Do you think 80’s arcades were dark rooms with colorful carpets and neon lights? That was hardly the truth. This video does a fantastic job covering the diverse aesthetics of several chains of amusement centers as they tried to distance themselves from the seedy establishments where teenagers would skip school.
Our mall arcade had no windows, thankfully. The original location was about the width of a British-style pub, with about 12-15 video games down one wall: Pac-Man, Tempest, and even Boot Hill (yes I am not kidding, that old thing) and about 12-15 pinball machines down the other wall (Xenon, Haunted House, they even had one from the '60’s that spent more time out of order than in service). The arcade did so well they moved to a larger space, still with no windows. It had dim lighting, a black light or 2, and patterned carpeting. There was a juke box with 45rpm singles. Kids played Erotic City by Prince until one of the straightedge kids narced and their parents had the managers pull the record from the machine. I played Time Pilot for ages. I played Time Pilot '84 for about as long. Joust, and Crystal Castles, and Gauntlet. The arcade did so well that they expanded into an adjacent space which used to be a tiny hair salon. I remember when Super Pac Man showed up, and Reactor (with the awesome music in the attract screen), and when we first got Karate Champ and Kung-Fu Master, and Star Wars, and that BIG sit-in Star Trek cabinet. Above all, I was obsessed with Dragon’s Lair, and I finally beat it in that very arcade, with only one person watching, well over a year later. I think that arcade lasted into the 1990’s, pretty sure there was a Neo-Geo machine in there the last time I checked it out. I sure remember standing outside the doors after it went out of business.
Those were the days.
“the width of a British-style pub”
the length of a piece of string. the height of a tree. the size of an animal. the colour of a door.