When The Best Part Of The Beach Is The Arcade
What do you think of when you imagine going to the beach on a hot summer day? Sunblock, towels, bikinis maybe? Not me. I think about Galaga.
Less than 150 feet from any shoreline near a beach boardwalk, there’s probably a video game arcade. Beach arcades have been around even before there were video games – in the late 1880s and early 1900s, you could pay a nickel to have your palms shocked by an electric current or your grip tested by a challenge to squeeze metal handles at Venice Beach, California or Coney Island, New York. And then, since the advent of Pong in the 1970s and through the phenomenon of Dance Dance Revolution, video game arcades and beaches have been closely linked.
Your average trip to the seaside can be a trip back to childhood. We undervalue trips like this, especially since the bum economy has many people taking “stay-cations” to local beaches instead of vacations to tropical resorts. Even worse, we undervalue some of the last dedicated video game arcades in the country, which you can find at Salisbury Beach, Massachusetts, Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, Redondo Beach, California or Virginia Beach in Virginia. With a good listing of local arcades featuring classic video games, you’re all set for a summer of time travel.
For me, my beach arcade nostalgia trip began with a visit last week to the arcades at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. I walked up and down the boardwalk, watching kids try to drag their parents into the smaller arcades where redemption machines were visible from the walkway. I saw a group of preteen girls gather around MTV Drumscape, unsure of how to work the controls and apparently unwilling to read the instructions. I doubled back toward the Casino arcade and noted how the sand that people tracked in from the seaside gathered in little piles by the line of Mario Kart arcade machines. Turns out, people were sitting down on the plastic kart seat to empty out their shoes. And I saw a sunburned little girl who could have been me 15 years ago head toward the Galaga machine with a handful of tokens.
I’d never been to Santa Cruz as a kid, but I was overwhelmed with nostalgia as I walked between arcade machines and squinted against the flashing neon lights coming from their screens. It took me back in time 15 years to a noisy, air-conditioned cacophony of flashing neon lights and blaring 8-bit music in an arcade somewhere near Monterey Bay, California. On that fateful day 15 years ago, I was converted from a budding beach bunny into a total arcade animal when I got a high score on Galaga after two hours and $US10 in quarters.
That arcade in Monterey is gone, now. Like so many arcades across the country, it probably closed when Nolan Bushnell’s Atari and Chuck E. Cheese empire declined and arcade machines across the country lost the 3D technology battle to Nintendo and Sega’s home consoles. By 1997, there were maybe two arcades in my hometown where I could find Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Ms. Pac-Man, but by and large, those “arcades” threw out their video games and replaced them with kiddy gambling machines that spat tickets. The thrill I got from those kinds of arcades faded like a sunburn – it was nothing like the burning passion Galaga instilled.
The feelings and experiences of that long-gone arcade all came back to me within minutes of finding the Galaga machine at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk – tucked into the Classic Corner of the Casino arcade building along with a dozen other old-timers, even a Sea Wolf machine, circa 1976. There were actually several Galaga machines throughout the boardwalk, since there’s more than one video game arcade. In the last few years or so, the management team at the boardwalk decided to merge their video game arcades with their kiddy gambling centres (a.k.a. “redemption centers”) and now you cannot go twenty feet along the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk without spotting Street Fighter, DDR, or Ms. Pac-Man right next to ski ball and UFO catcher machines.
The arcades at Santa Cruz have a reputation among hardcore arcade gamers for having one of the largest selections of classic arcade games of any beach arcade. There’s only one other place where you can find more than the 50-odd functioning classic arcade games of the 70s and early 80s; and Funspot in Laconia, New Hampshire doesn’t count because it’s a museum, not a beach arcade.
What does count as a beach arcade but doesn’t quite top Santa Cruz’s collection is Half Moon Arcade at Weirs Beach, New Hampshire – about two miles away from Funspot. Like Santa Cruz, it’s a tourist location with a lot of local traffic, but unlike Santa Cruz, it’s only open in the summer. Arcade manager Robert Ames says that no matter what, there will always been an arcade at that beach.
“I grew up with this business,” he says. “At one time or another, we’ve had just about everything in this arcade.” Between the arcade’s two locations along the shoreline of Lake Winnipesaukee, there are more than 200 machines (redemption and video game) for people to play. Ames says the arcades see a mixed crowd of families and teenagers as well as hardcore gamers who compete at DDR.
The crowds who gather at Santa Cruz’s Casino arcade include hardcore gamers, first-time teenagers and a ton of families. Arcade manager Barb Phillips and chief technician Brian Gustavson say that the Santa Cruz crowd shifts from mostly families and 15-year-olds without driver’s licenses in the summer, to hardcore Capcom vs. SNK and DDR crowds and students from nearby UC Santa Cruz during the off-season in the winter.
Even with the recent downturn in the economy, the boardwalk hasn’t taken a hit. “We’re seen as a local destination, so people think of it as an inexpensive vacation,” says Phillips. “We’ve had consistent [tourism] numbers this year and even in the off-season we do okay.” I can see how they would. The Classic Corner may not have gotten as much foot traffic as the rest of the arcade – it’s tucked into an awkward location next to laser tag and a row of pinball machines and can only fit about 15 comfortably. But tight clusters of teens formed around light gun games like Time Crisis 3 and around fighting games like Virtua Fighter 4, feeding token after token into the machines with the same fervor I remember from my 15-year-old affair with Galaga.
