Some arcade moments in the US

[liquidx]

So, a couple of weeks ago, my girlfriend and I came back from a trip to the US.

Our trip was mainly about getting away from civilization and doing a lot of trekking in nature which we enjoy a lot. So it wasn't really arcade-related, but we did visit a few places that might interest some people here.


We landed in San Francisco and spent a couple of days there first, where we visited the "Musée Mécanique" which is all about very early coinop machines. It does feature some arcade and pinball games too though.

Here are a few photos:
































The Pacific Pinball museum us also in the area but we didn't get the time to visit it. Next time maybe.

[liquidx]

After leaving San Francisco, and heading down south, we stopped in a place that should seem familiar to any movie-watching child of the eighties.

Does this look familiar to anyone?



Or this?




Both are shown straight from the the opening credits.



Yep, it's the Santa Carla Santa Cruz beach boardwalk, as featured in:




And if you head down this way:




You see signs like these:






So let's head into Smuggler's Arcade…

Yup, still quite a few classics in here (and very dark too, pretty rare these days in an arcade)







Heading further down the boardwalk, we enter the bigger "Casino" arcade:




Lots of stuff here.









Exploring a little, I start spotting classics hidden among the more recent offerings:












What's this? A Track&Field, an Asteroids? And what's that sign I spy behind them? "Classic Corner", that sounds good…




Getting closer…



Behind the Asteroids.




And here it is:







This guy was quite vocal while he played:






And that's it for Santa Cruz.

[liquidx]

The next 2 weeks were spent away from all that stuff and enjoying the great outdoors:








By the way, while crossing Death Valley, I spotted this little sign that owners of that classic cowboy dueling game should enjoy:

[liquidx]

And after all that, we spent 3 days in Vegas, quite a shock after the peace and quiet of the desert.

Most hotels/casinos have an arcade, you've seen most of them in other reports here, like Nuno's. I checked out gameworks which was not very interesting, they did have that 4 player pacman table though. Other arcades I just looked at while passing but didn't even enter. Always the same drivers and shooters…

However, we did head to the Pinball Hall of Fame which is off the strip and in a completely nondescript building, you'd easily pass it without knowing.

My girlfriend and I spent nearly 4 hours in there playing pinball. I also got the chance to try the Stern Rolling Stones pinball which I thought really sucked (I gave my extra game to a kid there it was so boring), so I hope they do better with Tron.

There was also a small collection of arcade classics there. The light was very contrasted, dark in one side, light in the other, so getting good pics was difficult, but here are a few:
















































Also spotted these in the casinos, maybe Nuno can add them to his Star Wars corner?







There you go, hope you enjoyed the eating of your bandwidth by all my photos

[Etienne MacGyver]

Thanks for all those great pics !  

[gyruss]

Awesome post! thanks for sharing.

[Belike]

Seems like those guys in the US. have all of our most wanted cabs.
Thanks for this great report and for the nice pics.

[kroustibat]

really great pictures. Incredible there's still that much classics still operated. You'll never see a pacman operated in here...

[Q*ris]

really great pictures. Incredible there are still that much classics in use. You'll never see a pacman operated in here...

+1!
So cool that they are still present amongst the new games and that they are still played.
Another proof that these beasts were made to last!
Love the pics too, I want to work there!...Do you know if they would hire a belgian guy in one of those arcades?
I make great coffee and I could explain the games in french to the tourists.

[kroustibat]

i'm sure they don't have a tax per cabinet like in belgium (175euros per cab every year)....

[DarthNuno]

Awesome post! Thanks for sharing these pictures with us! 

[scr33n]

 

I love this kind of post !!!

Thanks 

[Superully]

wow, what a cool report. incredible to see that so many classics survived "in the wild"! and so many rarities:

death race - uaaah! wacko - look at that cabinet, makes you wanna push it into the horizontal!

my favorite combo is that paddle battle next to the q*berts cube - what a sight

thx a lot for sharing, wonderful report with tons of pictures.

[liquidx]

Love the pics too, I want to work there!...Do you know if they would hire a belgian guy in one of those arcades?
I make great coffee and I could explain the games in french to the tourists.

As long as you can make microphone announcements in a monotone voice about laser tag games starting and ending you should get the job.

[liquidx]

Small update. I was sorting photos from my trip and came across our visit to Fremont Street in Vegas.


As we were walking down the street, I noticed this hanging high up above our heads:







It was probably related to this establishment at the other end of the street:




I did go in and take a look, but didn't get any photos, you can find plenty on their own site.

It's pretty cool, you can play consoles at the bar, there are arcade games near the door and even private areas to play with your friends.

I didn't hang around long though, it was late, the place was packed, it was very smoky in there and the music was loud.

If you want to play, it's probably better to go there during the day time. At night it seems to be the hip place to be in Vegas at the moment.