what happened to your arcade?

kerri369

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took a trip to what was once a huge money maker and the place where the best of the best went to play... the time out aracde in massapequa.. walking down the corridor of the mall i had that same feeling turning the corner with the anticipation i felt so long ago! i haven't been there in 20+ years so using my memory and the help of two security guards who were very helpful, this is what i believe is left of the promised land of arcades on long island!!!
 

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There used to be a Showbiz Pizza down the street where I live, way back when my parents moved to Sparks NV. It is now an abandoned Safeway supermarket.
 
My two favorite arcades in my small hometown are now a hair salon and an antique store.
A pool hall I used to frequest is still around, but is pretty rundown and is only open on the weekends.
 
I lived in a pretty small town,north royalton ohio.We were lucky enough to have 2 arcades.In the center of town we had the twilight zone which was by far my favorite.Perfect location for me as it shared the plaza with a radio shack and angies pizza who had a few cocktail machines.I'm unsure what became of it,i'm sure it suffered many different fates over the years,radio shack is still there though as is angies pizza.
On the west side of town,a whole mile down the road was the royal palace,it was a standalone building stuffed between a convenient store and a toyota ?? dealer.The machines here were more beat up and out of order more often.Over the years it has became 2 bars that i'm aware of.I don't get through that town much these days.
 
The Aladdin's Castle in the Granite Run mall turned into a Waldon Books and there is still an arcade on the lower level but the games suck. We had a Celebration Station and that turned into a Chuckey Cheese the Celebration Station was 1000X's better. There was also a Circus Town in Broomall or somewhere over that way that is now a Baseball batting cage place.
 
One of our Aladdin's Castles turned into a Chinese restaurant and the other turned into a Bagel Shop.
 
took a trip to what was once a huge money maker and the place where the best of the best went to play... the time out aracde in massapequa.. walking down the corridor of the mall i had that same feeling turning the corner with the anticipation i felt so long ago! i haven't been there in 20+ years so using my memory and the help of two security guards who were very helpful, this is what i believe is left of the promised land of arcades on long island!!!

The Circus Pizza in Maplewood Mall was turned into a part of a department store. Gladly, some people who used to work there created a facebook page in memory of it.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=61890144971&ref=ts
 
These sad stories have also happened to the once great arcade of Lincoln. Back in the day, knee high to a grasshopper, there was the best arcade Lincoln ever saw called Sluggo's. A dank, dark, smokey bar type atmosphere, but wow did they have the greatest games back then. And the darkness of the whole place just made those colors so vibrant. That's the place I was able to play the ol' classics of today(Star Wars, Spy Hunter, Tron, Dig Dug, Asteroids, and so on). Sadly, it disappeared about 20 years ago being replaced with what now sits the entrance to a movie theater.

A couple of years after that, Coin Fun made it's debut with all of these new games. It was alright, but it only lasted 3-5 years at best. It was more of a little kids fun center, bright lights, screaming kids, angry parents......just not the same as the second hand smoking/I think I might get stabbed in here, dark room Sluggo's. I miss Sluggo's :(
 
It's always sad to read these threads, but good to hear the memories.

I've listed these before, but here's a handful of arcades I remember going to as a kid that are all just memories now:

Rheem Valley Bowl (Moraga, CA) - Historic bowling alley in the heart of town. It was there for probably 30 years before it went out of business and got demolished. The walls at all three entrances were lined with arcade games. I believe that was the first place I played a Neo Geo machine and SFII. Demolished in the mid-90s.

Aladdin's Castle (Sun Valley Mall, Concord, CA) - The arcade I went to the most. A lot of great memories. It was the first place that I played Dragon's Lair. I remember losing in less than a minute and not wanting to spend another 2 quarters to play it. Went out of business in the mid-90s. I think it's now a fast food restaurant.

Starcade (Dome Theater, Concord, CA) - Another great arcade that went out of business in the mid-90s. It's now a fitness center.

