Arcade grime. It’s a constant in the hobby. Dealing with 35-year-old equipment comes with many downsides. Aside from questionable reliability, your newly acquired classic arcade cabinet is likely to arrive with the filthy airborne residue from the environment they’ve been located in – smoky arcades, bars, barns, garages and warehouses. It is inevitable that over…
Category: Article
The Arcade Glow
I often get asked how many classic arcade machines I actually own. My collection is pretty modest compared to some collectors, and tends to be split into two parts – one indoors and one outdoors! My ‘indoor’ collection is my pride and joy – those cabinets that I think I will never part with. These…
Arcade Raid! Idaho Hotel & Barn
A rather grim arcade raid tale to share with you this week. With a population in the hundreds, Idaho City is a small town that sits north west of Boise, Idaho. Like many smaller towns across America, it didn’t escape the influx of classic arcade machines during the Golden Age of arcade gaming. Today, locals…
The Atari Arcade Theatre Kiosk
Last year I wrote an article which looked at some of Atari’s early industrial design concept drawings. I was looking again at that piece last night, and one picture jumped out at me: It’s an intriguing idea and one that never really took off. This is what Atari called its ‘Theatre’ concept. Designed to maximise…
Classic Arcades: Early 80’s News Reports
When the “Golden Age” of classic video games hit the American mainstream, much of the country was somewhat bemused by this new phenomena. Adults didn’t know what had hit them, as millions of teenagers across the country spent many waking hours in dark arcades that had sprung up all over the USA. From laundromats to…
Kan Yabumoto: Mad Planets
This week saw the passing of Kan Yabumoto, creator of Gottlieb’s Mad Planets arcade video game. Very sad news indeed – Kan was well-respected and admired by all who knew him. As a game designer in the early eighties, he was one of the behind-the-scenes unsung heroes of the Golden Age of video gaming –…
Arcade Raid! Outdoor Halloween Nightmare
An extraordinary set of pictures landed on the desk of Arcade Blogger this week detailing an arcade raid which took place almost 20 years ago. I did some digging around and found out what I could about it so that I could document this raid here on the blog. As I’ve written before, as more…
Weekend Pickup! Arcade Parts Haul
One of the drawbacks of maintaining a blog is constantly wondering if you’re getting things right, so it’s always useful to receive comments from readers. I’ve had a variety of questions, opinions and feedback via my ‘contact’ page. The blog medium doesn’t lend itself to two way dialogue, so it is always reassuring to know…
The Pinball Wizard Arcade
One of the highlights of my annual trips to the USA, is dropping by Pinball Wizard Arcade located in Pelham, New Hampshire. A short drive North of Boston, this arcade is ostensibly on the way to Funspot further up into New Hampshire. So if you’re in the area, you must turn off the I93 and…
A hole in the Atari Battlezone story
An interesting piece of arcade minutia to share this week. Atari’s upright Battlezone cabinet is an imposing beast. Standing at just over 6 feet tall, the machine towers over the player and most of its contemporaries. Although shared by Atari title Red Baron, the cabinet design is instantly recognizable by its sheer size and bright…
The Arcade Blogger 