Arcades in the day and growing up

[Body pop]

I like anyone here .adored video games 70s ,80s 90s and beyond
Thinking back though ,wernt the
Arcades .snooker halls ,chip shops /video shops and other shops
Full of the worst clientele you could ever imagine ?
Obviously discounting your friends and others
Wasn’t there Thieves .bullies , dregs of society
Maybe that’s why we have decided to have our own personal arcades ,cabs ,superguns .mame or whatever ?
There was also another problem .the fruit machines .they were so addictive and you could quickly lose every penny you had
I sometimes wonder did these places make you grow up to quickly ?
I was a 7 nights a week person .so that could maybe make a difference

 

[kingtreelo]

what kind of people were you seeing in chippies or video shops?

they were perfectly fine...unless you are talking about little brats like i was in the 80s

 

[Body pop]

From my experience, not many/ any

 

[John Bennett]

Yeah, there was a sense of danger down our local arcades - I was always scouting around before deciding to play a game.

I think we only ever got 'attacked' by other kids once though and I pretty much shoved them all away (I was fairly strong for a swotty kid), although one of them did pickpocket my screwdriver (don't ask).

I had a French exchange student staying once and he and his mates wanted to go to the local arcades. They came back home in a police car - 'for their own safety', after running into the local yoof. To be fair, they were asking for a kicking, the way they behaved, though 😐.

Anyway, it's something I do think about when strolling care-free through arcades nowadays (modern and 'retro')- something missing that I don't miss.

We always considered fruit machines to be 'evil' things of no interest. When you only have £3 to last an afternoon, you're not going to waste it in 5 minutes, thinking 'was that it?'

 

[mysticmonk]

Good arcades and bad, you'd always know in seconds. A lot of trouble outside usually. I remember a bunch of ones in particular hanging around outside one of them, one fella in a wheelchair. Someone starts punching the head off the wheelchair bloke, proper blows and his head was just wobbling around the place like a ragdoll. Zero reaction, no attempt to defend himself, crazy looking. This went on for what seemed like an age and then wheelchair man literally launched himself up and out of the chair onto your man, starts pummelling him into the ground. Memorable.
I remember watching another bloke playing some big screen lightgun game with a rifle and he just looked like a psycho, he had a face that looked like he was actually murdering people and the way he was standing wasn't normal either. Weird enough that I still remember it.
Some places you'd walk into and it was like you interrupted a drug cartel meeting with the faces watching you. Youd be asking for change and its like they were waiting for you to pull a pistol out instead of a note.
Loads of little memories like that, but plenty of nice arcades too.

So yeah, mixed bag!

 

[Retroman839]

I recently bumped into a chap who with his mother ran a bus station cafe..
With arcades that my mum would take us kids into for some food.
and it was cool because his cabs
Where always like 5 lives for 10p.
I can’t remember if it was raiden but I think it was

I like anyone here .adored video games 70s ,80s 90s and beyond
Thinking back though ,wernt the
Arcades .snooker halls ,chip shops /video shops and other shops
Full of the worst clientele you could ever imagine ?
Obviously discounting your friends and others
Wasn’t there Thieves .bullies , dregs of society
Maybe that’s why we have decided to have our own personal arcades ,cabs ,superguns .mame or whatever ?
There was also another problem .the fruit machines .they were so addictive and you could quickly lose every penny you had
I sometimes wonder did these places make you grow up to quickly ?
I was a 7 nights a week person .so that could maybe make a difference

I was one of the dregs,
And I grew up fast ..
Me & my brothers & freinds where all dregs. We were punks / goths /
Grunge / petty criminals / some of us died young . One of my friends I meet in an arcade as a kid .. he loved ninjas .and street fighter .. he was so vulnerable
From a broken home. His cuson asked me personally to look after him and I did just that! I tired to make him tough,He passed away from drug abuse
2 years ago. We meet around 34 years ago. In an arcade playing all the ninja, karate , beat em up games . He was skinny and he Had a really low self perseption & self asteam.
He was mixed race people made fun of him a lot. both for his race and his body shape. I guess drugs appeals to the weak.
And wraps them up in nice warm blanket and makes them feel loved.
I saw him sitting in a door way begging,
Weeks before he passed from overdose/
In the final stage He would over compliment me. Go to throw his arms around me - and I would feel myself recoil .. I didn’t want him to touch me.
I perceved him then as filthy. I didn’t want him to touch me.
I would give hime some small change .
Small talk bullshit my way away from him. I would throw my arms around him now!
Man I remeber playing master system
Card games with him.. and his dad ..
His dad wore the master system card games on a chain around his neck?
I used to sleep over at his house man!
We liked the same stuff , we skated together. We were friends.

