Where did you play Arcade Games growing up, and where do you play them now?

[kashell]

My siblings and I played arcade games at a variety of places growing up: pizza restaurants, gas stations, etc. But, the one place that really sticks out is a swimming club called The Blue Marlin. During summer vacations, we would get dropped off there to go swim. I'd say I spent an equal amount of time in the water and in the snack area that had four to five arcade cabs that rotated each summer. I remember playing a ton of X-Men, The Simpsons, Lethal Enforcer, various pinball games, and Mortal Kombat II. The money we were given for snacks was always spent for quarters. Good times.

Over the weekend, I went to Game Galaxy (mentioned above by Cartagia) for the first time. It was magical. A bit crowded with the amount of variety, but it was still one of the best arcades I've been to. You name it, and it probably had it. I'm excited to go back.

[tripredacus]

I remember playing games in a variety of places as well. In the late 80s and early 90s, my best memories of arcades were at parks. There was a small one in Allegheny State Park, and there was (and apparently still is) one at Chautauqua Lake in Jamestown NY. The gas station in Great Valley NY also had many different games over the years. I remember it had a Popeye, Rampage and a Playchoice-10, among others. I had only played video arcade games when I was younger, besides things like skeball or shuffle bowling. I do have a faint memory of playing a Pinbot pinball somewhere but I can't think of where it was.

I think the last time I had played a video arcade game would have been one of those Rush driving games, likely at a movie theater, and would have been in the early 2000s. I had really stopped caring about them. The only game I will play if I see it in the wild is Centipede or Millipede, but only as a dedicated or conversion, not on an LCD screen or using an emulator. I would play Puzzle Bobble/2 if I ever see one, but I've only see MVS in peoples' basements.

I only play pinball now, I first played a pinball game around 2011 (besides that distant Pinbot memory) and started playing competitively perhaps a year later. My IFPA rank floats around just in the top 3,000, mostly because I do not travel or play in any big tournaments out of my town or state.

This is my home location:
https://pinside.com/pinball/map/where-to-play/3828

[pzeke]

The first arcade place I ever visited and played the most at as a kid was situated in a corner next to a KB Toys store that I also used to frequent a lot. Both of them closed down ages ago...

Aside from that, there were around 2 or 3 arcade machines at a movie theater I used to go, which also closed down years ago. Can’t remember the arcades they had, but I do remember this is where I played The Simpsons the most until completion. I would also play them at a bowling alley that my dad used to take me to on occasion. A few Pizza Huts I went to also had arcades; I used to play the snot out of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time as a kid and quite the same with Street Fighter vs. X-Men as a teenager.

Other places were Time Out and Stop N’ Play in different malls.