Twitch Asylum

I have a somewhat sick hobby. I love going on adventures to look for, document & photograph old, decripid coin-op machines from yester-year. I welcome you all to arm yourselves with a cam and capture those dying vestiges of days past.

I'll get started with my personal FAVORITE Classic Arcade :


Besides all of the waterparks, minature golf and other attractions, this park sports one of the BEST remaining arcades in what is known as the east valley of the Phoenix metro area.

The arcade totally rocks! It's got alot of that flair from the good old days. You know, that slight musty smell, constant buzzing of neon and a consession stand that makes the best greasy pizza you've ever sunk your teeth into. Yea, THAT FLAIR. If your ever in the Mesa, Arizona area and you want a little bit of nostalgic gaming fun, track down this little slice of heaven!

Nope, there will be none of that "quickpay card" nonsense in this arcade! You want to play these babies? Go get some tokens! Thats right TOKENS! Just hearing those tokens hit the dollar exchange tray is enough to spark those mems of the Golden Age of Arcades!!



Come on, you know you've got THAT arcade in your town! Share 'em here!

SjN

That is awesome!

I have the same kind of obsession. Whenever we travel somewhere, I like to capture any of the "arcades" that we find. I found a couple of cool ones here in Mexico. I will post the pictures as soon as I get back. In the meantime, I do have some pics of a local arcade in Portland, Oregon called "Ground Kontrol". The pictures that I currently have posted are from their old location. I will go get some of the new location (which is much cooler) and post them soon.

http://www.zerostatus.com/displayAlbum. ... undKontrol

--Raz.

WOW!
Ground Kontrol looks OFF THE HOOK! I love the Missle Command Sign "Ahhh The Reagan Years..." Too Funny! I'm surprised someone has put together some kind of book that documents the glory days of the Arcade as well as it's slow ongoing demise.

Excellent shots! Looking forward to seeing some unique Mexican Arcades!!

SjN

I didn't get too many pictures of the Mexico arcade. Or, I should say, I took a lot of pictures, but my wife replaced them with vacation photos when we were running out of space on the CF card... sigh.

But, there are some pics online at:

http://www.twitchasylum.com/gallery

Also, have you been to California Extreme? That is a great place to see all of the classics. I have some photos of that on my personal gaming site:

http://www.zerostatus.com/displayAlbum. ... playAlbums

--Raz.

If you ever go to the ESPN Zone, they also have a soccer ball game like the one you saw. It is much bigger though and the point is to kick it past the virtual goalie in the game.

If you want to wallow in the currently sad state of arcade gaming today, check this out, one of my favourite articles from the great X-Entertainment called "The Worst Game Room Ever!".

http://www.x-entertainment.com/articles/0887/

Sad... and hilarious.

Cool pix, thanks iamsjn.

I love how the guys are always mentioning the arcades where they used to play when they were younger, especially since I am intimately familiar with most of those having grown up in Oregon as well. If you haven't been to an arcade lately, I'd encourage you to go and support your local arcades (and take some pictures to share with us!). Next time I go, I'm taking my camera...

My buddy has a retro arcade in Dekalb, Il.


http://starworldsarcade.com/

Schush wrote:My buddy has a retro arcade in Dekalb, Il.


http://starworldsarcade.com/

That looks like a cool spot!