Why were/are Arcades so Sleezy?
batmon
27,574 Posts
Why were/are arcades trpically sleezy.The ones on Forty Duece used to be like Mos Eisley.U can go to a nice suburban Chucky Cheese and Olaf and Them had the 
The Bowling alley near me used to be a big hangout cause of the Video Games.All the grimey cats ran up in there.There's a kinda new mall in New Rochelle that has that new style arcade steez w/ the big ass motorized throw-up on yourself machines. My grown ass had too keep an eye out. Too many teenagers w/ the funny vibe lurkin around. And there was hella security guards.To this day i dont get it. Even the Pinball Machine era had a grittiness.Is this linked to the Pool Hall vibe?Hood chicks smokin newports at Ms.Pacman and shit.
The Bowling alley near me used to be a big hangout cause of the Video Games.All the grimey cats ran up in there.There's a kinda new mall in New Rochelle that has that new style arcade steez w/ the big ass motorized throw-up on yourself machines. My grown ass had too keep an eye out. Too many teenagers w/ the funny vibe lurkin around. And there was hella security guards.To this day i dont get it. Even the Pinball Machine era had a grittiness.Is this linked to the Pool Hall vibe?Hood chicks smokin newports at Ms.Pacman and shit.
Comments
Anything filled with teenagers = sleazy.
Also you have to figure at least half the people
over 25 are just chickenhawks.
I saw a fist fight break out once between a really, really fat guy and a really, really skinny guy over Virtua Fighter. It was awesome.
But over by Tempest would be I'm Rick James Bitch.
That what im talmbout.
Damn straight.
the last real beating i took was when i got jacked between two pinball machines in a shady ass arcade in downtown auckland.
TCG's: real kiwi heads know the deal.
when i think back to the amount of cash i spent on arcade machines... damn.
good shit.
It had all the "Latest" early 80s classic video games. Jukebox would always have Northern Soul/The Who/Kraftwerk in full effect. Had a little cafe hatch where you could get hot orange cordial and a microwaved pie (which tasted like papier-mache dipped in HP sauce).
I was pretty good at Defender, but I was told by the owner there was a dude who came in the evenings (I wouldn't go there at night even now - proper "Mos Eisley" rough) who used to wear purple jeans and jumper and maroon Keo's and stand in "Crane Stance" and he would always beat my lunch score and leave "MAC" as the initials.
Then they got the sequel to Defender in; Stargate. That was insane. You also got about 97 characters to leave your name if you were #1. I remember putting in "JJJ DIG IT MAC" which he followed with "HAIL MACCA DEFENDER KING".
Brian Walker was the king though. He was a few years older, in a punk band and could make "Missile Command" go round the clock, and get 50+ sheets on "Galaxian" (with the big "10" flags). He also threatened to slap me in the face if I breathed on his arm again whilst he was playing.
seeing that reminded me of the arcade i went to when i was a youngster. it was called "the gold mine," and it was designed to look like the inside of a mine, so it was dark and grimey as hell. the oldest employee had to be 16 or 17-years-old, so it was basically a free-for-all, with kids doing whatever the hell they wanted to do--smoking joints, making-out, fighting, stealing people's quarters, being scared shitless of having their quarters stolen, etc. oh, and as somebody already mentioned, the place was always crawling with chicken hawks.
i think there something to the teenagers + chicken hawks = sleazy argument above.
for proof, i just look at the skating rink i went to as a kid. as far as sleaziness goes, the skating rink was always the arcade X 100.
Sleazy Arcades and Sno-Cone Stands = Life in Rural America
< < < Grimey
They're usually dark, filled with obsessive gamers, some video game hustlers and are usually unclean.
Space Port
Zounds
Supercade
Supercade (off 13th St. - ugh)
The joint up on 40th St.
Galaxy up at Roosevelt mall..
Goddamn
unless one has popped up recently, all the arcades on Yonge St. are gone, Funland was the last one to go I think. Not that surprising given home consoles, right? Kinda like record stores - the main chains like Sam's, A&A, Cheapies - are gone, too.
sigh.
I'd always come home reeking of these, of course I never partook. Weird thing is my mom never, ever questioned me about how I smelled when I got home.
Speaking of Tempest, who knew how to get the 40 free games? Mad days were wasted playing those 40 free games.
I found one of these at a Garage Sale for $50.00 back in the day....my brother and I had that machine mastered after a few weeks....was addicting as hell....wound up giving it to a neighborhood kid after we got tired of it.
We rediscovered it in high school when we would go stoned or tripping and play Jurassic Park while cutting class.
This summer I was in Indianapolis and walking around Circle City Mall. We passed an arcade and my kid wanted to go in. I had a rush of memories about Time Out and was ready to ice grill folls. This modern arcade was huge and well lit, and on a Sunday afternoon there was all of 5 people in it :/
block from where i grew up. shady as shit.
used to be arcade,laundromat and poolhall open 24 hours
when i started getting drunk and high id go there before going home until i was halfway presentably sober. if i didnt have money(often) i would play the free bowling video game with the big roller ball that they had in the laundry section. there was some pool hustling dudes in there along with some thuggy asian gang elements. i was never too much into video games, but i remember getting weed there once. i also remember watching these two old dudes square off on the ms pacman...they played one game against each other for the 90 minutes i was there and i left when it was faaaar from over. pretty impressive. it was like they were running routes on each screen
we had a Gold Mine in Albuquerque too
New Rochelle would be the key word in that statement
You mean this guy ?
These stories bring back fond memories. I used to go to the arcade in Cross Creek Mall (big up, Fayetteville, NC), and yes it was as grimy as the other arcades described. It's strange because the rest of the mall didn't look like the arcade, dark and dingy (smelly too). I used to run 'tings on Tron, Defender, ang Gallaga. We also had arcade games in the laundromat near my crib, that's where I got down on Tron and Elevator Action. Then, there was also Putt-Putt Golf and Games (and Showbiz Pizza Place too), which in stark contrast to the typically, nasty-ass arcade, were nice, clean, and well-lit. I used to hold it down on Kangaroo, Punch Out, and Dig Dug up there. I also shot a great game of miniature golf. Also, there was Crystal Dungeon arcade on Bragg Boulevard that was also grimey as hell, those rough Bonnie Doone (neighborhood) characters would roll up. I had to swing on one of those fools once, "n***as know." Those were the days!!!
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
that's gotta be in the running for best arcade name ever.