Fuller would not disclose just how much money the arcade games pull in for the boardwalk total – but of the 176 arcade machines that don’t spit tickets, every single one pulls its weight enough for Gustavson to justify the expense of ordering custom parts to fix them when they break.
Maintaining old arcade machines is definitely a challenge for beach arcades in a strapped economy. Gustavson talked about how sand gets where isn’t supposed to go, overzealous gamers break joysticks and about how machines left in storage near salty sea air tend not to do so well when you try to switch them back on. Replacement parts for machines from the 70s can cost as much as $US200 on auction sites; and many arcade technicians have to improvise.
Flipper McCoy’s arcade in Virginia Beach does pretty well on its own repairs. Most coin-operated machines in the South are run by the Southern Amusement Corporation – and according to arcade manager Jay* the chief technician at the arcade is the husband of one of the corporation’s owners. “He never has trouble finding parts,” says Jay. “We’ve got a ton of machines here and they run off quarters, so there’s enough money to keep ‘em all running.”
Jay says Flipper McCoy’s hasn’t had a hard time with the drop off in summer travel, either – mostly because their tourist crowd is made up of foreigners from Russia or Morocco. “We do get a lot of local hardcore gamers who want to play Marvel vs. Capcom, but there are a lot of [tourists] who are all like, ‘Hey, there’s Spider-Man in a game, I want to play that.’” Arcade games and classics like the original Super Mario Bros. are a big draw for the Flipper McCoy’s crowd, he says, but there are still way more redemption machines than classic arcade games.
Back in Santa Cruz, Gustavson observes that any game where you can show off or at least ride a plastic motorcycle is enormously popular with older kids and adults – while the ticket-spitters are mostly the domain of young children. “People like to compete with each other,” he says. “And the games where you can sit down and pull a curtain shut – they’re pretty popular with the teenagers out on dates.”
Santa Cruz, Casino Arcade.
That made me blush. Jurassic Park, first French kiss, Chuck E. Cheese, 1994. See what I mean about time travel?
Beach arcades may not be that different from other arcades that survived the downfall of the Golden Age. A few arcade gaming experts I interviewed said as much.
Ken Chaney, co-conspirator and operator of classic video game arcade showcase California Extreme says that after the Golden Age ended, “Arcade games were relegated to niche markets, tourist traps.” And what are beach boardwalks besides very large tourist traps?
Chaney’s co-organizer, East Coast-based arcade tournament director Bowen Kerins, agrees and adds that the redemption machines are just as ubiquitous at beach arcades as they are in the Chuck E. Cheeses they conquered. “These games are not providing the kind of experience people will want to come back to,” he says.
But there’s something to be said for the nostalgia the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk brought me. Chaney and Kerins trade on that same feeling for their annual showcase – but with the right arcade nearby, anyone can take that trip back in time almost at any time of the year.
I take comfort in knowing both that there’s a place where I can get my Galaga fix and in knowing that there will be other generations of kids after me that will one day grow up, go to the beach for a vacation, and find that arcade game and all of the memories attached to it somewhere nearby.
*Jay declined to give his last name because he’s joining the Navy.
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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
illuminaughti
Scotsdale
@Obeshimi: it's still there. haha
Gotta pour out a Cherry Coke for the dearly departed. RIP, The Pavilion... [en.wikipedia.org]
@Hiroken:
The force is strong with you!
The first arcade game I remember playing was Tempest at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. I thought the graphics were rad. LoL
Thanks for the memories!
Obeshimi
@SolidMetalSnake: Always loved the arcade there along with the 18-hole in-door pirate themed miniature golf course. Last time I went to the Boardwalk though, I was sitting down on a bench and had a rather bushy beard at the time. Some Jesus freaks came up and wanted to give me a sandwich and talk to me about Christ. I couldn't contain the laughter, so sadly there was no free sandwich for me. :(
@coffinmouth: Lost boys! haha, my sister was in that movie. If you watch the opening sequence, there's a car that drives by with two big ol legs hanging out the window... yeah, that would be my sister.
@Mastrix: I do!
I see Gawker shat on itself & ate all the posts again.
@AJ Glasser: The building is called the Edgewater Packing Company.
If you were a local and you were headed there though it was just "Wanna go to the carousel?".
I visit often, I live in SF and still have family in Monterey, but I have not been back to Cannery Row in a long time.
I hear tell that the carousel was the fastest in north america at one time. I believe it, that bastard was fast. Gone now, it was sold. I think the arcade was supposed to become some of cowboy laser tag arena slash mechanical bull?? I don't even want to go and find out.
The building is called the Edgewater Packing Company.
If you were a local and you were headed there though it was just "Wanna go to the carousel?".
I visit often, I live in SF and still have family in Monterey, but I have not been to Cannery Row.
I hear tell that the carousel was the fastest in north america at one time. I believe it, that bastard was fast. Gone now, it was sold. I think the arcade was supposed to become some of cowboy laser tag arena slash mechanical bull?? I don't even want to go and find out.
