NYC in early 80s

Scotty

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Anyone grow up in NYC in the early 80s? Sorry in advance if you did... :)

Kidding aside, was there a lot of arcades in the Time Square area?? any stories/pics??
 
Anyone grow up in NYC in the early 80s? Sorry in advance if you did... :)

Kidding aside, was there a lot of arcades in the Time Square area?? any stories/pics??

I knew about a half dozen arcades right in the middle of Times Square. All within a few blocks. Most were on Broadway, starting at 42nd and going up town. Some were even open 24 hours.

I wish I had pics of that area from back then. :-(

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.
 
Were the Times Square arcades pretty cool?? Any stories?? Were they safe, or full of hoodlums?

I know it is not Manhattan, but how about Coney Island in Brooklyn? Any good arcades there back then? Years ago, I found a guy selling tokens on ebay from Scotty's Coney Island arcade on eBay. I got stiffed on the deal, but it was only a few dollars. Anyhow, My Joust, Stargate and Touchmaster all say "Welcome to Scotty's Coney Island Arcade!" They did not come from there, I just put it in myself, as I love amusement parks, and my name is Scotty. :)
 
I thought that the Times Square arcades were great, as well as the arcades at Penn Station. But all of them closed.

I don't remember much in the way of Hoodlums back then. But I do remember that they started to appear after the turn of the century when they had to shut down the two new "Disney-fied" arcades in the area.

Coney Island was great back in the early 80s, though with games all over the place I rarely had a need to go there.

I don't have much in the way of stories because I actually lived and still do on Staten Island. But back then there were players who could blow away the best of today on a variety of games. And they had never heard of the Twin Galaxies' scoreboard.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.
 
Yes. Funny you asked this, as I have a particular, memorable story exactly about what I think you are talking about.
It was winter 1981 and Stargate had just came out and I was addicted to Defender. I had just gotten off the Long Island railroad in Penn Station. Back then, the lower level of Penn Station had "the worlds largest arcade" and had a brand new Stargate game right up front. I only had $.50 left and I needed to take the subway home, as I lived on the upper east side and Penn Station is on 32nd street and 7th ave, a long way away.
I couldn't resist, I put my last 50 cents into the Stargate and played my very first game of Stargate in my life. But now I had no money for the subway and didn't think to "hop" the subway turnstyle, so I decided to walk home.
Back then, Times Square was scummy, had lots of porno theaters, places that sold switch blades and Bruce Lee posters, stuff like that. I was wearing one of those puffy, down jackets that were popular BITD and 3 kids tried to mug me in the middle of Times Square for it. They got nothing.:)
It was the only mugging attempt I ever had in my life and they failed to get my jacket like they wanted. I still had to walk all the way home and it was nerve racking, as I was 12 years old, alone, walking around midtown Manhattan on a sunday night in 1981, just after a mugging attempt.
A very memorable game of Stargate, my very favorite game of all time.
I also remember playing Omega Race at one of the Times Square arcades.... Times Square was scummy back then but it had lots of character. They just squeegeed all the crud over to 8th ave, it's still there!
 
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