44 years ago (22 May 1980 to be precise), the first Puck Man machine was placed in an arcade in Tokyo’s Shibuya district, starting a worldwide global videogaming phenomenon. Today, Namco’s Pac-Man remains one of the most recognisable video game characters, transcending popular culture. I won’t rehash the story, but I wrote about the development…
Tag: arcade
Super Pang Kabuki Chip Repair
You may have noticed that I don’t share many repairs here on the blog. Although useful (and I’m glad people do share their knowledge) I think they’re pretty dry to read and I don’t tend to tackle repairs – and when I do, they aren’t always successful! My arcade technical expertise is rather limited –…
Atari’s Mike Jang
Some sad news to report on the blog this week. I got word that long-time Industrial Designer at Atari coin-operated division, Mike Jang, has passed away. I’ve known Mike since 2016, and whilst we never met, he was always on the other end of an email answering my questions and providing really valuable input into…
The TDE Podcast Ep 31: Dr Alan Meades
Episode 31 of the Ted Dabney Experience podcast is available now for your listening pleasure! If you enjoy reading ArcadeBlogger.com, you’ll love the other project I’m involved with: Dr Alan Meades teaches the undergraduate and post-graduate game design courses at Canterbury Christ Church University and is the author of Arcade Britannia, published by MIT Press….
Saving an Arcade Workshop: The legacy of Automatic Services Limited
If you’re a regular reader of the blog, you’ll have read several articles where I’ve been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to go through old collections or stashes of arcade cabinets. This is where arcade collectors get together to acquire, rescue, save (call it what you will) artifacts from the arcade industry. Often cabinets…
A Return to Arcade Odyssey
My recent trip to the USA allowed me some time to check out a few arcades, specifically one of my favourites in Miami, FL. The last time I reviewed Arcade Odyssey, was a good five years ago. You can check that out here. The upshot I concluded back then, was that this was probably the…
California Extreme Arcade Expo 2023
I promised I’d share some pictures from my visit in August this year to the California Extreme arcade expo, so, here we go! Hosted at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Santa Clara, the event describes itself as the ultimate celebration of coin operated pinball machines and video games. What makes the event so special is…
The TDE Podcast Ep 30: Atari Engineer Dave Sherman
Episode 30 of the Ted Dabney Experience podcast is available now for your listening pleasure! If you enjoy reading ArcadeBlogger.com, you’ll love the other project I’m involved with: Dave Sherman joined Atari shortly prior to Nolan Bushnell’s departure and was at the company through its precipitous near-collapse and subsequent restructuring during the infamous market crash…
The Madness of Sega’s Arcade Super Circuit
I wanted to take a look this week at an unusual arcade release from 1989, Sega’s Super Circuit. This hybrid arcade title took the concept of first person driving and ramped up the immersion, to give players a real world birds eye view of racing against their fellow arcade goers. The game was released at…
A Return to Retrovolt Arcade
I should start with an apology for the lack of posts here in recent weeks. The summer has been a busy time, but we can put that right as we head towards the end of the year. One of the things I did during August was a ten day trip to California, taking in a…
The Arcade Blogger 