Down at the SC Boardwalk myself, blogging from the Initial D Machine.
Jonathan Marinaro
@katsujinken: Well, you are absolutely right. I'm lucky in that I live so close to Flipper McCoy's mentioned in the article.
Anyway what I really mean is yes it is truly a tragedy that most arcades are gone, but MAME and a Tankstick at least keep some of the magic alive. I usually set all that stuff up with the big screen in the den when I have friends over drinking (no cocky strangers though).
Most games are very playable at home, although there are several like the Afterburner you mentioned. I have a few pinball machines too, so when everything is on it is a rather arcade like experience at home.
I'm also lucky in that I know several others locally that keep arcade and pinball machines at home, some with rather large collections (10+). I guess that's what you have to do if you're really pining for those good old days.
Oh yeah, and a +1 for you. That was poetry man!
High Speed Indeed
@Michael Dukakis - Mets fan: I CAST THEE OUT!!!!!
KaneRobot
@Michael Dukakis - Mets fan: Good man for being brave enough to admit it, and starting a fun discussion :) I lived by the sea so I'm lucky enough to be in the has-fond-memories-of-childhood-arcades... group.
pjcard
The Flashback arcade in Seaside Heights, NJ is awesome. But what really rocked was the fishing pier in Long Branch, NJ. Scotty's Arcade, Wizards World, the arcade next to the bumper boats... so great before the fire...
[www.darkinthepark.com]
[www.darkinthepark.com]
misterAction
@n00b_pwner: That's absolutely the best thing about Hampton Beach, NH. They keep several old-school games in working condition there.
I got completely pwnd by my wife's cousin in Qbert last time I was there. She's been playing Q*bert on that exact same machine every summer since she was 10 or so. Two and a half decades of practice will do that for you.
gobofraggle
I live here and I have to say we have one of the fucking best arcades. It's a shame I don't spend more time in there.
I spent hours of my childhood in the 80's in the arcades on the boardwalk at Daytona Beach, FL. I can still hear the Mat Mania machine in the background going "one, twoooo, threeeeee!!!" Ah, the memories...
Budkin
@Michael Dukakis - Mets fan:
Hell, I still do the arcade thing at least once a week.
I can't afford 3000 for an In The Groove/DDR Machine. But I dream.
And I play Stepmania :D
My word! that is quite a large article about our Boardwalk arcade. It's nice to see something from our town up here :D
jedbeetle
@SolidMetalSnake: Heh, Santa Cruzians represent!!
I went to this arcade for my bachelor party. Drunken laser tag is to be experienced.
jedbeetle
@bjarnia: that and its hard to justify spending a dollar on something that either doesnt look as good as your games at home.. or just matches them.
i dont know when 50 cents became a standard, but 50 cent games 25 years ago with inflation considered would amount to over a dollar today.
i dont get why people cant accept that kind of stuff... minimum wage in 1985 was less than 4 bucks.. now (in a couple weeks) its over 7..
not gripin at ya.. just sayin that 1.00 seems steep.. but i bet id have felt the same way in the 80s about 50 cents if i was in the same economic situation im in now. that argument and the $60 one both get to me.. because games cost MORE than that in the 90s.
i think 2 things were the biggest blows to arcades (at least in the west).
1) the transition to 3d.. basically the dreamcast. by the time graphics looked that good on a home console.. they stopped trying to 1up them in arcades.. so we ended up with arcade games that not only didnt outdo home ports, but in some cases were INFERIOR. whats the point in me spending 50 cents on soul calibur at the arcade when it looks like dog crap compared to the dreamcast version.
2) the rise in popularity of western gaming. that sentence explains itself.. out of all the big name arcade houses in the day, midway is the only important western group that comes to mind. and they really didnt do anything to help arcades out over here in the last 10 years did they?
@pete:
>.> Lost Boys?
I could never stand all the dead black people Sam Jackson and John Travolta would be trying to store in my place.
diabloazul126
Holy crap, I was just battling my friend at Pong there. =_=... I used to go to school in SC (UCSC), lived about 2 blocks from the boardwalk.
diabloazul126
One thing about living in Santa Cruz I never could stomach, all the damn vampires...
/Obscure?
pete
@katsujinken: if you werent already hearted...
OMG! i just went to the Boardwalk this weekend and actually saw that same Tetris cabinet myself! Believe me, I was shocked even more to find out that it was made by Atari.
Anyways, I was even more shocked to discover the arcade selection for the first time, as well. And my, it was very crowded! :')
Brings back a lot of nostalgia for me...
@Michael Dukakis - Mets fan: I was just at an arcade last night with a friend of mine. I live up in Seattle where we have Gameworks and it's really a pretty solid arcade. They still get new games in and have a classic section as well as many of the racing games where you sit in the vehicle. I have been going there a lot lately because they have a corner dedicated to new fighting games. They have had SF4 for a while now but just recently got BlazeBlue King of Fighters 12 and Tatsunoku vs Capcom. There is normally quite a few people on all the games and some really skilled players frequent there too. There isn't much I enjoy more in this world then winning a close match while a crowd of people watch waiting for their chance. You sir are missing out on a ton of fun!
@jeembomb: Agreed, and its a damn shame arcades are dead. I swear, if I ever won the lottery I would work on building one here.
