Take a walk through "FLASHBACKS" arcade in Seaside Heights, NJ

Killert6969

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Take a walk through "FLASHBACKS" arcade in Seaside Heights, NJ

The only arcade dedicated to classics in Seaside Heights, NJ. This arcade should be called "Last of the mohigans"!

Anyway, i originally took this video with my iphone but I put that down on a counter when my kids were redeming their prizes and it got stolen! Luckily, I had my camera and so, I present to you "Flashbacks"

Last year it was crap. This year, they fixed it up a bit and added some new titles. My home arcade is borderline on being better but I still enjoyed my time in there!


Enjoy the video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwVB4LnvZZw
 
Flashbacks is good, but if you are heading to Jersey you should visit Richie Knucklez arcade in Flemington. Blows Flashbacks out of the waddah.
 
I heard. However, this was the best I could do when I was in Seaside. I remember when I was a kid going to Seaside....Every arcade was like this but with skeeball and cranes! God Damn redemption games. I friggin hate them all but Deal or No Deal. That one is alot of fun!

Flashbacks is good, but if you are heading to Jersey you should visit Richie Knucklez arcade in Flemington. Blows Flashbacks out of the waddah.
 
Next time at my mall I'm going in with my Vado HD(Love that thing) and showing you guys how bad it is. I enjoyed this video alot though as it shows there's still some good arcades left.
 
I am impressed. Plenty of classics and they were all working too! The owner must be a pretty cool cat with some appreciation for the day.

Thanks for the vid!
 
You need to screen cap that Track and Field with trackballs on it.

Quite a few people either never saw it like that or have forgotten that operators put them on location like that.
 
I spoke to a manager there. That particular arcade had a carousel, flashbacks and a few other nostalgic machines. The manager told me they were known for flashbacks and the carousel.

If anyone takes a trip there, I would recommend it. Flashbacks is located in the rear of the arcade with the carousel. The arcade is located by the second pier. There is only 1 other carousel but it is nowhere near the first pier.

I am impressed. Plenty of classics and they were all working too! The owner must be a pretty cool cat with some appreciation for the day.

Thanks for the vid!
 
Great place. I spent a lot of time there this summer. I bet back in the day this would have been considered a tiny arcade wouldn't it? It sure is cool to see now though. When I was there Earthshaker was unplayable, High Speed wasn't working, and Junkyard wouldn't start a game. Guess they got those up and running at the end of the summer.

It's awesome that I can spend hours in there with 5 bucks! I've got a bunch of pictures on my Mac.
 
First off, the guy without the t-shirt was the norm around there. I took this video during the day and the beach is right there.

Secondly, there were 2 flashbacks...The original which was on the right side of the arcade and flashbacks on the left side. I asked why there were 2 of them and was told the one in the original location was being converted into storage. There was a hercules pinball and a few other cabs not in the same ball park as the ones you saw in my video. I was going to film that side too but my kids started to give me a hard time after I finished that video. You did not miss much anyway.



Great place. I spent a lot of time there this summer. I bet back in the day this would have been considered a tiny arcade wouldn't it? It sure is cool to see now though. When I was there Earthshaker was unplayable, High Speed wasn't working, and Junkyard wouldn't start a game. Guess they got those up and running at the end of the summer.

It's awesome that I can spend hours in there with 5 bucks! I've got a bunch of pictures on my Mac.
 
You need to screen cap that Track and Field with trackballs on it.

Quite a few people either never saw it like that or have forgotten that operators put them on location like that.



I just picked up a Track & Field with the trackballs today!
I will snap some pics tomorrow for ya

Thanks for the kind words Steve... we missed ya last week
 
Secondly, there were 2 flashbacks...The original which was on the right side of the arcade and flashbacks on the left side. I asked why there were 2 of them and was told the one in the original location was being converted into storage. There was a hercules pinball and a few other cabs not in the same ball park as the ones you saw in my video. I was going to film that side too but my kids started to give me a hard time after I finished that video. You did not miss much anyway.

