Didn't see your intro until today, but a sincere welcome to the boards here and esp. from a fellow Villager here in FL. Really cool to hear you worked at Mardi Gras from 1981-1996. Was it always called that or did it have another name? My connection to Daytona is that I was going to school up there then and visited the Arcades on the boardwalk many of times. The stuff you must of seen walk by and into the arcade: for you fellow KLOVers, this guy worked by the beach when Daytona Beach was THE place to be.
A lot of classics back in the day. What was the name of the arcade that was right beside you, Dan?
Bet those were fun to work on especially with the sweat, saltwater, and humidity in that location..
Again welcome aboard from a fellow vid collector in FL(Xevious, Rally-X, and Star Castle). Feel free to get in touch anytime Dan.
MY GOD! you have a good memory

LOL
Thank You for the Welcome..no matter how late it may be..i like nice welcomes
ok for starters...when yer standing on the boardwalk here in daytona when i was working you would have had 4 arcades..starting from your left would have been " Walkin'Charlies " then mine " Mardi Gras Fun Center " then there was a lil' bar called " Capt' Darrels " (had the Gocart track up top) then there was " Midway Arcade " then after that one there was the open space where they had some rides...then the last arcade is " Joyland "... now for the update to present day . Today there are only 2 arcades left...yeah...life changes on the boardwalk BUT ... Mardi Gras Fun Center Is STILL standing

and JOYLAND is still standing.... and the reason for that is..the owners of my arcade are greek..and you know most greeks are a closenit group....well...DINO who owns JOYLAND was getting married and the story goes my owners were ready to retire..so they gave him Mardi Gras As a Wedding Gift !..lol wild around there...so now Dino owns Both My arcade and his original Joyland..... as for Walkin Charlies and Midway they both closed and the only Walkin' Charlies left in the US is in Nashville TN...thats the Original WC..as Daytona was a Copy Of That One...go figure..and Midway Closed Because the Owners bickered too much ..since they were also a traveling Amusement company that used to go up into canada all the time..so i guess it was too costly to do both....as they say...Shiot Happens ..lol
anyway when i was there you seen everything..dressed or NOT ! so it was interesting....i met my first wife in my arcade...(i should have Left Her There )

but all in all it was fun i eventually became the Senior Tech there for 15 yrs and my arcade had some of the FIRST machines made by Williams in my arcade before anyone else...example..we were the first ones to Own Star trek TNG pinball..because i picked it before anyone else know it was available..same with Terminator 2 and the video game.. we were the first omes to own STARBLADE..and we were the first one's to own Star Wars Pinball and Jurrasic Park Pinball..... so all in all we were pretty progressive at trying to keep up with what the crowds wanted
(and i used to bitch alot that the old games wern't gonna bring in the big bucks like new games would )
now that i've been away from amusements for this long..the burnout feeling has disapated...if i had to do it all over again..i would...but i'd make sure i stayed in Charge....and i'd STILL make my Customers enjoy themselves or i'd raise hell with my floor people !
so i'm now here..ready to allow anyone to Brain Pick me to Death
as long as i have my coffee i'm good....NEXT !
so thank you for the welcome and GREETINGS PROGRAM!
Welcome yourself to the Craziest Place On Earth
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Daniel.