Rajolae
@McDollar: That arcade is nothing like it was a few years ago, it is total rubbish.
Rambozo
@GeneSnoogans:
I always loved SWT arcade.
@EnigmaNemesis:
Of course it was a genius play on words...I just didn't think anyone *else* would get that part.
@Gaambit: The Wildwood arcades are terrible now, almost every video game has been replaced with claw machines or slot machines. There are very few video games and most of them are the Fast & Furious games or Guitar Hero. There are a few others like H20 Overdrive, Rampage World Tour (with a strange cabinet where the stick is to the right of the buttons), Rambo, and the occasional Pacman and DDR, but Wildwood has really changed for the worst. Everything there is getting replaced with condos. I planned on going to this awesome place for breakfast that had a pretty good arcade that was called Hawaiian Rumble, but it was gone. It was a very big disappointment when I went last week, I was expecting to spend the whole day, but I was only there for a few hours. Does anyone know of a better NJ boardwalk with good arcades?
Rambozo
@iEro-Sennin:
It doesn't grasp at people asking for Quaid, does it?
KenseiKitsune
That article brought back a great memory for me. Back in the 90's, my then boyfriend took me on a date up to Hampton Beach in NH. I don't know if this is still true, but back then, the beach was lined with arcades. I think we spent 75% of the day gaming, and 25% of the day on the beach. That was the best date I've ever been on. :D
I took my nephew last week to a GameWorks (neither of us had ever been to one, and he'd never been to any arcade), and let's just say they had a lousy classics selection (most machines were from the mid-90s to maybe 2005).
Ironically, the games he played the most were shooters, the few pinball machines they had (especially South Park) and the cocktail Galaga in the dining area.
(for the record, I consider classics to be titles before 1990, and those consisted of Asteroids (in an oak wood cabinet) and the cocktail Galaga, which also had Ms. Pac-Man)
Great read. Glad to see some beaches still host arcades, especially the classic ones. There is one in Santa Monica Ca. that is the same, very old arcades plus new ones as well.
There used to be an arcade on a lake I went to. After I went there not long ago, I went there and the arcades were gone. So sad.
@Hiroken:
It was on purpose, as in the trees!
*waves hand*
@Tenshigure: One more thing...reading the comments on some of our older games (this one especially) makes me even sadder for today's youth:
"this looks like a game you can get free out of a cereal box"
"That's Nothing Compared To Burnout Paradise's Crash Physics"
Back in my day we used to use our freggin imagination for these things, what the hell man?!
@s1L3nt_n18t: I don't know if this is a scientific possibility or not, but I swear to you that I was able to pass my driver's test purely by playing Hard Drivin' for 5 years straight as a kid:
I feel for the younger crowds of today who never got to experience the excitement of lining up at the Street Fighter II machines, slipping a token on the bezel glass to hold your spot in line, and then look over at the Mortal Kombat machine and wonder how such a cheap character like Sub-Zero could ever be created (what the hell, he just FREEZES them in mid-air?!).
Simpler times, I tell you, simpler times...
@TFOkun: When my father and his girlfriend came to visit me we went to Santa Cruz and it was a great feeling to see a Revenge From Mars up and working so I could show them my name on the playfield - and on the screen with the secret code :-).
It's a great shame that the collapse of the arcade industry has killed pinball; it's one of those coin-op experiences you just can't get at home. Thankfully California Extreme (next weekend in Santa Clara!) comes around once a year so we can play those classics again...
grahamwest
One thing about living in Santa Carla I never could stomach, all the damn vampires.
coffinmouth
@EnigmaNemesis: I try to go every weekend. Two rides on the Big Dipper then some Star Wars Trilogy arcade.
Article forgot to mention about the number of pinball games the Boardwalk still has in operation. What's an arcade without the original reflex-skill quarter eating machines?
When I went there years ago there are about a dozen of those machines all next to each other (look at the last pic in the article to the right of the MvC2 machine), iirc some of them are pretty old and held up pretty well over the years. Good times.
@SolidMetalSnake: I live a 5 minute walk away from it. :'D
I would kill to have any sort of arcade in the St. Louis area. Anybody know of one?
I've been here for six years and the one arcade I knew about which was in a dying mall, is gone now.
So I ask again...WHERE ARE ALL THE ARCADES IN ST. LOUIS?!?!?! HELP ME
@EnigmaNemesis:
Finds all this literacy hullabaloo sort of ironic since Enigma misspelled 'beach' in the OP.
Still, Enigma, I regularly enjoy your comments, and this one is no different :)
@Finchypoo: Santa Cruz embodies the past. I wished more places did also.
Nickel City is also nice. It's more inland to the San Jose area and it retains that classic feel, not to mention also being cheap as hell. I had a friend play a concert there and it was boss.
Did you know Nickel City was owned by Capcom?
Austin Kruckmeyer
@UncleMark:
Dont hate cause your literacy is not up to Jedi standards!
@saulpimpson: I *do* have fabulous hair, though.
@dancemonkey: That was it -- the place with the carousel! Do you remember what it was called?
What I liked playing the most was 6-player co-op on the X-Men side-scrolling brawler.
