The Best Thing You Did In An Arcade

[andrewb]

Credit to Brent. Complimentary thread here:

The Worst Thing You Did In An Arcade

Back in the day of real arcades, there were lots of dark places and loud sounds with rows and rows of arcade games, so you could almost do anything you wanted without being seen. So what was the worst thing you did in an arcade? Anything from scratching your initials into the side of a game...

forums.arcade-museum.com

Let's hear some stories. (And see which thread gets more posts, lol.)

 

[Onyx Jaguar]

Man I would come in here and say something like I dunno Jessica, but that ain't true, im too old I can't remember all I did in the arcade

 

[Charles Kline]

Had some killer birthday parties with my friends at the Red Baron Arcade. Fun times.

 

[ArcadeTechGW]

Played games until I ran out of money or they closed (whichever came first).

Helped an Op set up games once or twice (which was cool - a Look Behind the Curtain!)

Developed a life-long love of many games.

 

[MasterFygar]

My friend and I beat the two player co-op Raiden II world record at a boardwalk arcade in middle school. That was cool I guess. It never counted because the arcade wouldn't let us open the back to verify the settings or film a playthrough, but it was fun bragging rights. I'm sure it wasn't even the real world record since I'm sure someone was way better than us somewhere and just didn't submit it to TwinGalaxies either, but it felt good.

 

[osver]

Won 20+ matches on Mortal Kombat, stretching out my last quarter for way longer than it should have lasted.

 

[carolinamarcg]

10th birthday at Chucky Cheese. My family and three friends. It's time to go, dad gives everyone one last token. I played Pac Man knowing I could go deep into the keys and keep everyone waiting. Exactly what happened, friends cheering me on and dad rolling his eyes. I thought it was great, dad did not.

 

[Yobrefs]

This may be good or bad depending how you look at it, as a kid I always plugged in and turned on games that were off.Sometimes they actually worked.
Also I won a MK2 tournament at Dominic's in Toledo in 93.

 

[JamBurglar]

I mostly just looked around on the floor for change, ... mostly.

 

[K3587]

That'd be my wife.

 

[r3v]

I mostly just looked around on the floor for change, ... mostly.

When you're out of tokens, always check the coin return chutes!

 

[jawhn]

Snuck in booze.

 

[ElectricDreamz]

hung out with quality friends a lot, talked a bunch of shit, met new people, got in a few fights ... but all of it was actually really positive

we can restore and enjoy all the games we want, but those times are never coming back. cherish what you had, and anything you can achieve like it moving forward

 

[Grantman]

This may be good or bad depending how you look at it, as a kid I always plugged in and turned on games that were off.Sometimes they actually worked.

On some older pinball machines they would give you a free credit/game if you turned them off and on again.

 

[mylz]

My buddy and I almost beat House of the Dead once. That was probably the most exciting time at an arcade for me cause we were so into it. We were on the last boss and we ran out of lives. The arcade we were at had these little digital "keys", like USB before that was a thing, that you'd charge with money at the front counter and plug into the machines to insert a credit. As soon as the game over screen came up and I realized my key was out of money, I gave it to my buddy with a wad of cash and was like "you have 10 seconds to get this thing charged. We're so close!!!" He sprinted away, sweat dripping aaaaand... didn't make it back in time.

But it was just such an exhilarating experience I didn't mind... Probably the closest I ever got to beating a game in the arcade.

 

[J67AB]

On a military base and it was my 18th birthday. Arcade had slot machines so I put in a quarter and won $40 off the bat, it was awesome, gathered up the quarters and as I was getting ready to go a guy jumps out of nowhere and starts to give me flax about how kids can't gamble, flopped out my ID card and the look on his face was priceless, told him thanks but the winnings were mine!

 

[Ghostlyguy]

On a military base and it was my 18th birthday. Arcade had slot machines so I put in a quarter and won $40 off the bat, it was awesome, gathered up the quarters and as I was getting ready to go a guy jumps out of nowhere and starts to give me flax about how kids can't gamble, flopped out my ID card and the look on his face was priceless, told him thanks but the winnings were mine!

Sounds like he just wanted an excuse to 'confiscate' your $40. The winnings were yours either way.

 

[Steve Dodac]

Found a true appreciation for what these games are.