His parents were not together ever.

My friend wouldn’t hurt a fly
Infact he was so vulnerable life itself was to hard for him. But he would be
Your everyday dreg if you saw him.
But he wasn’t a bad person.

We were the dregs R I P X Damian x aka dalsim

I would look for coins in the fruit machine trays..
Kick the 10p sliders/ pusher games
Eventually the alarms would wail and I would hide from the staff 🤣
Then re apear with the spoils to play some street fighter with the 10ps

 

[CMYKhazi-Dan]

Bunking off school to play Championship Sprint and Operation Thunderbolt 🤘somehow none of it adds up in my head as a timeline, was about '90/91 😆 good times 😍

 

[Max...]

Just to say first - Retroman839 - that is an incredible bit of writing, poetic in the way it comes across - wow, an amazing, moving and poignant story.

My early memories growing up were similar to others here - some very iffy arcades in London/Essex, with many genuine memories of "...give us ten 'ence kid... " especially around Walthamstow market.

Occasional visits to Southend, what a mecca it seemed but mostly as a 12 year old or so frequenting the 'mini' arcade in Tots and Toys - a strange toy shop run by a couple of brothers (?), Rentaghost types, by the tube station at Buckhurst Hill on the way home from school and Saturday mornings. First plays there on Moon Cresta, Scramble, Asteroids, Missile Command, Battlezone etc. First seeing a clicker in action (bzrrrrddddd...ding,ding,ding,ding,ding) at the video store mini arcade. Happy times. Then mostly playing at ROM skatepark (Defender in the main) in the golden days of BMX Sundays. Then the newer arcades around Leicester Square, TCR etc. Holidays at Wells in Norfolk, Blackpool - great days.

 

[Body pop]

Retroman very sad story that indeed .theres such a bad drug problem now .

Mysticmonk ,that’s not something you will forget in a hurry .horrific

John bennet .i never had that sense in the day to stay away from the fruit machines with my 2 quid ..

 

[Retroman839]

Just to say first - Retroman839 - that is an incredible bit of writing, poetic in the way it comes across - wow, an amazing, moving and poignant story.

My early memories growing up were similar to others here - some very iffy arcades in London/Essex, with many genuine memories of "...give us ten 'ence kid... " especially around Walthamstow market.

Occasional visits to Southend, what a mecca it seemed but mostly as a 12 year old or so frequenting the 'mini' arcade in Tots and Toys - a strange toy shop run by a couple of brothers (?), Rentaghost types, by the tube station at Buckhurst Hill on the way home from school and Saturday mornings. First plays there on Moon Cresta, Scramble, Asteroids, Missile Command, Battlezone etc. First seeing a clicker in action (bzrrrrddddd...ding,ding,ding,ding,ding) at the video store mini arcade. Happy times. Then mostly playing at ROM skatepark (Defender in the main) in the golden days of BMX Sundays. Then the newer arcades around Leicester Square, TCR etc. Holidays at Wells in Norfolk, Blackpool - great days.

Thanx max
I like to just wright from my heart mate I’m dyslexic and didn’t go to school as much as I should have and left the education system at 15 - untested by the local authorities I might add.
I have to correct my spelling all the time.. my dad was also unable to spell👍 so it means a lot to me you said that , thank you.

I do find it interesting the separation of
the Gambling fraternity and us - the video gamers.

Like two species from diferente planets. Neither can understand one and other but we look the same.

But the gambler has an insatiable hunger in his every atom and it is never full or fed.

Us however - we have our fill
Like moths eyes topped up by the incandescent light of the cathode ray tube. Ears full of the beeps and squeaks of the digital encoded sound effects, All exciting and if we do well then sedating out brains. 🤘

 

[Akira99]

Retroman839 a very moving and poignant story about a great friendship brought together through a love arcades and games etc. A true friend you were

 

[Retroman839]

Retroman839 a very moving and poignant story about a great friendship brought together through a love arcades and games etc. A true friend you were

🤝

 

[Max...]

Cheers mate - just brilliant writing and all the more passionate for the way it's written - honestly, it reads like a poem.