Actually there was only one "FlashBacks".
I was just there last Tuesday(first time), after wanting to go for over a year after reading this post http://forums.klov.com/showthread.php?t=52968&highlight=flashbacks I forgot my camera, but took a few pictures with my iPhone to update that thread(just got home yesterday so haven't synced it yet).

The original FlashBacks was in the back corner, and from the look of the plywood on the wall had two "Flashbacks" openings. The walls were painted black, had a disco ball in the ceiling, speakers for music (read here it was 80's music) and 80's movie posters on the walls. Maybe someone can get a picture before they are gone, forgot to take any in that room.
It appears they moved the one Flashbacks sign/entrance over to a smaller room on the side (half the size or less) from the look of the hanging lights it may have been a pool room or air hockey. Walls are painted orange, no music, no 80 decor. I'm glad they have some classic games left but after reading about it many times and finally making the 1.5 hour trip each way, was very disappointed that its half the size, and that I missed what was there last year.
Also in a few threads about FlashBacks, they also mention the "Royal Arcade" as having less but better condition games. I spent about an hour looking for it and finally tried "The Game Arcade" because it seem about where the Royal should have been. New owners bought the Royal, renamed it "The Game Arcade" and removed ALL the classics and just had redemption games.


Now that I think about it, the trip was very disappointing(not just because of the Royal and Flashbacks).
I go in lots of arcades at OceanCity and other local beach towns. They all have lots of redemtion crap, but all have "arcade" games, maybe they are new "house of the dead 4" or snowboarding/motorcycle driving games or a bunch of linked race car games, but at least they are arcade games and they all seem to have a few(1 - 3) classics still.
But in SeaSideHeights it was obscene!!
They had MANY places named ABC Arcade, but with no games. There were entire "arcades" filled with only crane games, the exact same crane, one after another. From what I saw they charge $3 - $5 a chance and you could win a FAKE iPod, a FAKE iPhone, a Laptop(not sure what type), or 50,000 points.
I watched one lady play a crane and actually pick up a box and the crane shook so violently, I cant see how anyone could ever win. It actually held on to the box through two "shakes" but the third dislodged it. It was these arcades that ruined this trip for me, if this it the future of arcades there will be no games left. I could see one place trying this approach, but there were many.
I would still stop by Flashbacks to support them (even though they reduced the size 50%) since they are the last "real arcade" I've seen down the shore, but just want people to know what to expect.

Oh for the person that said to stop by Richie Knucklez Arcade..... I would definitely say to stop by there, but its nowhere near the Jersey Shore, and only open on friday night for stopping by. He has a great place, Many more games and only $10 for all evening, but not an arcade down the shore open for play everyday.
 
Mundo,

When I was there a few weeks ago, they had both flashbacks open. They told me they were in the process of closing the one in the right hand corner of their place. I did not get it either. They moved something good to a smaller room. They should have kept the original room and put more classics in it. I was there last year as well and everything was spread out. See the video on youtube from last year.

As for the places that had those cranes. I was pissed seeing that as well. The laptops you referred to are called netbooks. They are stripped down versions of laptops used for email and surfing the web mainly and they do not have dvd-rom drives.


I too was dissapointed in seeing only one small area dedicated to classics but then again that place is designed to make as much money as possible....ughh.



Actually there was only one "FlashBacks".
I was just there last Tuesday(first time), after wanting to go for over a year after reading this post http://forums.klov.com/showthread.php?t=52968&highlight=flashbacks I forgot my camera, but took a few pictures with my iPhone to update that thread(just got home yesterday so haven't synced it yet).

The original FlashBacks was in the back corner, and from the look of the plywood on the wall had two "Flashbacks" openings. The walls were painted black, had a disco ball in the ceiling, speakers for music (read here it was 80's music) and 80's movie posters on the walls. Maybe someone can get a picture before they are gone, forgot to take any in that room.
It appears they moved the one Flashbacks sign/entrance over to a smaller room on the side (half the size or less) from the look of the hanging lights it may have been a pool room or air hockey. Walls are painted orange, no music, no 80 decor. I'm glad they have some classic games left but after reading about it many times and finally making the 1.5 hour trip each way, was very disappointed that its half the size, and that I missed what was there last year.
Also in a few threads about FlashBacks, they also mention the "Royal Arcade" as having less but better condition games. I spent about an hour looking for it and finally tried "The Game Arcade" because it seem about where the Royal should have been. New owners bought the Royal, renamed it "The Game Arcade" and removed ALL the classics and just had redemption games.


