The rise and fall of the arcades (630 hits)
Category: GeneralRating: 0.28 on 8 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by FlakMonkey (View user info) at 2004-05-11 14:36:25 EDT
i remember back when I was a young troublemaker. the corner arcades.
it seemed like everyone had an arcade somewhere. you couldnt walk 2 blocks without coming up on a sign that said "this is a mothafuckin' video arcade biatch!" it was absolute heaven to someone like myself.
the biggest reason I loved the arcades was the almost complete abscence of adults. usually there would be one or two in the mom 'n pop owned arcades i went to. one adult usually in the back office running last nights quarters through a counter, taking occasional glances up through the glass.
It wasn't so much that i wanted to start some shit as it was just the fact that i didn't have some 30-40 something asshole breathing down my neck and waiting for me to do something bad. just the fact that I had some autonomy in that dark, bleeping, blooping cave was reason enough to go there every day after school.
there was no such thinbg as Gameworks back then, it was all just small storefront arcades, usually mostly fighting games and shooters. the two 'cades I went to opened at 3PM and closed an hour before curfew. for a kid like me, it was bliss.
i went to one arcade so much they started letting me watch the joint while the owner went and got some dinner. for my trouble, they would open up one machine of my choice and giving me freeplay until i got tired of playing that particular game. at the other arcade, the owner would give me free games if he was more than 10 minutes late in openening.
but the tidal wave that was arcades was about to crash. first went a place called lazer blast, I didn't go there too often because it had shitty games and was the territory of some gang members. Lazer Blast got turned into a small ghetto church called the "christian african ministry for god".
Then one of my hangouts closed, Woody's arcade. it was run by this slightly retarded american guy and his butt ugly asian wife, but they ran an arcade so what did I care if they were all fucked up? they went under because the shopping center they were in renovated and they couldn't afford the space rent. goodbye.
not long after, news of gameworks and other such places started scaring away the little guys, three 20 machine arcades shut doors a week after the news came out.
I was running out of places to hang out and i didn't have a car to go to the big places.
Now just try to find an independant arcade. theyre all gone.
"gameworks" and "dave and busters" are okay, but they just dont have the same feeling as places like woody's. They dont make you feel like your in your own world, a world with its own code of conduct and behavior like putting your quarter on the cabinet to say you got next. they don't have the machines nestled in the back, an electric blue glow far away from the storefront windows, that you could just hang around with friends and talk.
The little arcades may have been dark and grungy and maybe a little intimidating, but there was something about them that was nearly perfect.
someone else operated the machines, but the arcades were ours.
User Reviews
Submitted by Fixer (user info) at 2004-05-12 05:05:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
No Comment
Submitted by Yams (user info) at 2004-05-11 21:06:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I am acquainted with a very cool guy. He's a bachelor, and he's got a good job. The two of these coupled together make for a lot of extra money, and thus hobbies to spend it on. One of his hobbies is restoring old arcade games. And he has an entire room in his house devoted to them. Devoted to arcade games, a jukebox full of 45's from the 80's, and black neon lights. Uberers, I tell you this was one of the happiest places I have ever been. Yet I find myself always coming back to the computer, the all-powerful, emulating computer...Its just not the same.
Submitted by Lacksmotivation (user info) at 2004-05-11 17:32:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I care....I care
Submitted by BalloonKnot (user info) at 2004-05-11 15:20:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
The rise and fall of my penis.
Balloon Knot has spoken.
Submitted by hcp28 (user info) at 2004-05-11 15:04:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
no one cares sorry. And what the hell is gamebusters or whatever the hell it is? TimeOut is the place to be. Plus all the new high tech games are at the big arcades not the small mom and pop ones.
Submitted by Heimdall (user info) at 2004-05-11 15:04:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
I miss arcades too. It used to be the only source of entertainment in my small town. But now they're gone, as well as a hope for the future.
Homer: You like parties, huh? Well, I just remembered they're having
a big one down at the waterfront this weekend.
Marge: You didn't remember that. You just saw it on TV.
My Sister, My Sitter
Submitted by FlakMonkey (user info) at 2004-05-11 14:45:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
take it how you want dude, i really dont care.
Submitted by jwlmar10 (user info) at 2004-05-11 14:43:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Is this supposed to be sentimental?