I know where my Gorf used to Be

Phetishboy

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I picked up a Gorf last week from nuterpacman. As I was disassembling my control panel to clean, rebuild the stick and replace the overlay, out fell 2 oxidized and filthy tokens. They looked old enough to be dabloons from a Spanish Galleon sunk off of Aruba in 1670, and I couldn't read the name on them at all, so I put them in a vial of Coke overnight. Grabbed one out this morning and saw what looked like a swami's head on one side, and a big medieval castle on the other. Aladdin's Castle!! How cool is that? Wonder how those two got in there, under the CP? Anyhoo, since I never went to an Aladdin's Castle, what were they like? There must have been at least one in the Twin Cities area?
 
I remember when I took apart my Monaco GP cockpit a few years back. After I pulled the two halves of the cab apart, about a dozen or so quarters fell down on the garage floor. they must have missed the coinbox somehow. They were all minted in the 1970s, including a couple of bicentennial ones (remember those?). I still have 'em in a jar somewhere - sacred treasure from the 70s.
 
I picked up a Gorf last week from nuterpacman. As I was disassembling my control panel to clean, rebuild the stick and replace the overlay, out fell 2 oxidized and filthy tokens. They looked old enough to be dabloons from a Spanish Galleon sunk off of Aruba in 1670, and I couldn't read the name on them at all, so I put them in a vial of Coke overnight. Grabbed one out this morning and saw what looked like a swami's head on one side, and a big medieval castle on the other. Aladdin's Castle!! How cool is that? Wonder how those two got in there, under the CP? Anyhoo, since I never went to an Aladdin's Castle, what were they like? There must have been at least one in the Twin Cities area?

Much like sand, tokens find their way into most cracks.

Info about AC:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aladdin's_Castle

Aladdin's Castle was way cool.
 
Aladdin's Castle was amazing when I was a kid. I loved it. There was one in our local mall. I still remember the layout somewhat. They put the most recent game in front facing the entrance (I recall when it was Dragon's Lair with the extra monitor on top and the line/crowd spilled into the mall walkway), they had a SW cockpit and Turbo cockpit near the change machines and pins up against the far wall near where the attendant office was located.
 
Aladdin's Castle was amazing when I was a kid. I loved it. There was one in our local mall. I still remember the layout somewhat. They put the most recent game in front facing the entrance (I recall when it was Dragon's Lair with the extra monitor on top and the line/crowd spilled into the mall walkway), they had a SW cockpit and Turbo cockpit near the change machines and pins up against the far wall near where the attendant office was located.

I recall being at my local AC when they brought out Gauntlet and placed it just inside the entrance so people would see it first thing coming inside. My friends and I were regulars there and they put credits on the machine and let us play for free - first customers to play the game we suspect. The Aladdin's Castle was located in three separate spaces inside the mall throughout the life of AC there.

I had a few birthdays at AC and still have at least one or two of the shirts I got. Cool memories.
 
a couple of days after I got my eightball/dkjr cab I found out why the right coin slot didn't work. it had two tokens stuck in it. the tokens were from an arcade in keansburg, nj. I have been meaning to find out if the arcade is still there, but have not got around to it.
 
Man I really missed out. The closest thing to AC that I've ever been to was Circus Pizza, somewhere near Minneapolis. That was a sight to see. An airplane hangar sized space with rows of new games, pizza, indoor bumper cars and a PA system that pumped out tunes and announcements. What a sweet place. If the Aladdin's Castles were anything like Circus Pizza, I feel slighted.
 
My first pin came from an Aladdin's Castle and has a small matel badge on the side of it. The machine looks like HUO and had no hacks in it, PF issues, or smelled like smoke. For being made in 1987, I was impressed! I came to find out Aladdin's Castle kept their machines in tip top shape. I heard this from someone that used to work for one. They were waxed on a regular basis, I could easily see that from all the wax on the star posts, but hey, that's not a bad thing.

So hopefully your Gorf is in equally good shape!
 
Awww, dude!:( Yeah, there musta' been at least a couple ACs, in the Twin Cities, BITD...

My Aladdin's experiences were mostly in the mid to late 70s, in Madison WI. 2 malls, 2 locations, east and west. My mom would drop me there when she went shopping:p

So when I was like 14-15, I was playing alot of EMs and pins at Aladdin's...

Games like Stunt Pilot, Target Zero, Panzer Attack, Desert Fox, Blue Max... All those Ivan specials;)

When I was out of quarters, I would even play that crappy nickel BB gun western shooting game:p

...Then, I would go next door, to the Moon Fun shop to look at whoopie cushions and pot pipes...:cool:

When the arcade craze hit in the 80s, I really didn't do Aladdin's any longer...

*Sigh* I bet you were one of those cool 15 year old dudes that smoked, rode motorized dirt bikes and played DnD in homemade forts in your friends' back yards. I woulda looked up to you back in the 70's. *Double sigh*
 
We had an Aladdin's at my local mall. I used to play Bionic Commando there a lot. So obviously Aladdin's were not all the same, but nutballchamp posted this scan a while back. Pretty awesome.

294416612_7dYwB-L.jpg
 
We had an Aladdin's at my local mall. I used to play Bionic Commando there a lot. So obviously Aladdin's were not all the same, but nutballchamp posted this scan a while back. Pretty awesome.

294416612_7dYwB-L.jpg

That looks like a fun joint. Damn, I know we've been over this a million times, but I wish they'd open that (or a similar) franchise back up. Everyone who is making decisions these days is our age. It could happen.
 
Arcade games are the best time capsules ever...!
 
These tokens are getting framed. How nice that there were 2 identical ones for me to display front and back. Do they sell coin mount frames with velvet, or do you have to make them?
 
I bought a twin final lap 2 driving game at an auction once. Inside, I found tokens and smashed pennies from disneyland. I thought that was super cool, but still couldn't pass up the profit from selling it to a guy at work ;)
 
We had an Aladdin's at my local mall. I used to play Bionic Commando there a lot. So obviously Aladdin's were not all the same, but nutballchamp posted this scan a while back. Pretty awesome.

294416612_7dYwB-L.jpg

Anyone wonder why they thought a "Train Crossing" display was needed? Just askin'. I mean it is cool but, really...guess the same reason I have a "Fallout Shelter" on a wall. Sometimes looking cool is all it really is about.

EDIT: Is the train crossing part of the kiddie ride? The perspective is odd but I guess it is. Ah well I stand corrected.
 
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