re: Arcade Memories...What games do you remember playing the 70’s and 80's?

My biggest arcade memories were playing Jordan vs. Bird: One on One and Pole Position at the Pizza Hut in my hometown. Also loved playing a Star Wars one (I think it was maybe Return of the Jedi) at the Johnny's Pizza.

Then in college a buddy of mine used to hit up the Mall of LA arcade with a roll of quarters and play House of the Dead 2 (It was either 2 or 3). We finally beat it one day. Took about an hour+. That was a fun day.

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Acadiana Mall for years had an Aladdin's Castle

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Only went once but this place fricking slapped. I remember playing the firefighter shooting game there.

The Playboy pin ball machine was the tits.

Anyone going to the Spanishtown ball this year is in for a treat. Apparently there is a cyclone like light game made at a table this year that is themed as a vagina and you have to stop the light on the pearl.

Found a guy selling vintage arcade tokens on Ebay and he had one from Games by the Sea.

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I know a lot of y’all grew up in the 70’s and 80’s, back in the glory days of the arcade. Can you tell me your memories of going to the arcade and what you fondly remember the most? Was it the spot where you and your friends hung out often?

What games do you remember playing from that time, and which did you score the highest on?

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We had two in the town I went to high school in (graduated in 1983). They were about 3 miles apart, both in strip centers with major grocery stores so sizeable parking lots. I spent about 2-3 hours a day in one or the other or driving slowly through the parking lots and between the 2. In 2 years I probably put 30K miles on my truck between the 2. There was a Burger King on the way one direction and a Krystal on the way in the opposite direction...driving through both on each trip was a must. On Friday and Saturday nights the trip through each shopping center could take 30- 45 minutes and the trip between the 2 would take about 10 each way. This was in metro Atlanta and these 2 shopping centers were teen central at the time...kids from all over west Atlanta would come to cruise Mableton. There were COPS everywhere. If we wanted to do something we ought not be doing we had to leave the area. It was a BLAST. Perfect environment for kids to be kids.


The owner of one of the strip malls finally convinced the police to crack down on it. We went from cruising in parking lots under constant police supervision to being scattered all over the place with no cops and no parents in sight.

The sound of all the machines being played at once. Magical.

My nostalgic favorite was Space Wars, an obscure XY video two player classic. There was nothing more fun than you and your buddy chasing each other around the screen in your stick figure space ships. The best part was that your ship could sustain damage without being destroyed.

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What games do you remember playing from that time, and which did you score the highest on?

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I played all of them but never spent a lot of time doing so to get good at any but one. It was almost unknown. Pleiades. Similar to Galaxian. I could play it for HOURS on a quarter. I won the high score contest on it several months in a row until I lost interest in it.

The only other one I was ever any good at was Galaga. I could play for about 20 minutes on a quarter on it. Not as good as good Galaga players though...my wife can still play for a couple of hours on one play.

Gorgar was my pinball machine of choice. I restored one of them about 20 years ago and schlepped it all over the country and overseas before selling it 6 years ago for about 3X what I had in it.

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In the early 70’s I spent my $10 on 5 box’s of shotguns shells. Federal Field Loads.

On sale for 1.97 a box at West Bros. In the afternoons I was working to get the ten bucks.

No offense to the arcade guys. We didn’t have to deal with y’all in the marsh.

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The two were not mutually exclusive.

I spent plenty of time either fishing or playing video games.

There weren't many (if any) split tails out there in the marsh.

Galaga was my vice, frick a Pac-Man, etc.

Arcades were fun but the 2 I grew up in would not be the kind of place I'd want my kid visiting.

I started a pretty good side hustle at both of these when a girl I admired but did not think knew I existed asked me one night while playing Galaga if I knew were we could get a certain product that was very illegal at the time. I did indeed know where to procure what she was looking for and we hopped in my truck, crossed the Chattahoochee river and went to a friends apartment. We got what we were after, enjoyed it thoroughly and did what 16 year old boys and girls will do at such times. Not only was it great but it sparked a business idea...those kids were SCARED to death to cross the river. I was not...I worked in warehouses on that side of the river all the time. I had been procuring hard to source products for years across the river. We were only a few miles from it but one side was solid middle class white folks and the other side was not...in fact the guy I knew lived in one of the most notorious housing projects in Atlanta at the time (its since been torn down). We had worked together lumping trucks on an I-20 off ramp. I would buy as much as I could afford, drive it back across the river, and double my money....and could make several trips a night if customer demand was high enough. I never let him front me...I was dumb but I was not stupid...and we both made some pretty good money for the time and place. It ended when he was arrested for shooting a 14 year old kid breaking and entering into his apartment. I never partook in the product much, preferred Jack Daniels at the time, but man those middle class white kids had an appetite for it....