[report online] Going on a trip: Arcade spots in Europe

[anunaki]

Hi,

I have a plan of making a trip trough Europe visiting some Arcade related spots. I will do together this with a friend of mine how is a hobby fotographer, so we can make a great report of it.

The only thing is: we don't know that many places to go. We only know of a arcade museum in Berlin and an impressive looking arcade near Prague.

I want your help with this. What are good  places to go on the European continent? It can be an arcade  or maybe you think it's fun when we come to your place. Please let me know.

Greetz, Patrick

[Etienne MacGyver]

Cool idea to travel from gameroom to gameroom through europe !

people take your change now for a perfect EADS!  

Bring a video cam and shoot alot of footage with interviews and after that, create a cool documentary about all the gamerooms over europe 

[level42]

Save all the money from the Euro trip and buy a flight to Boston instead.

Print out about 10 or so of these: http://www.funspotnh.com/mws-coupon.htm (even better, subscribe to their e-mail listing and you might get even 75 worth of tokens extra)

Rent the smallest car you can get, drive to Weir's Beach, New Hampshire in about 2 hours and find a _nice_ motel (not the 1849 something....it sucks).

Drive to Fun Spot and go to the cashier near the bowling lanes and use those coupons While you're there, ask the cashier for Gary, he is always pleased to meet true arcade game lovers, esp. if they are from far.....oh and tell Gary I sent you and say hi for me

Enjoy the rest of your stay at Fun Spot. All the classics you will ever want, they even got a "MK/SF" section and a nice range of new(er) games.

300+ machines to enjoy for a very low price per game: http://www.classicarcademuseum.org/gamelist.htm

On the way back, and you still didn't have enough, you can go here:
http://www.pinballwizardarcade.com/gallery/

A trip you will never forget

[anunaki]

I will go to Funspot another time. One of the things about this trip is that is´s going to be cheap, because my friend is "between 2 jobs" ATM

It will be great fun going on a trip together

[level42]

If you really want to stick to Europe, here are some things to think about:

There are not that many places worth-wile in Europe. You can divide them in three sections:

1) The modern-day still around arcades. I know they are still there in Scheveningen, Renesse, Vlissingen, a brand new one in Tilburg, not sure if the place with the 360 near Venlo is still open ?, some arcades in Valkenburg might still be there.
However, don't expect a lot of classics or even candies. The Belgian coast-line was always famous for arcades, just like the British with it's piers, but they all have the same problem....less and less videogames, more and more redemption games.

2) Museums/Clubs. Those are interesting but pretty rare. There's a very nice museum in Denmark: http://www.playright.dk/museum/udstilling/
I also know of a club in Karlsruhe http://www.retrogames.info which looks very cool. AFAIK these are both not open everyday, so you will have to carefully plan your visits.
The Berlin museum is ...uh.....hotly debated here.....https://www.dragonslairfans.com/smfor/index.php?topic=2458.0

3) Private collectors. Of course, with these guys, it all depends if they are willing and able to receive you. Some of these people throw yearly parties, so they can "focus" all those visitors on one date. But again, some guys may PM you if you are welcome

You're welcome in my gameroom, but I have the same problem....I'll need to clear it up for you guys to visit and "be around" the day you would visit...this is one (small) reason to organize Eurocades

[level42]

I will go to Funspot another time. One of the things about this trip is that is´s going to be cheap, because my friend is "between 2 jobs" ATM

It will be great fun going on a trip together

Sure it would be a load of fun ! But I'm not sure which is cheaper: buying gas for loads of km's driving around Europe or a ticket to Boston. If you can plan outside holiday-seasons tickets are not that expensive.

[anunaki]

Wel the tickets are at least 400 pp, you can drive a lot of km for that kind of money.

especially in my father in law's hybrid car

or is it possible to get cheaper tickets?

[Blanka]

And wasn't there some obscure Russian underground arcade?
And just too late for Game On Budapest (that one is in Toronto till September)
And you could visit the Bonami museum in Epe
And don't forget Bruno

[Donkey]

Places in Denmark: https://www.dragonslairfans.com/smfor/index.php?topic=4205.0

[ckong]

Funspot is the place to be, worth a bit more bucks.

[anunaki]

If you really want to stick to Europe, here are some things to think about:

There are not that many places worth-wile in Europe. You can divide them in three sections:

1) The modern-day still around arcades. I know they are still there in Scheveningen, Renesse, Vlissingen, a brand new one in Tilburg, not sure if the place with the 360 near Venlo is still open ?, some arcades in Valkenburg might still be there.
However, don't expect a lot of classics or even candies. The Belgian coast-line was always famous for arcades, just like the British with it's piers, but they all have the same problem....less and less videogames, more and more redemption games.

2) Museums/Clubs. Those are interesting but pretty rare. There's a very nice museum in Denmark: http://www.playright.dk/museum/udstilling/
I also know of a club in Karlsruhe http://www.retrogames.info which looks very cool. AFAIK these are both not open everyday, so you will have to carefully plan your visits.
The Berlin museum is ...uh.....hotly debated here.....https://www.dragonslairfans.com/smfor/index.php?topic=2458.0

3) Private collectors. Of course, with these guys, it all depends if they are willing and able to receive you. Some of these people throw yearly parties, so they can "focus" all those visitors on one date. But again, some guys may PM you if you are welcome

You're welcome in my gameroom, but I have the same problem....I'll need to clear it up for you guys to visit and "be around" the day you would visit...this is one (small) reason to organize Eurocades

Tx,

I meant the Karlsruhe museum, but for some some reason I thought it was in Berlin.

The original idea was to go to both Berlin (must be Karlsruhe, even better cause on the way) and Prague, but then we though maybe we can add some places to this trip. My friend has all this great fotography stuff, so that's how it came up.

[gyruss]

There is also supposed to be an arcade in a bowling place called Bison in Utrecht. The guy who told me said there were more then 15 machines.. I'll check it out soon, it's right next to the stairway to heaven cafe from Henk Westbroek..

[level42]

Almere had a modern day arcade too a couple of years ago, no idea if the are still around though....

[gyruss]

Don't think so, i remember I looked it up a few years ago and it's now a full fledged party center without any games...

[SeTTleR]

Hi,
besides the Retro Gamers, there is also For Amusement Only which is located in Rodenbach near Frankfurt/Main in Germany. This is actually not that far away from Karlsruhe. Infos on their german webpage here: http://foramusementonly.de/ These people over there are really nice and they have a huge collection! Unfortunately it is only opened on day in the month, but maybe you can write them a mail and ask if there is any possibility to visit that place.

There is also a Pinball museum in Neuwied which is at the Rhine between Bonn and Koblenz: www.flippermuseum.eu
And there is a Pinball museum in Schwerin: http://extraball.de/