Best. Flickr. Photoset. Evah.

July 15, 2005 6:50 PM

Retro arcade photoset. God bless the gentleman who saved these photos from a 1980's arcade. You will cherish the garish and mock the hair, but this one hits the sweet spot of nostalgia for me.
posted by jeremias (28 comments total)

You, sir, would love this place. Five minutes walk from my apartment. I love Williamsburg.
posted by Decani at 7:33 PM on July 15, 2005

I place these photos at June 1982 -- there is a pic announcing a campaign on the weekend of June 26-27, and that pegs the year assuming it spans Sat-Sun.

Damn, I miss the 80s.
posted by rolypolyman at 7:47 PM on July 15, 2005

Wow, they had pic's of the arcade that used to be in Penn Station. That brings back some memories. Man I miss my Robotron machine now. Going to have to make a pilgramage to Funspot soon.
posted by a3matrix at 7:49 PM on July 15, 2005

Those are just gorgeous!
posted by ford and the prefects at 7:59 PM on July 15, 2005

How does one contact the owner of a Flickr photoset?
posted by jscott at 8:00 PM on July 15, 2005

I have seen this place in my dreams many times.
posted by Eideteker at 8:00 PM on July 15, 2005

Rolypolyman : I think the pics span a fair amount of time. Lots of them appear to be very early 80s or even late 70s, but there are also pics with Gauntlet II (1986) and Space Harrier (1985) in them.
posted by coach_mcguirk at 8:31 PM on July 15, 2005

The only arcade I know of here on Staten Island is one that's been there for at least 20 years, and used to be part of a bigger carnival or fair with kiddie rides, etc. They've got a lot of newer games, but at least as many classic games. You can tell by the condition of the joysticks and monitors that they've been in the same spot since they were brand new. And the good thing about there being newer machines, like DDR, there, is that I never have to worry about waiting in line to play Rastan Saga. Oh, and the place still smells like an arcade, if anyone knows what I'm talking about.
posted by Venadium at 8:41 PM on July 15, 2005

coach: I think you're right... I had a sense of shifting places & camera quality
posted by rolypolyman at 8:57 PM on July 15, 2005

We still have a small, smokey, smelly arcade down the street. I walked in the other day and sure enough, there were some suits playing some Klax and some others.
posted by tomplus2 at 9:29 PM on July 15, 2005

heheh, I spent ~3000hrs in an arcade 1986-1990... my job as an arcade repair tech/attendant.

Good times indeed. That era is gone, gone, gone. Never thought arcades would die like that, but the original Sony PS was the first crack in the dike I guess. That and SF2 finding the über formula for getting the most quarters out of people.

Capcom, Atari Games, Sega were doing some quality engineering and art.
posted by Heywood Mogroot at 9:32 PM on July 15, 2005

jscott: "How does one contact the owner of a Flickr photoset?"

You go to the owner's profile page and hope s/he has contact info up. In this case, of course, he doesn't. If you want, you can sign up for a free Flickr account and then use that "Send Petromyzon a message" link on the right.
posted by danb at 11:03 PM on July 15, 2005

Eastridge Mall in Gastonina, NC. I remember scrounging for quarters all week long hoping that my mom would need to go to the mall for something. This photo absolutely dropped my jaw to the floor. Thanks for posting these.
posted by tumble at 11:55 PM on July 15, 2005

Hm, these were more my metier in those days. Missing Nintendo's Barrel puzzle, though.
posted by Wolfdog at 3:26 AM on July 16, 2005

I want one of those "Chicken Legs" t-shirts.
posted by dsquid at 4:53 AM on July 16, 2005

I've mentioned it more than once on MeFi, but it's worth mentioning again: if you're ever in northern New England (i.e. New Hampshire, Maine), you owe it to yourself to go to Funspot in Weirs Beach, NH. It's the largest collection of classic-era arcade games in the country, and it's spectacular. They recently turned the collection into the American Classic Arcade Museum in hopes of getting donations to keep the games running and add exhibits and such.