Now that I think about it, the trip was very disappointing(not just because of the Royal and Flashbacks).
I go in lots of arcades at OceanCity and other local beach towns. They all have lots of redemtion crap, but all have "arcade" games, maybe they are new "house of the dead 4" or snowboarding/motorcycle driving games or a bunch of linked race car games, but at least they are arcade games and they all seem to have a few(1 - 3) classics still.
But in SeaSideHeights it was obscene!!
They had MANY places named ABC Arcade, but with no games. There were entire "arcades" filled with only crane games, the exact same crane, one after another. From what I saw they charge $3 - $5 a chance and you could win a FAKE iPod, a FAKE iPhone, a Laptop(not sure what type), or 50,000 points.
I watched one lady play a crane and actually pick up a box and the crane shook so violently, I cant see how anyone could ever win. It actually held on to the box through two "shakes" but the third dislodged it. It was these arcades that ruined this trip for me, if this it the future of arcades there will be no games left. I could see one place trying this approach, but there were many.
I would still stop by Flashbacks to support them (even though they reduced the size 50%) since they are the last "real arcade" I've seen down the shore, but just want people to know what to expect.

Oh for the person that said to stop by Richie Knucklez Arcade..... I would definitely say to stop by there, but its nowhere near the Jersey Shore, and only open on friday night for stopping by. He has a great place, Many more games and only $10 for all evening, but not an arcade down the shore open for play everyday.
 
Mundo,
When I was there a few weeks ago, they had both flashbacks open. They told me they were in the process of closing the one in the right hand corner of their place. I did not get it either. They moved something good to a smaller room. They should have kept the original room and put more classics in it. I was there last year as well and everything was spread out. See the video on youtube from last year.
I too was dissapointed in seeing only one small area dedicated to classics but then again that place is designed to make as much money as possible....ughh.

Your right that they still had a few games in the original room(maybe 6, didn't play any), but thats just temporary. The small room is now FlashBacks, the big room with music, disco-ball, and posters will soon be completely empty.
Its just I have read about FlashBacks and seen pictures of the room and list of games but was surprised to find it half the size.
Someone should take a picture of those "Crane Arcades", its only been a week and I am having a hard time believing I saw them. Arcades at least twice the size of Richie's filled with only cranes with bad signage and imitation product.

Oh I know what a netbook is just didn't look at the prize besides it being a laptop, actually bought a Mini9 to put OSX on 2 months ago, BTW not arcade related but Dell is having a sale again the next two days for $199 http://dealnews.com/Dell-Inspiron-M...z-9-Netbook-for-199-free-shipping/317859.html it only has 1GB ram and 4GB SSD but Ram is cheap and a 16GB or 32GB drive is under $50 or $90
 
Thanks for the kind words Steve... we missed ya last week

The feeling is mutual. I'll be back "home" this Friday. Had to go up to New Hampshire for a wedding last weekend but I at least managed to squeeze a visit to Funspot into the trip and light up their Zoo Keeper machine a bit even if the joystick wouldn't move left sometimes which makes the 4th escalators kinda harder.
 
Here are some pics that I took while I was there. And yes I knew about the "second" flashbacks that was there. There was really only like a Cruisn World, Time Crisis 3, Top Skater, and some gun games. Kind of an afterthought room. I did play some Hercules though :)

http://s730.photobucket.com/albums/ww306/hokiepokie10/

Sadly most of those games I've owned are gone now in the other pics.
 

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Did flashbacks survive?
From the pictures on the news of the roller coaster in the water, seems to be the same pier that was washed away.
 
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