Who here has Worked in the Arcade Business?

Hyde

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Just as the title states, did anyone here on these forums work in the arcade business back in the day? (Or even now, i guess.) Here's what I am talking about:

-Route Operators
-Arcade Owners/Employees
-Repair Techs
-Or even Programmers/developers for the games themselves

I am somewhat new here and was just wondering if anyone has a story or two to share of their time spent working with arcade games as their actual profession.
 
My experience won't compare to the guys that operated games during the golden era, but I ran a small route from 1990 to 1995 in Maryland.

Back then, titles like Pac-Man and Space Invaders were dirt cheap from older operators because the nostalgia (and the resale value) hadn't picked up yet. I operated the following games:

Pac-Man
Space Invaders
Asteroids Deluxe
Gorf
Battlezone
Space Firebird
Bump N Jump
Vs. Excitebike (Donkey Kong conversion)
Rush N Attack (Missile Command conversion)
Mat Mania (Warp Warp conversion)
Triv Quiz (Scramble conversion)
Tecmo Knight (Centipede conversion)
Rastan (Berzerk conversion)
Top Gunner (Pac-Man conversion)

A few I bought from the classifieds, but the rest were from ops. My locations were too small for the big guys to mess with, although I did operate games for 3 years in my college's student activities building, which was really cool.

I recall bringing the Asteroids Deluxe into an Amvets bar that had several rough looking bikers sitting at the bar. They were astonished to see the classic machine after so long, and when I returned two weeks later to do the 50/50 split, there was $130.00 in quarters in the bucket! Turns out the bikers got hooked on the game again, and started having tournaments for high score! :)

Not bad for a full time college student, part time record store clerk.

Kyle :cool:





Just as the title states, did anyone here on these forums work in the arcade business back in the day? (Or even now, i guess.) Here's what I am talking about:

-Route Operators
-Arcade Owners/Employees
-Repair Techs
-Or even Programmers/developers for the games themselves

I am somewhat new here and was just wondering if anyone has a story or two to share of their time spent working with arcade games as their actual profession.
 
Modessit is currently an arcade tech, I believe...
 
I worked for a couple of operators from about 1988-1993 (college job). Have kept in contact with them to this day and have gotten "free" machines and stuff from them since. One operator is still just barely in the biz (rather sad to see that come to an end).

I did conversions of machines, repairs (video games and toy crane machines), stocked the crane machines, collections (that was fun). Some days I miss getting to do that stuff so I enjoy working on my machines. It was a fun time.
 
I've worked for several operators over the years starting in 1976. Most of those years as head technician and sometimes pressed into service as a substitute routeman.
 
I started at Funspot in August 1981. It was supposed to be a temporary gig filling in the last 3-4 weeks of the season when their college help left early. Been in the business ever since. Worked at our Amherst, NH location for about 6 years and helped open up the location in Port Richey, FL.

Gary
 
Awesome, I didn't know that there were so many people here who have worked with arcade games for their career. I guess it makes sense, though.

Keep posting stories and such, I know there has to be more of you guys with experience in the arcade business. Any game programmers/developers out there?
 
Awesome, I didn't know that there were so many people here who have worked with arcade games for their career. I guess it makes sense, though.

Keep posting stories and such, I know there has to be more of you guys with experience in the arcade business. Any game programmers/developers out there?

I am not a game programmer/developer (though I have considered it and still do) -I do Scientific software development now. Anyway, my neighbor worked for Capcom (and Sega, among others) and was involved heavily in the development of the SF II arcade game. He pointed out one of my games and said he was involved in the control panel design (that was cool). He is still in the gaming industry (PC/Platform) now. I have told him about the forum. Expect he might show up one day. I think he has been involved in the arcade/PC/Platform gaming world for over 20 years. I will see if I can get him involved in this thread.
 
Worked for Dream Machine in '86 and '87 then moved to Ohio for school and worked at Aladdin's Castle till '90.

Best job I ever had. Absolutely loved the atmosphere. At Dream Machine I got to see how much money those machines took in. Absolutely amazing the cash that went in to those games.
 
I currently work at Chuck E Cheeses as a tech. Not the most glorious of arcade jobs, but definitely better than working at a place like El Pollo Loco or something. I am trying to get ahold of the local operator for the casinos to see if they have any openings.
 
I deliver and fix alot of newer stuff. Im not a tech expert and have only been doing it for 4 years self trained. i pick up things quick no matter what it is. We sell high priced classics every now and again. but the cool part is we have games here in Busch stadium and in the locker room. Most of the players from all the teams here in town buy from us so i get to meet alot of them. Just went to albert pujols house last week. Its cool and people are usually interested in the stuff once they see how it works. mostly selling golden tee's and driving games. btw Rush 2049's suck balls.
 
1990-1991 Attendant, ALADDIN'S CASTLE (Granite Run Mall, Media, PA)
1992-1996 Store Manager, SPACEPORT (King of Prussia Plaza, PA)
1996-2000 Regional Technician, NAMCO CYBERTAINMENT (Philadelphia)

1989-1998 Personal ROUTE of 22 Locations / 120+ pc equipment video/pin/hockey
1997-1998 Owner / Operator, ARCADE @ Downingtown Market

None of this ever made me rich, but I really enjoyed being on both sides, an avid player as well as an owner and operator. As such, I worked very hard to have the best working machines and win over new regular customers.


Here's a picture of the back-right corner of one of my "family entertainment centers."

Scan10003.jpg
 
1990-1991 Attendant, ALADDIN'S CASTLE (Granite Run Mall, Media, PA)
1992-1996 Store Manager, SPACEPORT (King of Prussia Plaza, PA)
1996-2000 Regional Technician, NAMCO CYBERTAINMENT (Philadelphia)

1989-1998 Personal ROUTE of 22 Locations / 120+ pc equipment video/pin/hockey
1997-1998 Owner / Operator, ARCADE @ Downingtown Market

None of this ever made me rich, but I really enjoyed being on both sides, an avid player as well as an owner and operator. As such, I worked very hard to have the best working machines and win over new regular customers.


Here's a picture of the back-right corner of one of my "family entertainment centers."

Scan10003.jpg

Man, that's awesome. Thanks for uploading the pic, it seems that there really aren't too many photos of arcades left. (Except for those Time-Out Tunnel ones)
 
I worked as a programmer at Williams back in the early eighties. There have been several threads with stories from that time, so I won't bore everybody again. Work on your search fu and you should be able to dig them up.

Needless to say, for the most part, it was one of the better jobs I've ever had.

ken
 
Just as the title states, did anyone here on these forums work in the arcade business back in the day? (Or even now, i guess.) Here's what I am talking about:

-Route Operators
-Arcade Owners/Employees
-Repair Techs
-Or even Programmers/developers for the games themselves

I am somewhat new here and was just wondering if anyone has a story or two to share of their time spent working with arcade games as their actual profession.

Started in the biz in 1984 and am still in it. I've been...

A Route Operator, Tech and now a service manager for about 125 locations.

Matt
 
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