Fudge Alley (Moraga, CA) - Historic local candy shop/diner. Owned by Frank Chow for probably over 30 years. He recently retired in 2009 and moved back to Taiwan. He always had an arcade in the back. It was the first place I played Double Dragon, Championship Sprint, Golden Axe, and many more games. I was very sad that this place closed down. It's now an empty business space for sale. http://www.yelp.com/biz/fudge-alley-moraga

And this was one of my old threads about a couple of these arcades :
http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=93625

:(
 
It was a "Galaxy" in the Christiana Mall (Delaware). It then became a "Champions", and it's now a Hot Topic.

I've been really wanting to write an article on it, and a long-time friend also spent alot of time there, but when I asked for his input to do a writeup on it, he doesn't want to be involved. It makes me nuts.
 
Our Aladdin's Castle became a computer store in the late 80's and the whole mall went belly up basically in the late 90's. A new mall got built a few years ago, but no arcade :(
 
I used to play a lot at John Asquaga's Nugget casino in Sparks. The arcade I remember is now just a wide hallway at the east entrance. On a positive note, now they have a humongous 2 room arcade upstairs. It is less than half full of redemption games, which makes it one of the best in town now.
 
The space that Outer Limits Arcade used to occupy in the Crossroads Center Mall, next door to Sears (which is still there) is now a set of mall bathrooms. The Skill Mill in DT St. Cloud became and still is a pawn shop.
 
Amazing. I went there once back in '85 or so. Coolest arcade/fun center ever. Too bad they only have like 2 pics with any games in them.

I should look around. I bet I have some birthday photos from Circus Pizza from back then. Don't know if they would have any games in the pics though.
 
I should look around. I bet I have some birthday photos from Circus Pizza from back then. Don't know if they would have any games in the pics though.

That would be really cool if you found and posted them. They had bumper cars in that space, did they not? Also, they had a hell of a room full of gmaes if I remember right, like 4 40 foot rows or something? I was only there once, so my 12 year old mind might be exaggerating things a bit.
 
I grew up in a very rough area.

We had an arcade called '222' -- the place was huge, in a mall, and was probably the only reason why the mall survived the '80 and '90 until it closed in 1999. It had that similar "Watch out or you might get stabbed vibe". The place had all the latest games, all the games. They received all those cool early 3D sega titles (daytona, desert raid (?)) in those huge deluxes cabs. The owner of the place was super rich and even had his own boat themed to the colors of the arcade back then. I remember trying and being amazined all those laserdisks games (mad dog, etc), playing all the MK games first back then.

I stopped going there around the time of the release of Street Fighter Alpha. Things were never the same after that; the games started to become too expensive to be really enjoyable.

This place is now a dollar store and the mall is mostly all closed down.

The other place was also in a mall, next to a cinema. It was filled with games, i mean, every available square foot had a cabinet. It was incredible, and they always had loud pumping music playing all the time. The arcade was eventually purchased by the cinema, and last time I visited that mall, they had about 10 machines (all racing stuff and generic gun games) and lots of redemption gimmick games. And it was also completely empty on a friday night. When I was younger, that place was THE place to be when you were a teenager. I even kissed my first girl at that place!
 
It was a "Galaxy" in the Christiana Mall (Delaware). It then became a "Champions", and it's now a Hot Topic.

I've been really wanting to write an article on it, and a long-time friend also spent alot of time there, but when I asked for his input to do a writeup on it, he doesn't want to be involved. It makes me nuts.

i live about 5 miles from the mall and remember going there. was about to post it up

over the past 2 years theyve been doing a very extensive restoration to that mall. the hot topic moved and the food court, movie theater and strawbridges have been completly torn down and rebuilt into new stores and the food court was rebuilt. the lord and taylor also closed up. the building its self is currently owned by target but theyve never bothered to open a store there or announce any plans for almost 2 years



i also remember going to Discovery Zone on kirkwood highway (currently a good will) and another place like DZ on rt 40 by peoples plaza. i think its a wawa gas station now
 
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