I can remember going to Space Port in the mall, and having ROWS of Asteroids machines, all being played, with lines of people waiting to play them as well.
Same with Pac Man, Berzerk, Defender, and most of the classics. Forget about it when Dragon's Lair came out, you could not get near it. They mounted a monitor on top of the machine to let the crowd watch. Rows of the same machine, all being played constantly.
The arcade is where I fell in love with Pinball too. The mesmerizing sounds of Black Knight latched hold of me something fierce, and I don't want to think how much money I put in those machines.
I can still picture it. Mom going to the mall, giving me quarters, then coming back 2 hours later to pick me up to leave
Sometimes I wish it were still like that, but with console systems, the times have changed. So I have a basement arcade and parties, and it has the same effect
Chris