...Nightcrawler's mutant power is fricking unbalanced in that game.
amarney
I have to say, AJ and all other Kotaku editors.. I LOVE the Summer of Gaming article series! The stories are great, can't wait to read more of the same.
Alex Sackawicz
Oh, and please say you at least rode the Giant Dipper!!
unclebagel
The Santa Cruz arcade is where, as a kid weened on missile command, I discovered pinball!! Played Haunted House and Black Knight over and over. Like your "Galaga" those pinball machines have a special place in my memories. Thanks for the nice article.
unclebagel
Wow AJ, that is amazing. I was just at that Santa Cruz arcade on the 4th of July. Walked in straight off of the beach after watching (and shooting) fireworks and played a few rounds of Tekken 3 wasted off my ass.
Good times.
perfectoon_0901
@McDollar:
The only problem is the state of disrepair most of the games tend to be in.
Alex Sackawicz
@Gaambit: Sadly Wildwood has a large redemption focus as well, but there are still many arcades who are adding new videos. Almost every arcade along the walk bought a Guitar Hero, the problem is not many have calibrated it.
Duffer's Restaurant off the boards along Pacific Avenue in Wildwood is one of the first arcades in the world to have an double H2Overdrive (Mariner's Arcade on the boards just bougt it as well), I gave it a shot on its first day for a few plays and I must say it was awesome.
Would love to see some more classics, the only one you can really find this year is Ms. Pac-Man. The Boardwalk Mall arcade may still hold many, I did not get to visit it in the past few years. Glad to see a Kotaku reader visits Wildwood!
Alex Sackawicz
Hey thats Santa Cruz BBW. Cool...
IR1
@DarkTetsuya:
I love those old flat shaded early 3D games. Old 3D games are generally ugly as sin but for some reason I like that particular look. Stuff like Virtual On always looks neat.
Finchypoo
@KillerBee: I could spend quarters and quarters in a place like that.
wox42
This was where my boyfriend and I had our first date together! First place we went to was straight to the arcade.
@Cagny:
Last I was there they had some awful modern ones, and at least one classic B&W booth.
Finchypoo
@Pretty Sneaky Sis: You've probably played DDR with my housemate, she is always over there, or used to be anyways.
Finchypoo
@bjarnia:
Arcades in Japan are almost exclusively 100yen per play, which is about $1. Of course they have much better games, but it is pricey. I always go for the classic games in US arcades where things are nice and cheap.
Finchypoo
@SolidMetalSnake:
Got you beat by about 40 min :-D
It is indeed a sweet arcade. Classic corner is where its at, and Galaga, that somehow ended up across the hall from the classic corner.
Can't say their machines are always in the best condition, but for still running after 30odd years, its nice to still be able to play them.
Finchypoo
@meeish: Me too, but don't forget, the best part about the Boardwalks Arcade is the beer.
@SolidMetalSnake: yeah i lived in santa cruz for about 4 1/2 years. That is a sweet arcade for sure. when i go back down there to visit i usually end up going by there at some point.
sampagne
@EnigmaNemesis: I didn't. Stupid machines eating my quarters and no one doing anything about it until I got the manager and argued for 2 hours.
@Komrade Kayce - Hero of Soviet Kotaku: Yeah, it's amazing he was able to read the title that quickly. I kid, I kid! He also glanced at the pictures as he was scrolling down.
I remember playing Galaxian^3 there many years ago. Good times.
I grew up in Monterey and every weekend I would walk, WALK, to Cannery Row. There in the same building as the carousel (gone, sold) was a huge arcade. I would spend hours upon hours and quarters upon quarters in there. It's pretty much my only arcade experience, any game I want to play in an emulator I have to go in my Wayback Machine and try to remember yet another game I'd played at the Edgewater Packing Co. building.
I need to get my 3-yr-old son down to Santa Cruz and show him the arcade, He played a crappy Spiderman game at our local mall recently and loved it. All he did was walk back and forth and jump over things, but he loved it.
I won't bring video games into our home for him just yet (at least until he can read, add, write, whatever kids do in school these days), but trips to the arcade are definitely in order.
@Cagny: They still have at least one I think.
@Mastrix: Also, thank you AJ for publicizing our arcade. I'd much rather have tourists taking up the arcade than the beach :p
Christ, how many of the people in this thread live remotely close to, or in Santa Cruz? This is a small gathering at this point :p
@saulpimpson: crap i mean AJ. my brain is fried from work.
@meeish: fancy that, me too! Yeah that arcade sucked far too much money out of me in high school...
Thank you Brian!
It's not nearly the same, but Dave and Busters is a pretty cool place to recapture some of those old memories. And honestly, you really can't beat their alcohol selection.
Copious amounts of beer + arcade games = ftw.
@zxpipo7:
My parents almost never game me money for the arcades, they were no fan of gaming, and 15 years later, still not. I just had to scrounge and save what meager allowance I got. Hell, half the time I just hung out and soaked in the ambiance (mainly watching others pwn at MK).
@XForce:
Area 51 taught me the joy of killing. Good times. If aliens ever did land and they're hostile, the military just needs to equip all of use that grew up on Area 51. The aliens won't stand a chance.
