Man, has CEC changed!

NotreCaine

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Took my 3 kids to CEC, last night. Not the same place I remember, as a kid, that's for sure!
The best games they had were the Mario Kart dual player and a Simpsons PP. There were a ton of "simulation" games (ie: Roller coaster, jet ski, Kentucky Derby). Even the wife commented on not seeing a Frogger or Ms Pac. *sigh*
 
Same here

Felt like I needed to respond and feel your pain... Same thing here. Plenty of games to win "tickets" so you can get crap in the shop... Although my kids do like that part, but just nothing great to play. The simulation games were definitely in full force. A hang gliding game, firefighting game (where you hold the hoses), etc... Priceless when my 6 year old son says towards the end of the trip "Can we go home so I can play Raiden?". I felt quite proud at that moment...

Definitely not what it used to be. I still find some good games when we go to a Dave and Busters, but there aren't any right around me, so I can only take the kids when we're travelling. Even our local arcade at the mall is the same way. I love playing a little Silent Scope and such, but most of the games are ticket games... Sadness.

Sean
 
I haven't been to cec in a few years, but yeah they suck. mine had a few cool new vids, but the oldest thing there was the wave racer. they did have a lord of the rings pin, if they still do, I look forward to bogarting it this friday night while my kid is at a friends birthday party.
 
My friends and I stopped by a CEC , we were there for like 2 minutes and said "Let's get the hell out of here , this place sucks ! " It was a sad time ,
 
It sucks for classic gaming and good videogames, but then again doesn't just about everywhere except our home gamerooms? I really like our local CEC, I have two little girls and they have a great time, plus nearly everything works and all the equipment is kept very clean. And yes, I'm serious.

Wade
 
It sucks for classic gaming and good videogames, but then again doesn't just about everywhere except our home gamerooms? I really like our local CEC, I have two little girls and they have a great time, plus nearly everything works and all the equipment is kept very clean. And yes, I'm serious.

Wade

Yeah kids do love the place , when we stopped by it was out of control with kids screaming and having fun . Just wish they had a classic corner for the adults .
 
Instead of a CEC (which we used to have) we now have a 'Space Aliens' here and one of my favorite games they have is Sea Wolf II. What a sweet machine, even if it is huge. My daughter loves the token and redemption machines as well.
 
Redemption games galore. I didnt expect it to be circa 1984. However, there wasnt one decent retro game there. Hell, even throw the 90's classics in the mix = Nada.

The kids enjoyed themselves, which was worth it, cause that's really what it was all about. My wife impressed me tho. She commented on the lack of floor space in there. She remembered the ball crawl and it's lack of appearance. She knew that the "classic arcade" games, were in a dark lit room and they were loud. She remembered the Bubble Chexx Hockey and the fact that the "Star Spangled Banner" was always muffled and distorted. I brought up the fact that my brother spent the entire time in the Cheese crawl and thought that was the greatest thing in the world! We both laughed at the fact that, BITD, our CEC had a huge "King". It was an Elvis singing lion puppet machine! Hilarious. *sigh*
 
We both laughed at the fact that, BITD, our CEC had a huge "King". It was an Elvis singing lion puppet machine! Hilarious. *sigh*
character_king.jpg


I have to say though that I prefer Showbiz Pizza and the Rockafire Explosion over CEC. The Showbiz I went to as a kid was converted to a CEC during Showbiz's "concept unification" where they made the decision to go with CEC characters. :(
 
Damn you, rededemtion games! Even tough I'm young, I remember playing some TMNT at CEC, I went yesterday, it was a pretty big let-down. Not even a class of '81.
 
Try having to work there for a year and a half. Arcade games everywhere, but no good games to play. SO glad I dont work there anymore. UGH!!!
 
Now kids can play redemptin slot machines. I saw a few of these at Martys playground in Va Beach. They look almost just like a real IGT slot but pay out in tokens that the kids can cash in for prizes. Yeah, get them hooked on gambling early!
 
I haven't been to cec in a few years, but yeah they suck. mine had a few cool new vids, but the oldest thing there was the wave racer. they did have a lord of the rings pin, if they still do, I look forward to bogarting it this friday night while my kid is at a friends birthday party.

CEC's target audience is 2-10. They must be doing something
right considering how many locations they have and how long
they've been around.

I worked there twice, once in '83 and once in '98. Couldn't stand the
noise and the chaos either time around.

JD
 
Most of them now at least have the redemption version of Seawolf which rocks.
 
Most of them now at least have the redemption version of Seawolf which rocks.

I'm actually a tiny bit partially responsible for that. I work for Pinballsales.com and Jack
the owner lent them his Seawolf which didn't work. I restored it 100% so Coastal
could have the original machine to model the new one after.

I think they did a great job on it but I would have loved a periscope version.

JD
 
CEC's target audience is 2-10. They must be doing something
right considering how many locations they have and how long
they've been around.

I worked there twice, once in '83 and once in '98. Couldn't stand the
noise and the chaos either time around.

JD
I have a buddy that works as a tech for CEC so perhaps he'll chime in. I remember him telling me about the profitability that CEC still has so yeah they must be doing something right.
 
ah yes good old CEC. I have worked for the company since november 08, was assistant tech/ops manager from January 08 to April 2010 when I got promoted to tech. I have helped one store with a game enhancement packeage and its quite the sad process...busting up games...Cruisins, SF Rush's, Classic Skeeballs, Qix/Space invader reissue....i even dislike destroying redemption stuff...especially because we get graded on the condition of our gamerooms, so we spend all this money keeping em looking like new, and then once game package time comes along they get busted up and thrown away....kinda sucks...

But yes I see it every day - parents telling their kids "no you cant play that game it doesnt give out tickets" kids say that to other kids too..its really upsetting...Back in the day when I went to showbiz the only thing that gave tickets was skeeball....because you went there to have fun!! and if you came away with a little trinket at the end...well its all good. Now the kids (and their parents) dont think twice about buying $20.00 worth of tokens and rapid firing them into the coin pushers so they can get MAYBE 2 or 3 bucks worth of tickets....its really quite sad but I guess times are a changing....

Anyways...i gotta wrap up my rant...I have to do preventative maintainence on pasqually tomorrow....and I got a Star wars that has a dead monitor..lol another busy day ahead :)
 
Really?? That's way cool. I have an original I'm restoring, but love the new one as well. I liked how true to the original they stayed, especially with the sound effects.

I'm actually a tiny bit partially responsible for that. I work for Pinballsales.com and Jack
the owner lent them his Seawolf which didn't work. I restored it 100% so Coastal
could have the original machine to model the new one after.

I think they did a great job on it but I would have loved a periscope version.

JD
 
Yeah Sea Wolf: the next mission is pretty sweet, I can almost always hit the bonus ship... I have a system! They had a redemption that had a spinner and depending on where you stopped it, a baloon would slowly fill, more or less. As the baloon grew it came closer and closer to a needle. Getting a pop lead to ticket riches. And I must admit, I pumped more money than I should have into that game...
 
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