life and death of the American arcade

[gigapig]

A good read for those interested. Check out the video part way down the page, sad

www.theverge.com/2013/1/16/3740422/the-life-and-death-of-the-american-arcade-for-amusement-only

I've read "The Complete History of Video Games", but I would like to read up on Arcades.

Anyone know of anything?

Thanks.

[Andyman]

Ah, memories. In the 80s, I could ride my bike a mile or two in any direction and pass at least a few places that had coin-ops. Arcades, restaurants, drug stores, laundromats, grocery stores, they were everywhere. And my hometown only had about 25,000 people. My lawn mowing money never stood a chance.

[gigapig]

Sounds idyllic Andyman.

I had either the Seaside arcades, the pub which we weren't really allowed in as kids, we had to stay in the car with a bottle of Coke and bag of potato chips.

We had a place in town called Pats Cafe filled with cigarette smoke and angry young men.

We would watch in awe at people playing the likes of Defender and Qbert. This one guy played Defender for what seemed like ages, he had loads of extra ships and smart bombs and I'm sure he killed all the humanoids so the landscape disappeared. I'm lucky if I get to attack wave 3.

I have a dream of finding a Defender or Mr Do! Cab in a shed or barn somewhere, perhaps a warehouse full.

My thanks to the Mame devs for all their hard work, so I can continue being a child.