@jeembomb:
We didn't have an arcade near us but there was one at a mall about 30 minutes away. I used to get to go there about twice a month or so, and I wasted so much money there when I was a kid. I used to love me some Simpsons and Primal Rage. Both of those games were for sale and I friend and who were die hard fans of our respective games decided we were going to buy them (we were like 10 years old), but oddly enough, unable to.
The Redondo pier has an amazing arcade. When I was there a couple of years back, not only did they have some sweet arcade games (1080! Mappy!), they also had the biggest damn pinball machine I've ever seen-- Goliath-- with a pinball the size of a pool ball. Not very fun to play, but... amazing!
@[ZTF]214A, 2A, 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D, 214B, 214D: The Galaxy Force II "Lunar Lander" full 360, $1 a play machine. Amazing experience. Not to mention, there used to be arcade rooms in most large hotels along the first 2 miles of the boardwalk. Good times to be a kid!
FedExin
I love me a good Jersey beach arcade, though I'm usually too busy enjoying the beach itself to venture indoors unless it's too cold to swim. You can go to an arcade twelve months a year (assuming you can find one), but you can only lounge on the beach for two or three.
I loved SC Boardwalk for their Old-School photo booths - where you can get skinny strips of photos without the kiddy boarder that photo booths have these days. I dunno if they have them there anymore, though.
Cagny
I wish I could find a shmup-centric arcade in NYC. I love Chinatown Fair, but they don't have much apart from fighting games.
@undefined:
My mother owned a café when I was a child, so I grew with arcades (and I played for free!).
Best. Childhood. Ever.
Man, am I miserable now.
I worked at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk every summer of my teenage years, at the Marini's Candy stores. They had a frozen yogurt shop in the arcade, so I often spent 8-hour shifts listening to the bleeps and boops. And then I'd go home and play my SNES. Good times, except for the $4 an hour that I was making. Good thing I make more now!
ach77
@Michael Dukakis - Mets fan:
Uhhhhh WHUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTT?!
Holy smokes! I was just there last week, and went to all the arcades the Boardwalk offered.
daisukeumon
I live near the Boardwalk. It's a guilty pleasure, but I love to go and play DDR, even if it's in public.
I played in arcades but I could never get the hang of a joystick.
To this day I can only play fighting games with a good d-pad =x
Rozzlit
@Lucasreis - it´s a me, Lukio!:
I lol'd
And iEro Sennin, are you from East germany maybe? Because here in Belgium we had at least a couple of them.
nikolaj
@MajinMexican: I remember as a kid we had a large family dinner at a buffet, and naturally when the adults start talking you get bored. I found the Simpson's arcade game and I beat it in that one night with a complete stranger who was probably in a similar situation as me.
And I also played the crap out of the Area 51 shooter game. It was totally awesome.
XForce
@bjarnia: well most older games are still only a quarter but newer cabinets like SFIV cost many thousands of dollars to purchase so for someone like myself who doens't own a PS3 yet, I wouldn't mind paying a buck a pop to squeeze in a few rounds with some friends were there one near by.
@Cript: What? you mean there isn't even an arcade in the West Edmonton Mall anymore?
@Ackers rhymes with Crackers: Well put. ;)
@High Speed Indeed: That's not nearly good enough. Don't you miss the sight of all your contemporaries gathered together, the sounds of all the cabinets chiming and beeping at once to attract your attention, the experience from types of cabinets you just could never have in your home like After-Burner II or the feeling of being a pro when you beat some cocky stranger in front of a crowd breaking their ten match winning streak? No, the death of arcades is a paradise lost.
Beaches in NY are so polluted nowadays that you shouldn't even be swimming in them. I also hate the fact that you cannot walk in the beach without some sort of footware because of all the broken glass and other stuff mixed within the sand. The arcades are indeed the best part of the beach.
FallonEbonifly
@bjarnia: Yeah, 1 buck a pop makes me not want to play the game. It is like the quarter machines at a nickel arcade. I go to the free play or single token machines more often. Ofcourse those are the old school games so they are the best for nostalgia.
ankhenaten
@Cript: But yeah I get that not having an ocean nearby is a bummer.
ankhenaten
@Cript: Doesn't Edmonton have that freakishly huge Mall? Last time I was there they had a giant arcade. This was close to 15 years ago though, so it may have imploded.
ankhenaten
@Michael Dukakis - Mets fan:
what? what? what? THE FUCK!
That's the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk... I live just down the freeway from it. I still go and sink more tokens than I can count into those machines, kind of a monthly thing I do with my friends. For those of you who've never been to the boardwalk here in Santa Cruz, I highly recommend it!!
@[ZTF]214A, 2A, 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D, 214B, 214D: Steel Talons on the Ocean City boardwalk. This lifeguard used to trounce me every morning of my vacation.
@Michael Dukakis - Mets fan: You really missed out. I spent every summer day of my youth in the arcade. I mowed lawns and delivered papers and spent every penny I earned in the arcade. I had a bowling alley 2 blocks from my house that had a HUGE arcade inside. Plus, they had fried burritos and mountain dew to keep me fed while I played.
My favorite story was the 7-Eleven right near my house got Shinobi when it first came out and the owner let me play it for free for helping him out around the store like sweeping the sidewalk or putting paper towels outside for washing windows. Good times.
