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[skaldicpoet9]

As college has been wearing me thin as of late my girlfriend and I decided that we would travel for a bit. The last few months I have been saving and planning for the trip but one thing has eluded me: a good long list of arcades that I want to go to while out on the road. I have actually found a few so far that interest me (Ground Kontrol, Barcade, Twin Galaxies, Funspot, Keystone II and Luna City) but I am still trying to find a lot more. Anyways, I was wondering if I could get some more suggestions for my trip from those Tigsters that are here in the US (hell, I'll even take foreign suggestions, I'll just have to wait a bit until I figure out a way to get there lol). So, does anyone else know of some good old-school style arcades?

[reetva]

There's an amazing classic arcade in Manitou Springs, Colorado. Seriously, go there. It's awesome.

[Hideous]

... Sweden has no arcades 

[Bree]

I hear they're still big in Japan.

[ithamore]

I used to go to 1984 for some retro fun, but I now have a variety of arcades to choose from in the Taipei area.

[Border]

there all dying here in Quebec.
i use to play golden axe: revenge of black adder ( if i remember correctly)
but strangely enough i work for a game studio that was creating arcade game. Or should i say Coin operated nextgen s*it. Yes i'm not proud of the content we created.
*Pub* www.trio-tech.com

[handCraftedRadio]

It's just another thing that the stupid internet is destroying.

[Valter]

A friend of mine went to an arcade in Japan and came back with pictures. It's looked more like a drug trip than anything else.

[skaldicpoet9]

I used to go to 1984 for some retro fun, but I now have a variety of arcades to choose from in the Taipei area.

I am definitely going to have to check that place out.

Right now I am in the process of trying to find the other arcades that I had bookmarked again. My laptop had a total meltdown and I lost all of my bookmarks 

It's just another thing that the stupid internet is destroying.

The thing that sucks too is the fact that arcades can still be quite profitable if marketed correctly (which nowadays seems to mean "barcades" or family fun centers). I actually just came back from a family fun center today and I have to say their arcade was pretty disappointing. It was mostly filled with Dance Dance Revolution, Racers and Shooters. The best games they had there were Galaga, Ms. Pac-Man, Ski Ball and this decent top-down shooter (can't remember the name...I think it was called Air Raiders or something like that).

Playing Galaga was pretty satisfying though. There really isn't anyway to replicate the feel of these games (aside from buying a cabinet yourself). I can't wait to go to an actual arcade again (there isn't any at all around here). I miss the good 'ol days where you had to stand in line to get your ass whupped at Street Fighter II by some kid who had way too many quarters and time on their hands:D

[fish]

one of the shortest street in montreal is called arcade street.
there are no addresses on it.
and no arcades.

when i was in NYC a few weeks ago, my friend matt took me to what he called one of the last true arcades in the city. it was a tiny little shithole.
and it was for sale.

arcades are dead man.
that's where they at.
they at dead.

[Cymon]

one of the shortest street in montreal is called arcade street.
there are no addresses on it.
and no arcades.

You realize that in this case they were probably talking more about the architectural structures known as arcades which video arcades took their name from?

Are arcades dead? I wouldn't know. Haven't been to one in years.

[dmoonfire]

Most of the arcades around where I used to live where pretty much sad. Streets of Woodfield (IL) has one, but it appears to be mostly DDR and racing games. Tons of racing games, most verses type of games with big screens. Not my thing. There is also an arcade/bar (Dave and Busters) which is pretty good, but somewhat pricy. Lot of shooting games, but they have skeeball which is always fun.

My local movie theater has more arcade games than anything else, but they've reduced themselves down to shooters and racers.

[fish]

one of the shortest street in montreal is called arcade street.
there are no addresses on it.
and no arcades.

You realize that in this case they were probably talking more about the architectural structures known as arcades which video arcades took their name from?

Are arcades dead? I wouldn't know. Haven't been to one in years.

there isnt any of those around either.
infact, there's a wall, an alley and a vacant lot where i one day hope to put together somekind of outdoors gamma event JUSt so i can say its on arcade street.

OR, set that whole street on fire one day.

[cyber95]

I was at the arcade today. Played some DDR (I have a new goal of getting an A rank on Afronova, damn that song is hard), and I played some Initial D (still not beating the third race. Tipz plx).
There are three DDR machines I know of in this city, and they're less than a km away from each other.

[moi]

Arcades aren't interesting anymore anyway.
There is no more biodiversity in games, in most arcades, managers just take whatever game is popular at the moment and a bazillion clones of it.
It started with fighting games 15 years ago, now I suppose it's DDR and movement based games that are popular 

[cyber95]

Hey, the local arcade is sweet. It's got everything you need. Pinball, DDR, racing, Simpsons Arcade Game, Bowling, Jurassic Park, other shooters, that river rapids game, Deal or No Deal, Skeeball, bunches of the ones where you have to roll your token to the right place, motion sensitive boxing, fighter games, After Burner, the two player tank game, etc.
It's a real arcade, and I love it.

[december]

Thing is, if I wanna chill and meet gamers I can go to Gamestop. It's like a bar for gamers. You roll into the parking lot after a hard day at work and saunter in. You walk around, and the dude behind the counter asks if he can help you. Unless you've got a preorder to pick up you head over to the bargain racks and demo stations and start browsing. Someone else will walk in and maybe strike up a conversation about what you're looking at or what they're into. If you want you can relax and talk shit. Or you can tell that person you don't particularly care to see his pokemans and pay no attention to him. After a while you might drop a sawbuck on a couple used Gamecube titles and head home.

Arcades on the other hand are more hardcore.

That is to say that if your local game store is the videogame version of a neighborhood bar, the arcade is like a bar that caters entirely to serious alcoholics. It's loud. it's poorly lit. The crowd there knows each other and you are an Outsider, doubly so if you happen to have tits. There are four or five guys who look like they haven't shaved in two or three days chain smoking over the Super Turbo machine. They want you to play a round against them. This is not friendly. They want to know where you stand, because hierarchy is everything and these sad bastards are not capable of being a part of the social standings in the normal world.

The only other woman in the place is an Asian girl in her mid twenties wearing a baggy deerhunter jacket. While not playing a game she stands there unblinking, rocking forward and back from heel to toe, over and over again. Her face is the face of methamphetamines, and she lurks next to the Dance Dance games, never playing until someone else tries to play, because there is no point except to interrupt and beat someone.

A kid is credit feeding a bootleg Metal Slug 3 cab which the marquee calls metal Slug 6, paying around ten bucks to feel like a badass for beating a game in the arcade. He is silently mocked by the DoDonPachi crowd for even thinking of inserting a credit to continue. He will never attain the coveted 1cc. He does not respect Cave. He does not respect true arcade culture. He will never know real japanese STG, and he will never understand.

They are going to think the same of you, as they watch to stretch the moments here beyond the moments they can afford to pay for. Maybe you'll move away from these denizens to the front of the arcade and drop a few coins in a UFO catcher that will never give up ther iPod which is sitting so tantalizingly in the center of that plexiglass case. Maybe you will go home afterwards and think back on your day as you crack open the case on Gradius V and you will close it again, having the sort of grim feeling like you have just met the Ghost of Christmas Future.

Or maybe you will stay at home browsing videogames forums on internet and wondering what happened to the glory days of arcade.

[Guert]

Link because copy/pasting long text makes me return precondition failed

It's rather because you're just too hardcore 

[chiavelli]

Gameworks out here in Seattle is the largest arcade I've ever seen. Lots of good stuff, including a retro area.