multiple arcade tour.

p1899m

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For a while now I've been meaning to head to the San Jose CA area where I grew up and visit the few remaining arcades that have been around since my younger years. Really I wanted to see the buildings more than the actual current state of the arcades since I was pretty sure the classics would be gone and they wouldn't be too impressive. Here's what I saw.

The first stop was the CEC off the tully road exit in San Jose. On the outside the building was pretty much as i remember it. On the inside the one major change to the building structure itself was the dining room area which used to be enclosed and have the animitronic show. Now they just have video screens which sucks. I believe this bldg is 3 stories. Two for customers and a third that is used for training and what not. Basically employees only. Any how I could clearly remember where certain games sat and where they used to have certain rooms with special animitronic shows like "the king" and "the beagles". Now the lower floor is all redemption and the upper mainly has driving games. Probably one or two shooters a couple DDR's and a pirates of the caribbean pin. Not as glorious as it was BITD but I didn't expect it to be. My buddy and I actually exited this place pretty quick as I believe someone set off a stink bomb. Man it was horrible and seemed like the smell was every where for like a 40 ft radius.
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I always liked how CEC did these posters that were take offs of popular/famous movies and shows.
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next stop was nickle city. It was about how I expected. As usual these days plenty of redemption. A lot of conversions. Plenty of 60 in 1's or whatever set to only play a single game. Basically in dynamo style jamma cabs. Still most classic games were on free play and there were enough interesting newer games to make the trip worth while. Also one pretty beat up non working asteroids. actually I was surprised it was there at all. Even non working. I did play some robo cop that was in a strret fighter puzzle fighter cab of all things. Still had the puzzle fighter marquee.

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Next up was Golf Land in Sunnyvale (I think). I'll give it to CEC for having great sounds. If you just listened it was alive and busy and there were plenty of game sounds. Sounded a lot like a classic arcade did BITD even if you didn't have the specific game sounds. Even if CEC had the sounds, I have to say that Golf Land was the place that had the feel. There arcade is small and is mostly new games. Infact I don't think there was one classic in there. There were three pins though which was cool. Something about it just felt right though. Made you want to grab an icee and a handful of tokens. unfortunately they don't use tokens there anymore. They use the card system. When we first arrived we actually wanted to play a round of golf but by the time we played some pinball and what not we decided to move on to the next spot instead.

actually I only got a couple of pics here. Should have snapped a few more.
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Honestly I can't recall if this last pic is from the sunnyvale Golf Land or from the next stop on the trip which was also a Golf Land but I seem to recall the basketball machines next to the iceball being at the Sunnyvale location.
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So the last stop I'll post pics of is the Golf Land in Milpitas. I actually stopped at a Scandia in Cordelia on the way home but I've posted pics of that arcade before so no need to repost. As for this Golf Land, it's not a bad spot. Sure there aren't many classics but still not a bad arcade. They always had an interesting design to this place. Basically as you walk in the front door you come to one game room and a snack bar/dining area. You walk through this and out a set of double doors into a small courtyard and then enter another set of doors into a second bigger game room. Beyond this game room is the golf course. So the first smaller game room is mainly redemption and the second larger game room is mostly video games. I think there are also 4 pins. No redemption though. They had a few nonworking games in the courtyard area. Actually i think it would be pretty cool if they lined the walls of the courtyard area with games during the summer months. There are overhangs near the walls so they wouldn't be in the direct sun. Over all not a bad spot and they still use tokens here. Looks like they have changed a few things over the years in the golf course area. Of course it's been 15 years or more since I've been in the place so that's no surprise. From what I noticed they do certain days at this location where you pay $6 and play as much as you want for 3hrs. Pretty good deal IMO. My one complaint was that a game of pinball cost $1. This was the only spot that did this. everywhere else it was .50.
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Very cool Dan. Thanks for sharing. Unfortunately, I can't visit some of the arcades I used to go to as they've been demolished or replaced with something else. Story of the modern arcade I guess. :(
 
Yeah GolfLand Milpitas is not too bad . Pinball is $1 , sucks . I think that Fist of The North Star Marquee is made from binder paper and markers , really ghetto ! Sunnyvale GL sucks really bad for games , it was ok back around 2003 .
 
none of these arcades are anywhere near their former glory. And there were plenty other small arcades that are now gone that I wish were still there. Although when I hear folks in other states talk about what they currently have around it seems like we are pretty lucky here in CA as we seem to still have a number of places to go. Even if they aren't all the awesomeness we remember from when we were young. Still for me good to see that the buildings are still standing and open for business.
 
none of these arcades are anywhere near their former glory. And there were plenty other small arcades that are now gone that I wish were still there. Although when I hear folks in other states talk about what they currently have around it seems like we are pretty lucky here in CA as we seem to still have a number of places to go. Even if they aren't all the awesomeness we remember from when we were young. Still for me good to see that the buildings are still standing and open for business.

I recommend your next trip to go to the santa cruz beach boardwalk . I was there a couple years ago and they had the classic corner with DK , Tron and some other classic games .

Check it out they mention it on their site , http://www.beachboardwalk.com/02_casino_arcade.html
 
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