@Ferkner: I think to really appreciate them you have to go further back than that, like before NES days. There were home consoles back then, of course, but the games didn't compare in quality to the arcades, so the arcades were pretty much Shangri-La for kids who liked games. Games were only a quarter, and many times, it was parents who gave kids $5 or so worth of quarters, so for kids it was free.
I guess one way to describe it would be if you owned an XBox 360 and the only games you owned were Vampire Rain, Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust and Yaris. Meanwhile, the only chance you had to play games as good as Gears of War or Bioshock was for mom to take you to the arcade, and when you walked in, you saw dozens of games that good waiting to be played. You know the phrase "Like a kid in a candy store"... well, that was our candy store right there. :)
@n00b_pwner: Daytona on the Saturn is no comparison to the arcade. Doesn't even come close.
High Speed Indeed
@UltimateRuiner: If only we could figure out time travel. In the meantime I have MAME and a Tankstick. Good enough.
High Speed Indeed
@MajinMexican:
Yes. Absolutely yes.
One of my fondest memories was playing The Simpsons arcade game all the way through with a complete stranger. For a half hour we were best friends.
jeembomb
@laser beams: Mecha?
when i was kid, we had a lot of Arcades here in italy, now are almost all bingo or poker machine centers :\
It's very hard to find a place with Outrun or exotic stuff like Blazing Star\ DoDonPachi
@Michael Dukakis - Mets fan: BLASPHEMY.
God I miss the arcades. Arcades were places made of dreams... ok, maybe I´ve gone too far, but yeah, to me they were made of pure fucking awesomeness!
@EnigmaNemesis: Nice job. I miss arcades. T_T
@laser beams:
>_>' ya.
iEro-Sennin
@Michael Dukakis - Mets fan:
Never went to a Chuck E Cheese or a Nickel City? I mean I personally always prefered to buy the home consoles myself, but the arcade was great when your parents wouldn't spend $30 for a new game.
I mean... Turtles in Time... and the Simpsons.. everyone played those right?
MajinMexican
@iEro-Sennin: Mecca?
@bjarnia: It's quite the opposite, actually.
iEro-Sennin
Wow, I haven't been to Weirs Beach since I was about 5. I remember their having pinball, but not video games; probably my parents didn't want me playing them.
There used to be a place in Montreal called Monde Virtuelle. It was a lot of hype just to play a kind of tank battle game, but fun enough. That's probably the only arcade I've ever been in.
The arcade games just seemed too simplistic compared with what you could play on the PC. And you didn't need an endless supply of quarters.
@Michael Dukakis - Mets fan: are you really old then? i mean, i doubt my mother or father ever played games in arcades either.
there's an AWESOME vintage arcade inside the boardwalk mall in wildwood, nj.
about 50 pre-1995 arcade games and some random ones thrown in (a japanese import of that fist of the north star "put on these boxing gloves and punch the screen" game)
i actually haven't been to the shore in about 3 years, but i'm pretty sure this arcade is still there. it's a blast from the past since it's arcade games, pool tables, and a pizza place directly next to it.
i'm going to the Santa Cruz beach boardwalk next weekend :) it truly is an amazing arcade they have there. i'm pretty psyched...
The boardwalk in Wildwood, NJ has several cool arcades. The last time I was there was several years ago, when every single one had a DDR machine parked right out front to draw everyone in. I do recall there also being a sweet classic game arcade there for the longest time (which had an original Beer Tapper!)
Gaambit
@Komrade Kayce - Hero of Soviet Kotaku:
Speed reading 101
@Snappywave: Subtitle option for the Deaf please:
I agree. I used to have awesome beach vacations there with my family when I was younger. They'd all be having fun in the sun, and I'd get my heavy dose of arcade fun. mmmm, nostalgia.
Its sad that arcades are going out of business. Good memories. =/
Starshock
@Michael Dukakis - Mets fan: Get 4 quarters and go the the Movie Theatres are something.
Problem solved.
@Michael Dukakis - Mets fan:
Do it dude, do it NOW
doughboyx
@Michael Dukakis - Mets fan: Going to an arcade the first time is like getting lost in the Louvre. Especially, if the arcade happens to have a decent classics section.
I'm not trying to sound like a fanboy but if you are a die-hard member of the gaming community there are very few things as purely blissful as playing Street Fighter or Tetris in their original incarnations.
(Heh, I said "hard member".)
I find myself thinking of Galaga quite often.
@[ZTF]214A, 2A, 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D, 214B, 214D: Ocean City Maryland FTW. I still hold the highest score on the South Park pinball game in the 8th street arcade.
But $40!? Are you kidding me!? My parents gave me 5 bucks for the whole week. You lucky dog you.
Awesome article. For me I remember going to the seaside, Seaton Carew, Redcar and now and again Scarborough and however hot it was outside, or cold, this is the UK, I always wanted to be in the arcades. I remember the big machines were the real thrillers, the Hang On! or Afterburner machines, but it was always exciting to join in a game of Golden Axe or Double Dragon to show off those homegrown skills to the locals.
