Grade School Arcades (PLUS help me ID a game?)

adamzero

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Did anyone else here have an arcade room at their grade school?

I know after school programs at rec centers/YMCAs/etc had an arcade game or two (or more)... but did anyone else have games on-grounds in their actual grade school?

We had a game room that had bumper pool, regular pool, ping pong, an EM pin called "Big Ben" http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=964, a solid-state pin that I can't remember the name of, an EM gun game called "Sharpshooter" http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=5334, and a racing video game.

We used to have parties there for scouts or... like an end of the year party for our grade.

............

Game ID: The racing game. Hopefully someone can help me get the name (or narrow down) on this one. What I remember was that it was a top-down racing game. Based on the age of everything else in there, I'd say this was 1983 or older. It had the steering wheel, as expected, but it had a 4-way shifter (4 gears). The screen scrolled/panned as you drove through the track, but it didn't turn "with" the car (like Assault did with the tank)... so it wasn't like you could see the whole track on a single, unmoving screen (Like Sprint).

But... yeah, that kind of gameplay with a 4-way stick shift. I'm assuming it had a pedal, too.
 
Game ID: The racing game. Hopefully someone can help me get the name (or narrow down) on this one. What I remember was that it was a top-down racing game. Based on the age of everything else in there, I'd say this was 1983 or older. It had the steering wheel, as expected, but it had a 4-way shifter (4 gears). The screen scrolled/panned as you drove through the track, but it didn't turn "with" the car (like Assault did with the tank)... so it wasn't like you could see the whole track on a single, unmoving screen (Like Sprint).

But... yeah, that kind of gameplay with a 4-way stick shift. I'm assuming it had a pedal, too.

Monaco GP is my guess...
 
Game ID: The racing game. Hopefully someone can help me get the name (or narrow down) on this one. What I remember was that it was a top-down racing game. Based on the age of everything else in there, I'd say this was 1983 or older. It had the steering wheel, as expected, but it had a 4-way shifter (4 gears). The screen scrolled/panned as you drove through the track, but it didn't turn "with" the car (like Assault did with the tank)... so it wasn't like you could see the whole track on a single, unmoving screen (Like Sprint).

But... yeah, that kind of gameplay with a 4-way stick shift. I'm assuming it had a pedal, too.

Atari's Monte Carlo?

1092772354.jpg


http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=8742

Brian
 
We had a rec area at my high school. Bumper pool, foosball, 4-lane bowling alley, regular pool table.. and as juniors/seniors we could have our study hall there.

Unfortunately... no real arcade games though...
 
Back in high school, we had:

SFII
M.V.P. (still a fav. baseball game of mine)
Turbo Outrun
Willow
...and another one that I'll add when I remember it.

Willow was there for the longest time. M.V.P. got removed `cause students broke into it to add credits.
 


Monte Carlo was rather cool. I never saw it in the early 80s, but it turned up, oddly enough, in a restaurant game room near my house in the early 90s! That place usually had fairly current games (3 years old or newer...) but often a less common classic title like Monte Carlo, Spectar, Gorf, or Vanguard would make an appearance for a few months.

Kyle :cool:
 
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Senior lounge in high school had a Final Fight (probably a conversion, but I didn't know any better back then) and an NES with 1943 and Tecmo Bowl. Funny, I was just playing 1943 on my NES and remembering BITD before I saw this thread.

We also had a contest for something where the prize was a sit down baseball game arcade cabinet, circa '80s. I was not involved in the contest because I had zero school spirit. ;)
 
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My brother told me that there was actually a third pinball in the room too (a KISS), but it was gone a few years later when I got to go there.

Pleiades10 said:
Monte Carlo was rather cool. I never saw it in the early 80s, but it turned up, oddly enough, in a restaurant game room near my house in the early 90s! That place usually had fairly current games (3 years old or newer...) but often a less common title like Monte Carlo, Spectar, Gorf, or Vanguard would make an appearance for a few months.

I watched a youtube video of it & it brought back a lot of memories. But unless it was free, I'd probably pass on owning one... not as fun as Turbo or Pole Position, etc.

I guess the games were still there years ago, but by the time I got into this hobby and contacted them, they were long gone & no one knew where they went.

Having that EM gun game, Sharpshooter, would've probably been the most meaningful grail ever for me...
sharpsh1.jpg
 
The closest thing to a game room or rec area was the commons area off the lunch room. During my Junior year, there was a jukebox but it was only there for that year.
 
I went to a day care for pre-school.. They had an arcade that only the older kids were able to go to (2nd graders I believe). My brother and I somehow comvinced the right people to let us in the arcade instead of doing lame arts and crafts with the rest of our age group.. The arcade had Popeye, Moon Patrol, Burger time, something else, and TRON.. Tron was the only arcade any of us kids cared about. It was hard to get a chance to play it. Now I'm 29 with 8 arcade cabs in my 2 bedroom apartment and I can blame it all on that day care and their little arcade room. I of course own Tron now so I don't have to fight anymore 2nd graders to enjoy the game. =)
 
Having that EM gun game, Sharpshooter, would've probably been the most meaningful grail ever for me...
sharpsh1.jpg

there's one in the for sale section

*edit* at least i think it was that particular EM. from a week or two ago.
 
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I'm a teacher and I actually have been vacillating on the idea of bringing in a classic game like Pac or DK.
Figure it would be fun for the kids to play as a reward for something. I just keep thinking of how much administration and parents are going to hate the idea.

Our school district uses arcade games for after school programs and during summer camps.
 
Sharpshooter

There was a sharpshooter for sale in Texas recently, fully working and very nice. I have one under repair at the Omaha Fairmont Candy and Arcade where everything is for sale for a price- I just spent an hour cleaning up the displays - next I'll try the Magic Eraser to see if I can get the stuff out that won't come off with mild cleansers.

I also cleaned out the 3 pieces of metal (1 star washer, 1 coil stop, 1 wad of foil) that was in the lower section on the contacts. The pins look corroded, so I'll clean them next, and see if I can get the game to reset and play.

On the first power up (post cleaning), I had to replace 1 fuse (probably blown by the foreign material in the lower unit), and it wouldn't reset. Im hoping the cleanup of the pin connectors both pin and socket, will allow a reset.

I installed two new Imonex token mechs, so I'm hot to get this one finished up. As a bonus, I found a complete drawing set in the envelope on the back of the game, so I'm going to find a scanner and upload it here, since there is darn little available on this game.
 
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I'm a teacher and I actually have been vacillating on the idea of bringing in a classic game like Pac or DK.

military-salute.jpg





And the whole thing with that "Sharpshooter"... I meant "THAT" Sharpshooter, not "a" Sharpshooter.

...that being said... hmmm... if one was for sale closer, I'd have to seriously consider it. (And check if it would fit down my stairs...I assume the front/gun sticks out a bunch)
 
I think times have changed. I graduated not too long ago and we didn't even have a "lounge," let alone games. Study halls and break time were considered wasted money education wise, plus they were afraid it was just opportunities for kids to make trouble.

And games in school in general was just a big no no as far as the administration was concerned (anything that could explain poor test scores really).
 
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