Vegas Arcades?

blackdogmachine

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I will be in Las Vegas all next week for the SHOT show, (shooting, hunting, outdoor trade show) Is there any classic arcades in the area worth going into? Im going to stop by Pawn Stars too and see whats up there. Thanks in advance!
 
I will be in Las Vegas all next week for the SHOT show, (shooting, hunting, outdoor trade show) Is there any classic arcades in the area worth going into? Im going to stop by Pawn Stars too and see whats up there. Thanks in advance!

Visit the Pinball Hall of Fame on Tropicana. Nothing comes close. They have a decent collection of vids, and the place is low key. The arcade at Circus Circus is not bad but it's mostly newer machines. Most of the casino arcades are lousy and the pinball machines are filthy and don't work properly (if at all). Gameworks has an all day price which is not bad if you plan on spending several hours there. It's a good way to play through games all the way (like House of Dead series). Their pins are in bad shape but the videos usually are all working.

Pawn Stars will disappoint. It's worth seeing if you are a fan of the show, but be prepared for crowds. I went there on a Sunday and it was pretty quiet. It's mostly a big room with overpriced stuff in glass cases, and some motorcycles. The place where the guys sit is off to the side, and is much smaller in real life than it appears on the show. The guys on the show supposedly are there during weekdays but I've heard it's hit or miss. They are getting a lot of visitors there so you might have to wait in line to get inside.. It's located north of the Straosphere on Las Vegas Blvd. It's good for maybe a half hour of your time.
 
I was out there back in November. The Pinball HOF was pretty cool, but a number of their vids weren't working at the time. :( I saw at least 2 dead Star Wars Trilogy sit-down machines (one at Circus Circus) at different locations. Unfortunately I ran out of time to check out the Gameworks which is located right on the strip.

The Pawn Stars shop was pretty cool and being a fan of the show I had to visit. We went in the morning around 9 am or so on a Tuesday and got right in with not a lot of people inside. Chumlee came out from the back for a minute to greet people and I was able to get a picture with him. Of course due to the popularity of the show I was surprised any of them were there. I think it's safe to say the show has gone to their heads a bit, but that's not surprising.
 
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Pinball Hall of Fame has a great sellection of Pins. Not so much Vids. Half the ones they did have were broke or not turned on. Someone mentioned low key. It was packed when I was there. If you mean low key like "not all shinny and new" then YES very low key. It didn't have the "Vegas" feel at all. Which is what makes it "COOL" to me.
 
sounds like Vegas needs a vintage 80's arcade somewhere. I went to Ground Kontrol in Portland Or. a few months ago, very cool. Wish we had something like that here. My house is about the closest thing to that anywhere in this part of the world, 30+ vids and pins in my game room-- and a keg fridge!
 
Pinball Hall of Fame has a great sellection of Pins. Not so much Vids. Half the ones they did have were broke or not turned on. Someone mentioned low key. It was packed when I was there. If you mean low key like "not all shinny and new" then YES very low key. It didn't have the "Vegas" feel at all. Which is what makes it "COOL" to me.

By low key I meant non-touristy. It's never been very crowded when I've been in there.

It's impossible to maintain that many machines at the same time with the resources they have available. Not everything is going to work 100%. The last time I was there about 25% of the pins I attempted to play had issues, ranging from minor irritations to major malfunctions (which made the game impossible to play).

There is no place in Vegas with as many classic video games as the POF, it's not even close.
 
Yeah, other than the pinball HoF, the only decent arcade to check is at Circus Circus (around the roller coaster). The one at the Riviera across the street (around the food court) isn't too bad, but all the other ones are small, hard to find, and basically repeats of each other...
 
sounds like Vegas needs a vintage 80's arcade somewhere. I went to Ground Kontrol in Portland Or. a few months ago, very cool. Wish we had something like that here. My house is about the closest thing to that anywhere in this part of the world, 30+ vids and pins in my game room-- and a keg fridge!

GK here is awesome. But quite honestly if you have that many games there's not much point of even going out is there? Just sayin ......
 
I was there '07, and most of the Casino arcades were the same crap you see everywhere. 90% redemption, and the rest consisting of crappy racers and shooters to appeal to the casual crowd. Occaisionally you'll see a token Ms. Pac / Galaga Anniversary machine, but overall Vegas dissappoints if you're looking for an arcade. Definitely hit the Pinball HOF though, it's worth the trip.
 
ya gound kontrol is cool because its like a bar and they got good 80's music and lots more pins than I do. I have just as good or better vids at my place. I set HS on the Donkey Kong when I was there and I liked the Dr mario. It was too dark upstairs to have a good pin game, kept loosing track of the ball!
 
I have a bunch of pics around here somewhere of most of the games found at Circus Circus when I was there a few years ago...
 
pinball hall of fame

I went to the PHOfame last friday, wow pretty cool. Lots of stuff and pretty good collection of Vids. they had a tron, kong, paperboy, track and field stand up cocktail, roadrunner and more. Lots of pins, lots of williams and stern pins and lots of chicago coin games. definitly worth going, give yourself at least 4 hours or half day.
 
I have a bunch of pics around here somewhere of most of the games found at Circus Circus when I was there a few years ago...

"
I had to take a picture of the playfeld of this Family Guy at Circus
Circus in Vegas. Unreal, I have never seen anything like it. You
couldn't even see lit lights through the dirt...

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=534535&l=80743c5623&id=1622095076

Here are the pins at Circus Circus. Selection and size wise, the best
arcade I have seen in 20 years. They have an amazing selection of
vids and pretty good pin selection too. The arcade itself is
amazingly huge, you could get lost in it. Performance, well, there
wasn't much...

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=534539&l=f2502b1eb3&id=1622095076
"


This was from December of 2009. Arcade was awesome in size and titles, but the pins made the eyes hurt. This was from a post over in the RGP forums about how the Vegas arcades are not maintained at all.
 
As many others have said PHOF. I tried to get around to a bunch of the arcades when I was there last year. I found a list of 20+ arcades in different hotels I stopped trying to take pictures after the third one.

As I recall, Excaliber had 2 "classic" games, a MsPac and a Donkey Kong. The rest were relatively new gun games, dance games and redemption. New York NewYork = gun games, redemption, a Ms Pac and a Galaga. They did have a Whack a Mayor game that looked like fun, but it was busted. Never found the arcade in the Trop. The arcade in MGM was closed (it had maintenance tape over the entrance). I couldn't find the one listed for Ceasar's (I think it had been moved or closed since the list was published). The one at Harrah's was tiny. Never made it to the one at Circus Circus. My wife made me stop looking because I was just getting depressed.

ken
 
Circus Circus, Luxor, New York New York and MGM have sizeable arcades.

PHOF best selection of pins and in my experience they are well maintained. If one has a problem be sure to let them know and theyll get on it. They really know what theyre doing there.

I hit Vegas 2-3x a year since 1993 and always seek out an arcade at some point during my stay.
 
This is me at Ballys a couple of years ago:

"`Scuse me but, I see your nametag - you look over facilities?"

"Yes sir! How can I help you?"

"I noticed you don't have any pinball machines in your game room."

"No sir. No pinball here."

"No pinball - at Ballys. Really?"

"Yes. Why, sir?"

"Well, you oughta have at least one. None of this [pointing to the hotel] would be here without pinball."

"Pardon, sir?"

(I can be a little shit sometimes.) ;)
 
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