This makes me want to head out to the arcade right now. I miss them. It was always special to go to the arcade, whether it was stuff like Galaga, Rampage, Gauntlet, or Tempest at the local Chuck E. Cheese or mall arcade or mom taking us to Cedar Point and Sea World (there actually used to be a Sea World in Ohio but not anymore), where despite all the great stuff to do, I'd always spend at least a couple hours pumping quarters into stuff like Hogan's Alley, Commando and Paperboy.
Not that I mind sitting on my own couch and playing, but there was that special something about the arcades. It felt a lot more social, and playing at home never really duplicated the great feeling of a small crowd of strangers forming behind you and cheering you on while you kick a game's ass. Good times, good times.
@Michael Dukakis - Mets fan: Don't worry about it. I always found arcades overhyped and overpriced.
Insert $1.00 to play something for 90 seconds.
I'll pass.
Ferkner
Could the reason for all of the arcades dying be the ridiculous prices they charge these days?
Some games are $1 a pop. I think not.
Not the Beach, but when I went to LAS VEGAS back when I was younger, I spent all my money in the Arcades. Not that I could gamble, but it was fun as hell.
It's where I beat AVP Arcade.
@Michael Dukakis - Mets fan:
*Puts hand on shoulder*
There, there. Maybe someday you will know the pure joy of the Arcade. I'm sure of it.
meeish
@[ZTF]214A, 2A, 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D, 214B, 214D:
Every day not in a siberian gulag is a day at the beach, comrade.
You would do well to remember before speaking in such a way again.
I wish I lived near arcades with good games / functional good games....
@snowlock: Yah dude, last time I disrobed in an arcade they threw trash at me.
The only reason why I enjoyed Hampton Beach in New Hampshire was because of Playland Arcade. The other arcades there sucked. Playland FTW.
I loved Daytona USA (although I own it on my Saurn), 18 Wheeler American Pro Trucker, Silent Scope, and other random games I felt like playing.
I haven't been there in years however, and I miss that arcade.
@MaxDragon7 - Zombie Kotaku Outbreak!!!: I may have to now.
man if only there was an ocean close to edmonton ='(
@snowlock: I like it but thanks to the Marfan Syndrome I can't go swimming or wear short clothes without everyone starring at me like I'm some freak. Well technically I am with that chest of mine.
iEro-Sennin
Hey! I live in Santa Cruz! The Arcade in the Boardwalk has sort of gone the crappy ticket and prizes route, but they have a retro game corner that has a bunch of classic games that are surprisingly still in operation.
Every time I hit the beach, I make sure to stop by that arcade and get my Space Invaders and Battlegrounds on.
meeish
@Michael Dukakis - Mets fan: It is about time for you to start searching for one! Go with many friends, and buy yourself a feast. Go, before it is too late! Arcades are almost gone nowadays; having to find a setup nearby might be difficult..
Great article. I brings back so many memories, mostly of summers or the early 90's. Arcades were littered with Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat, NBA JAM, Magic Sword, Final Fight, TMNT...those were the days.
@Michael Dukakis - Mets fan:
:[
I just hit up the arcade at Fisherman's Wharf (SF).
Unfortunately, I was walking around for like 10 damn minutes looking for an ATM until an arcade employee with a knowing look in his eye came up to me and said, "Y'know, sir, you can use your ATM card to buy tokens now."
I almost kissed the man...
...but he was too quick.
@Komrade Kayce - Hero of Soviet Kotaku: I didn't know they had beaches in Russia. Just frozen deathscapes.
@jeembomb: I am, unfortunately not young.
@Michael Dukakis - Mets fan:
bless your little cotton socks, i feel for you kids today. Course, you probably wont get secondary lung cancer like many of us who grew up in these places....
mooseman721
@snowlock:
or the sun
or... humans
*shudder*
I remember Daytona Beach (FL) used to have AWESOME arcades lined up by the beach. Now they are pretty much gone if not dying. :(
Snappywave: Subtitle option for the Deaf please
when isn't it the best part?
sure i'm in the minority, but i don't like heat.
or sand.
or disrobing in public.
Unfortunately there are no arcades in Germany. And AFAIK there never have been any(where I live, anyway).
I feel like a Muslim who's never been to Mekka.
iEro-Sennin
@Michael Dukakis - Mets fan:
The only way this is even near acceptable is if you are extremely young. Arcades are definitely dead nowadays.
jeembomb
I could spend hours and hours in a place like that.
The boardwalk at Ocean City, MD has some pretty bitching arcades. I remember spending almost $40 at one about ten years ago (this was at a time when all the games where still a quarter-a-play). Good times.
I feel so honored to leave 45 mins away from Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
SolidMetalSnake
@EnigmaNemesis:
"By AJ Glasser, 2:00 PM on Tue Jul 7 2009, 141 views "
EnigmaNemesis *
2:02 PM
You are some sort of reading god. I bow to you. :P
@Michael Dukakis - Mets fan:
Promptly turn in your gamer card, and make your way to the exit.
I'm going to admit it now... I never played a game in an arcade.
I can NOT argue with that!
I used to love the beech arcades.
Having been to a grand total of two beaches, ever (and that means two days of my life), I got quite excited when I recognized the screenshot of the Santa Cruz boardwalk. I've actually been there! Such a thing is rare for me.
RealmRPGer
@Billkwando bought his tickets for Hyde's US tour: Well, I think it's the whole "stars" thing.