The Golden Age.....I missed most of it.

OregonPacman

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I am 34 years old, so I became aware of arcade games somtime in '82. Some of the games were pretty new when I first played them. Though, I was wondering what it was like to play games like Asteroids and Pac-Man when they were brand new. Did anyone here see games like that being uncrated from their factory packing or be the first to play a game that just arrived at an arcade?
 
I'm just a couple years older, 37. The only game I ever got to see uncrated and get to play right away was a Joust at Space Port.
 
I'm 45 and I remember playing Asteroids, Pong, and Space War when they first came out (but not the first player). The local Time Out had a mix of pinballs, electro mechanicals, and a couple of above games.
I also remember when they had a larger machine with a live chicken in it that would play Tic Tac Toe against you. If you won you got a bumper sticker that said 'I beat the chicken" on it.
 
I a bit older than you, probably the perfect age to have lived through it. The problem was that if I had 3 bucks to my name I was rich, so even though I played tons of games, it probably never amounted to more than an hour or two per week.

I do remember when I first started playing Robotron, it spazzed me out so bad that I thought I was going to faint. I also distinctly remember other Williams games like Defender and Stargate fleecing me of a quarter in about 10 seconds. The fact that they are so cruel is part of what makes me love them today.

By the time I had regular spending money, it was kind of in the second era of the Golden Age... I got hooked on Xevious and started playing lots of JAMMA stuff without having one f'ing clue that such a thing was invented!

I have one standout post Golden Age memory... A large group of kids crowding around a new game to get a look at the incredible graphics... The game?
Pit Fighter!
 
I am 34 years old, so I became aware of arcade games somtime in '82. Some of the games were pretty new when I first played them. Though, I was wondering what it was like to play games like Asteroids and Pac-Man when they were brand new. Did anyone here see games like that being uncrated from their factory packing or be the first to play a game that just arrived at an arcade?

Dont be bummed out, I missed all of the that time period, I was born in 87 and was about 5 when I could understand video games, so I grew up on Street Fighter, contra and so forth but I still have a place in my hearts for classics
 
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
 
Being 29, my idea of "arcades" were game rooms in pizza joints. Chuck-E-Cheese, and Bullwinkle's in the Bay Area were awesome for me, but they weren't dedicated arcades like some of you got to experience.
 
I don't remember when I first discovered video games, but I believe one of the first ones I saw was Lunar Lander at a space museum...never could get the hang of that game ;) I remember playing lots of Pac-Man, DK, Joust, Tron, etc. I lived out in the country, so I couldn't just walk down to the corner store and play whenever I wanted. But usually played alot in the gamerooms wherever we went camping, and my mom used to take my brother and I to Showbiz Pizza on Friday nights (she was pretty patient, as long as we were home by 9pm, so she could watch Dallas :D ) I think I was just at the low end of the age range to catch most of the classics when they were new (just turned 40 this year) although I never got to see any being uncrated. I do remember seeing a Space Invaders for sale at a campground we stayed at in Florida for only $100...I thought back then how cool it'd be to own your own video game :)
 
I remember when PacMan showed up at the local arcade. It was a frenzy to see who could get to the next intermission!

I'd go over and play Space Invaders while waiting for my quarter to come up on PacMan.....
 
I'm just a couple years older, 37. The only game I ever got to see uncrated and get to play right away was a Joust at Space Port.


Spaceport! :)

Yeah, I remember them de-boxing a Demolition Derby upright
and letting me try it out. Fast forward a few years, now I'm
running that place and de-boxing things like Daytona or Addams Family.

The manager also gave me lots of cool shit like old laserdiscs
(dragon's lair, mach 3, etc) and atari system one panels and boards.
 
I remember when Pong came out, and the many clones. I think they made games in woodgrain cabinets in order for them to be placed in more "classy" establishments than arcades and pizza joints. I first played cocktail Pong at a Steak house. There was an area in the place with leather couches and in the middle of it was the cocktail pong machine.
 
I'm 40 and I remember seeing Pac-man for the first time. I didn't read the instructions, just dropped in a quarter and started playing. I found the game to be really easy and it really wasn't a challenge to catch and eat those ghosts. I couldn't figure out why the game ended when I ate the third ghost?
 
I'm 44, The first quarter I vere dropped in any "arcade" game was Space Invaders 77-78 ish I was like 11 then, from then on it was all about me and my little brother finding these games anywhere we could and pouring every penny into them.....
Snuck into a few bars that had some games...got kicked out when they noticed us...Pizza places started getting them in, and we had a local pinball, pool, foosball type of place that started getting them in and moving out some pins..ah the memories......:)
 
Ok now you gotta tell us more about that live chicken tictacto game.. How did it work?

It was a large machine with a see thru center where the chicken lived.

When you were playing, you would select your box. When it was the chicken's turn, it would peck at the board on it's side to do it's play.

The way it worked was the machine would calculate the best counter move and deposit feed on that square for the chicken, which would peck at the food and select the box.

I remember being like 10 and seeing it for the first time and thinking 'WTF?'

Looking back it's amazing it ever made it to the arcades, nowadays the Animal Society groups would go nuts about having such a machine I think.

I wish I could find a pic of the thing, there must be a picture somewhere out in the ether.
 
Born at the very tail end of 1972. My first major arcade memories. Berzerk and Space Invaders at the Dreamland Roller Rink, I'd say cir: 1981. 1982 I played Space Wars and Donkey Kong for the first time at the Melrose Arcade. May of 1983, I saw my first 'row' of Pacman Games at the Skatin' Place for my 3rd grade field trip. 1983 I saw my and played my first, and until last weekend only, Sea Wolf at the Noah's Ark Supper Club near Sauk Centre, MN.
 
I am 34 years old, so I became aware of arcade games somtime in '82. Some of the games were pretty new when I first played them. Though, I was wondering what it was like to play games like Asteroids and Pac-Man when they were brand new. Did anyone here see games like that being uncrated from their factory packing or be the first to play a game that just arrived at an arcade?

Whatchoo talkin' about? You were right there in the golden age! I'll be 34 this month and I don't feel like I missed it. I was playing Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Q*Bert, Burgertime, Popeye, Space Invaders, etc when I was 4, 5, 6...arcades were everywhere - and every restaurant, mall, bowling alley, movie theater, hotel, motel, 7-11, etc had arcade games. OK, sure I wasn't a teen or adult at the time....but I'd still consider all those games at the arcades of my youth to be "brand new".
 
I am 33 and I was always facinated with punchout, but I think the best time was the renaisannce when SFII came out and there was always a new 2 Player fighter at the local arcade. How about the first time you saw the pit fatality on MK I? Blew my mind!
 
Being born in the mid-early 90's, I missed ALL of it! Most of my best arcade memories include House of the Dead or Soulcalibur. Though, I learned to love the classics, Ive always had a Namco "Plug 'n Play", and my grandparents own a Ms. Pac!
 
Im 35 and grew up in an ocean town with TONS of arcades. In the early 80's every business had arcades in OC,MD. I wasnt there when a crate was opened..but I do remember noticing new games for sure. We would go specifically to certain venues based on what games where there.......
 
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