There were some bad times back them, a few I knew died very young, a strange time then when we were the first lot in my area to be chucked in the real Comprehensive system - all boys school - real posh kids in with real rough kids and some poor unfortunates caught in the middle, glue sniffing in the bogs, beatings and attacks on the way home, some kid even bought his old man's shotgun to the school disco - what a time. But so many happy memories - whatever happened I'm eternally grateful to have grown up as a kid in the late 70's/early 80's. Just the best time in so many ways IMHO - we had such experiences and laughs - growing up today? F*X& that.

 

[Retroman839]

Cheers mate - just brilliant writing and all the more passionate for the way it's written - honestly, it reads like a poem.

There were some bad times back them, a few I knew died very young, a strange time then when we were the first lot in my area to be chucked in the real Comprehensive system - all boys school - real posh kids in with real rough kids and some poor unfortunates caught in the middle, glue sniffing in the bogs, beatings and attacks on the way home, some kid even bought his old man's shotgun to the school disco - what a time. But so many happy memories - whatever happened I'm eternally grateful to have grown up as a kid in the late 70's/early 80's. Just the best time in so many ways IMHO - we had such experiences and laughs - growing up today? F*X& that.

Absolutely ✌️

 

[Body pop]

Best days indeed ,80s and early 90s
The arcades ,the cars .the music .the raves ..
Those dodgy arcades or places with machines in them ,certainly made you grow up quick I think
I’d never want my kids in those places now .knowing what I know about them ..

It’s went from one end of the scale to the other these days ..
A happy medium would be nice ,not too rough but not to snowflake either

 

[Stokers]

Interesting reading. I was fortunate that my local arcades were all quite tame, I wouldn't go so far as to call them 'nice' but there was rarely (if ever) trouble or fights breaking out. I do recall striding into Mad Harry's and getting a £1 coin out of my wallet to play Time Crisis and some random dickhead, who was about 5 years younger than me - came up and said 'Give me that £5 or i'll spark you out' (that's an exact quote)

I was with 3 friends and he was much shorter than me, I was pretty shocked that he even bothered to try. That is the only time I can remember anything even resembling trouble A bit pathetic really.

 

[Retroman839]

Interesting reading. I was fortunate that my local arcades were all quite tame, I wouldn't go so far as to call them 'nice' but there was rarely (if ever) trouble or fights breaking out. I do recall striding into Mad Harry's and getting a £1 coin out of my wallet to play Time Crisis and some random dickhead, who was about 5 years younger than me - came up and said 'Give me that £5 or i'll spark you out' (that's an exact quote)

I was with 3 friends and he was much shorter than me, I was pretty shocked that he even bothered to try. That is the only time I can remember anything even resembling trouble A bit pathetic really.

🤣 yeh the little gobby ones .. brilliant

 

[jimmerd]

My local city arcade was pretty smart and the police would pop in for a game on a regular basis, sometimes undercover. You could tell because they would be playing something like captain commando and feeding it £1 coins ( a lot of money back then! ) without really concentrating on the game.

The locals tended to look out for each others, naturally like any public place a few times there were fights between individuals - but it was not tolerated and the staff would take care of it.

Now and again random people 'asked' for money (or 'being shaken down' as it was known) but I always found the best/cheaper solution was to offer somebody a free credit, they would go from wanting to rob you to your best friend instantly.

In some ways you do learn some useful social skills in that kind of environment, such as how to be tactful when you beat somebody at a vs game.

 

[Retroman839]

My local city arcade was pretty smart and the police would pop in for a game on a regular basis, sometimes undercover. You could tell because they would be playing something like captain commando and feeding it £1 coins ( a lot of money back then! ) without really concentrating on the game.

The locals tended to look out for each others, naturally like any public place a few times there were fights between individuals - but it was not tolerated and the staff would take care of it.

Now and again random people 'asked' for money (or 'being shaken down' as it was known) but I always found the best/cheaper solution was to offer somebody a free credit, they would go from wanting to rob you to your best friend instantly.

In some ways you do learn some useful social skills in that kind of environment, such as how to be tactful when you beat somebody at a vs game.

😙 yeh to keep the peace

 

[John Bennett]

Our arcades were by the seaside and usually smelt of chips and vinegar.
I recall many of those circular bins with ashtrays on top and empty chip trays rammed into them.
Lots of machines had those little metal ashtrays on them too: https://arcade-expert.nl/Metalen-asbak,-opbouw?Lng=en.

edit: Oh and half the machines usually had a fault of some sort - monitor, or joysticks usually, and you could rarely hear the sound from the game you were playing.
You could usually hear the Hot Rod theme, 'Play Astro Blaster' or the noise from those horse racing games though.

Just random bits of reminiscing