North Norfolk prospective raids

[Joushuu_]

Hunstanton had the showboat was it years back now full of classics but they all went somewhere, dont mean someone didnt have thought to stash a load of old machines and wait till they can sell for earlier retirement

It was a sad day when they shut that part of the showboat down and shoved it full of gambling machines. From conversations I've had, I don't think the owner has stored the cabinets but I will have to ask my step-dad as he often does work for him.

The arcade scene in Hunny is very dire now. Everywhere is mostly full of gambling machines with a very small selection of gaming cabinets left. The Pier arcade seems to have it in for me as they always get rid of the machines that I spend a lot of money on. After Burner Climax, Mario Kart GP, various versions of DDR, Virtua Cop 3 (Still very sore about that one). Now that place is just full of ticket machines.

 

[Bods]

Sadly all of them are the same now all over uk and this is what i cant understand, when the arcades still had loads of classics hardly anyone played them hence why they all gone now

Lots of us were busy playing old classics at home on mame and even that wasnt enough to get everyone playing ones left, then lots of us buy machines for home so can play anytime and now retro arcades start opening around the country and everyone going to play old machines again, i bet the arcade owners at seaside cant believe it, soon as they remove the old stuff that made no money they could have one arcade dedicated to retro stuff and they would probably do quite well again

When places like Blackpool, skegness, hunstanton etc had them would could of arranged meets over weekends to go play them, shame they didnt get played

 

[Joushuu_]

I really envy you guys for being able to do that. I was born just a little too late (91) to be able to fully appreciate the arcade scene at the time. My step-dad would always go on about how awesome it was to go down to the arcades in Snettisham, Heacham and Hunstanton to play all sorts of games back in the 80s. The lucky bugger also went to SEGA World London when that was open and played on the R360.

This is one of the reasons why I want to open an arcade myself. This area is crying out for a dedicated arcade for the masses to truly enjoy. Joushuu_2021-06-14 09:29:55

 

[Adamski]

It's as the song says really "you don't know what you've got till it's gone"
I was lucky enough to be an 80s kid and had my fair share of playing all the classics.
Someone PLEASE invent a time machine

 

[Bods]

I don't think modern console/games as good as they come close to the experience we had in 80's and I was quite late to the party to start playing them in the later half of the 80's. Plus now kids just seem to get what they want straight away, no waiting for it at Birthday or Xmas like we had to or save pocket money to buy a 9.99 game

Going to the local arcades then and seeing these amazing games with awesome graphics, for the time and then games like the Sega classics hang-on, Space harrier, Outun etc they blew you away, the fact you couldn't play them at home close to the arcade experience with the speed, graphics and moving machines kept the arcades magical.

Ok Amiga, ST were close graphics wise and music was good, but if you play games like Chase HQ on em now they run slow to arcade originals, plus your missing wheel and pedals.

Only thing for me was not having the money to keep putting in them like others did. Then with Home computers getting affordable and getting 2nd hand C64 for Xmas I could at least go home after arcade and try to replicate the experience playing Indy Jones, Rampage, 720, Paperboy with my mate, was pretty magical times

If only you could go back in time, closest we can get to it is owning machines now you used to play, sorry wanted to play if money was endless, I now get to play them as much as I want but always to busy, need to stop creating myself work and enjoy stuff

 

[neoretro]

Sadly all of them are the same now all over uk and this is what i cant understand, when the arcades still had loads of classics hardly anyone played them hence why they all gone now

Lots of us were busy playing old classics at home on mame and even that wasnt enough to get everyone playing ones left, then lots of us buy machines for home so can play anytime and now retro arcades start opening around the country and everyone going to play old machines again, i bet the arcade owners at seaside cant believe it, soon as they remove the old stuff that made no money they could have one arcade dedicated to retro stuff and they would probably do quite well again

When places like Blackpool, skegness, hunstanton etc had them would could of arranged meets over weekends to go play them, shame they didnt get played

The huge difference is the fact most games are on free play now.

A game of Pac-Man for any fresh off the street player will last at best 2 minutes and cost a quid.

No one will want to do that now. The free play arcade makes it far more likely that people will play these classics because it’s feasible to stand there for an hour and learn the game.

I went to Southend arcades last year. 2 1/2 hours cost me nearly £50. And I’m decent at games

 

[Joushuu_]

Went up to Sunny Hunny yesterday and it has certainly changed since I last made the journey there a few years ago.

I've found out the old owners of the Thomas Showboat and Thomas Amusements are no more. They're owned by ACMLeisure now and unfortunately Thomas sold off the old cabinets years ago. Didn't really find anything surprising while wondering around. It was mostly newer stuff like Daytona 3, Luigi's Mansion and HotD Scarlet Dawn.

 

[Bods]

Pretty much standard at all seasides now i bet

The pictures one of the old members took of showboat had some great cabs and after couple more years they had all gone, probably 10 years back or more now, not sure who bought them all, really need to speak to original owners of it to find out

 

[rockbottom]

As someone who grew up in North Norfolk i'd be very suprised if there's anything left. I actually did a bit of repair work for few arcades back in the day and let me tell you that stuff in those seaside arcades had a very hard life and the ops saw the machines as nothing other than disposable cash cows. No more love shown than to the kiddies rides or candyfloss machines or whatever. Everything was well worn out by millenium and as soon as they stopped bringing in the cash they were disposed of in whatever way they deemed cheapest/easiest. More than once I witnessed guys smashing up cabs with sledgehammers (just so they could compact as much as possible in a single skip)

As with all raids you need to find some ex-op who shut up shop back in the day and still cared enough to keep/store stuff. I went back through some old contacts a few years ago and found no such thing in North Norfolk sadly.