Went to Castles N' Coasters tonight

KingOfTron

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I took a buddy of mine from out of town to Castles N' Coasters tonight. Having been there countless times, it was pretty cool to see it through the eyes of someone who doesn't get to see much of the arcade scene. It really made me appreciate how cool it is that my friends and I have such an awesome arcade so close by. $10 bucks lasted us a good 3 hours, and to make things even sweeter, the lockdown bar on Indiana Jones popped open and a card with an additional 6 bucks in credits fell out. I know Castles N' Coasters has been mentioned a few times here in the past, so I thought I'd leave some pictures so you guys could see the Mecca of Pinball for yourselves. Enjoy!

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They've also got a shooting gallery, skee-ball, go-karts, bumper cars, bumper boats, mini golf, a couple roller coasters, and some other rides.

I've been going there since I was a little kid. My most vivid arcade memory of that place was Time Traveler. When that game came out back in '91 (so I would have been 10 or 11), I remember the line for it being like ten kids deep.

I also remember going there once for my best friend's birthday in November of '91, and spending the whole day/night there. My mom apparently only thought I was going for a couple of hours during the day, and called Castles N Coasters, freaking out because she didn't know where I was and was trying to find me. She had apparently been having me paged over the P.A. all day, but I didn't hear it until about 10 at night. She was relieved when I heard my name and called her from a payphone.
 
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i know i shouldnt complain, but... their tron is nearly unplayable! heheheh- they also are home to the UGLIEST CONVERSION EVER!!!! years ago on the old RGVAC pages that star wars stun runner conversion was legendary!
 
Looks awesome!!

I am assuming the glowing blue boxes are the card readers?

Did you wait till they closed, or is there just nobody playing anything? :(

Chris
 
I grew up going to that place almost every weekend (it was called Golf n Stuff back then). There's nothing like coming in from the bright sunlight into that dim cavern of gaming with all of the sounds and activity. Is the shooting arcade still to the right when you walk in the doors? I'm glad to see it still has a lot of pins and classics. I played a crapload of Black Knight and Space Invaders pinball there. Then it was off to the mall for some ice skating. LOL
 
Is the shooting arcade still to the right when you walk in the doors?

Yep. It's still in the same place.

And to add to a couple of other comments, yeah, their Tron is in pretty bad shape and the Star Wars in the S.T.U.N Runner cab is craptacular- but kind of cool at the same time. Most of their other classics are in pretty decent shape. They've even got an Ice Cold Beer up there.

Yep, those are card readers on the front of the machines.

Sadly, I believe Mike snapped those pics in the late afternoon. The upstairs area (where the classic vids are) is usually pretty empty. The downstairs area with the pins and modern games tends to be a bit more lively.
 
Looks awesome!!

I am assuming the glowing blue boxes are the card readers?

Did you wait till they closed, or is there just nobody playing anything? :(

Chris

Yeah, those are card readers, and they're brand new. I just noticed them for the first time last month.

It was about 7:00 last night, but I purposely waited for the crowds to move.
 
I've lived in PHX for going on 16 years now and I've never been to Castles and Coasters. :rolleyes: It's on the wrong side of town I guess. I'll have to get out there sometime and check it out.
 
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