couple games out in the plaza.
 
The strangest is the T2 pin on one of the Cross Island ferries(all of them have arcades with horribly maintained games). Those ships can rock pretty good at times...good luck trying to play a pin lol.
 
Oh yeah, there were always two arcade games on the ferry boats that took people to Catalina Island. Not sure if the big people haulers still have games on the, I doubt it but I recall seeing an Galaxian, and a Stunt Cycle.
 
What's the coolest or strangest place you've seen a coin-op game? Back in the late 70s / early 80s, it was a "get rich quick" thing, so we saw them all over. There was a guy who loaded a mobile home with games and set it up on the side of highway 78; I think he was shut down because he didn't have licenses for the games. I also remember seeing a pinball machine in a restroom once, but I can't recall the details.

Looking forward to your "BITD" stories.

The strangest place I ever saw a game back in the day was the middle of a department store -- that is, it was just in the middle of the store, next to the men's shirts and ties, not in some arcade section or anything. The store was Hecht's, I believe, in the Tysons Corner Mall in Northern Virginia. The game was a Galaxian.

I also saw a couple games for play/sale in a florist in the Rio mall in Maryland. In the middle of the florist they had a Bubble Bobble and a Popeye. I ended up buying the Bubble Bobble and still have it today.
 
I remember a couple machines next to the pharmacy in the supermarket we used when I was a kid. They had a SEGA Turbo and a Popeye. I remember not liking Popeye because I wanted to just walk up to Bluto and punch him directly.
 
Raging Waters waterpark had an arcade BITD... like 20-25 machines too... and we'd all be barefoot and wet playing the games...

...Alpha Beta grocery store had an Asteroids Deluxe.

The local Chevron had a couple games BITD... and the Mobil Gas across the street had two of the first games I ever played as a kid.

Yum-Yum Donuts had a cigarette machine & a cocktail cabinet.

The local Chinese take-out had an Omega Race.

Ace Hardware had 4-5 games + a couple pins. I used to get my Gorf on there.
 
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