I've got a few photos here.
posted by schoolgirl report at 6:16 AM on July 16, 2005

I've got a few photos here

I want one of those ice cream smorgasbords.
posted by dsquid at 6:52 AM on July 16, 2005

nintendo killed the video arcade.
posted by crunchland at 7:01 AM on July 16, 2005

actually crunchland, Nintendo and home consoles were just a contributing factor. There were several other things that lead to the downfall of the arcade.
1. Costs....
In the early 80's, games cost a couple grand brand new, and you charged kids a quarter to play them. As the years went by, the costs for a new game increased as inflation rose and the games got more complex. But guess what? Everybody still wanted to pay a quarter to play. Even today, games that cost $1 are considered "expensive", but $1 in today's money is probably pretty comparable to a quarter in 1980.
In short, the people operating the games were paying more for rent and machines, but taking in the same amount of cash.

2. Lack of variety
In the begining, each game was different and new. There were varied control schemes and completely bizarre game themes. Some were successful, others stank. Then everybody started cranking out lame games that were all mediocre. Witness the glut of fighting and shooting games from the late 80's.

3. Perceived "bad reputation" of arcades
Civic planners were a lot less likely to approve an arcade in 1989 than they were in 1980. Arcades had a rep for being dark, smokey, and a little dangerous. There were usually ordinances banning kids from being in them during school hours, and after so many went out of business in the mid-80's, it was hard to get a permit to open a new one.

You are correct that home consoles played a large part in slowing down the arcade industry, but the industry did quite a bit to shoot its own feet too.

There are some interesting discussions of this in the rec.games.video.arcade.collecting newsgroup, if anyone wants further reading.

Also, here is the best arcade game of all time, hands down.
posted by cosmicbandito at 7:20 AM on July 16, 2005

nice catch of pics. where's my discs of tron, though?
posted by Busithoth at 8:48 AM on July 16, 2005

I love these pictures -- not only is it a slice of a time in my life that's long gone but there are weirdnesses like the PR shots and the rabbit...

Hey, Decani, I live in W'burg too and I've never been to Barcade... what a find! I'm there...
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 9:16 AM on July 16, 2005

Ahhh...This was a good find. Thanks.

For those of you into MAME, you can reconstruct your own retro virtual 3D arcade with the wonderful 3D Arcade frontend.
posted by Otis at 12:20 PM on July 16, 2005

lupus_yonderboy: try it for sure. It's a bit lacking in atmosphere as yet but it's not bad. Good selection of beers and maybe 20-odd of these classic eighties arcade games, only a quarter a go. Oh yeah - and a change machine. :-)

It's on Union near Hope. Couple of blocks from good old DuMont, same side.
posted by Decani at 12:22 PM on July 16, 2005

Oh, and schoolgirl report, this picture made me laugh out loud.

Billy Mitchell really is cool :)
posted by Otis at 12:29 PM on July 16, 2005

Portland is home to Ground Kontrol, which is packed with "retro" arcade games.

It's awesome.
posted by cmonkey at 2:48 PM on July 16, 2005

Oh man, Busithoth, Discs of Tron! That's one game nobody seems to have any more. Such a great machine. "Bring in the mind probe!"
posted by schoolgirl report at 3:07 PM on July 16, 2005

schoolgirl report, that game still haunts my dreams.
I fell in love with the enviromental version, and made a solemn vow to stop buying candy and save enough to buy this game for my very own. At that, I failed. I was truly, madly addicted to this game.

Decani, you know, I've been looking at Barcade since it opened, but never went in, fearing disappointment. I'm going to check it out too. Damn, there's plenty of 11211s on the blue.
posted by Busithoth at 3:56 PM on July 16, 2005

My father had Space Invader and Scramble (anyone remember this game?) in his restaurant. I doubt he made any money off of them because I put about half the quarters (that dad gave me) in myself.

Besides arcades, there were lots of good places to find video games back in the early 1980's: Bowling alleys, skating rinks, Pizza Hut and even the grocery store.
posted by UseyurBrain at 9:03 PM on July 16, 2005