Jeff & Brian's Top 10 Arcades! (Thread)

[brain galacki]

Wow, Jeff it's time for us to both list our our top 10 arcades we have ever been to.

Rest of the forum, feel free to participate as well. Maybe we'll do bottom 10 worst arcades another time.

I'm just gonna list 'em out and then under the list write a short description.

1. GAME TERMINAL (Nashville, TN)
2. CP PINBALL (South Roxanna, IL)
3. GALLOPING GHOST ARCADE (Brookfield, IL)
4. I/O ARCADE BAR (Madison, WI)
5. MAIN STREET AMUSEMENTS (Lafayette, IN)
6. LOGAN ARCADE (Chicago, IL)
7. ARCADIA (McLean, IL)
8. PINBALL ON PERRY (Attica, IN)
9. HIGH SCORE SALOON (Evansville, IN)
10. TILT AMUSEMENTS (Decatur, IL)

Okay let's break it down:
1. Okay I already talked about this one in the other thread. Like 100 pinball machines, all top notch and in perfect condition. Arcade perfection right here.
2. The closest bang for your buck here in Springfield is CP PINBALL when it comes to pinball. My biggest gripe is that they are only open on Saturdays and have even cut their hours back since before the pandemic. Let's hope their new location will change that. $25 entry for unlimited play all day long and you can always expect them to have the greatest and latest games along with some gems of other eras.
3. GALLOPING GHOST is the largest arcade in the world and is a spectacle. You must go here before you die. The pinball building is a good pinball arcade but no where near as massive as the warehouses full of standing arcades in the main building. You will get lost and have an anxiety attack in their very cramped and narrow passageways. This is an experience.
4. Oh yeah I almost forgot my pinball adventures in Madison. BJ will say that "GEEK MANIA" is the best arcade ever, but that's not even making it into my top 10. This other spot, I/O Arcade Bar is. It's one of the first places that got SCOOBY DOO, probably the first place to get a lot of other new games. They got a great mix of everything. New Sterns were $1 play and I remember a lot of other games were $0.50 to play. Just an all around great barcade and they have a lot of space too. This was the hip place to be in Madison.
5. Oh yeah I've had many pinball expeditions in the Indiana regions. You know what, Indiana is even a better pinball state than Central Illinois. This one in the heart of downtown Lafayette is a gem. They had just about every SPOOKY PINBALL game when I was there, which was my first time playing a lot of those games. They had the mythical BIG BAM BAR as well, and some other extremely rare games (my first time playing games with banana flippers). Games were quarter play.
6. LOGAN ARCADE is probably the best pinball arcade in Chicago. Galloping Ghost is an experience in and of it's own, but Logan is just solid. The real pinsters go there. And sometimes there's an animatronic band so you know it's high up on my list.
7. ARCADIA in McLean of course has it's flaws - there are screaming slobbery kids running around, a lot of times a lot of the games are down, and you don't want to meet the owner because you'll get sucked in to him talking about how much he loves Donald Trump or something. but just the fact that these multiple buildings and air bnb's exist in this tiny lil downtown of this tiny town called McClean is a marvel in and of itself. We are extremely lucky to be so close, and I hope people keep supporting it enough for it to stick around.
8. Traveling in and out of Lafayette you will pass through ATTICA, Indiana (if you take the back roads) and come across a town probably just about as tiny as McClean - there is this spot in one of the downtown buildings called PINBALL ON PERRY. It's similar to Arcadia, except just one big room, and features a lot of newer games. Like a lot of Jersey Jacks even?? (I played Wizard of Oz for the first time here). Oh and the great Whodini by American Pinball, which game me like a 14 ball multiball!
9. Okay speaking of Indiana I guess I have to list HIGH SCORE SALOON since they are our buddies or something. Really a great barcade in downtown Evansville, I haven't been to their new location though and the one time I was at the old location we were doing a pinball trade and I probably didn't spend much time actually playing games.
10. My 10th spot only half counts because it's not actually opened to the public, although it probably wouldn't be too hard to become friends with Troy and then ask him when the next "open house" he is having at his spot, TILT AMUSEMENTS. He is currently adding another warehouse to his setup and something tells me once that is all set up he might be even more in the direction of having "open houses" that are more open to the public. My mind was absolutely blown that this collection of pinballs exists in Decatur, Illinois. We're talking BIG LEBAWSKI and all of the games you could ever possibly want to play ever. Wow.

I typed up most of this while Jack is shopping in the store!

[jeffradon2000]

So my list is basically just going to be Brian's list, except there are locations I haven't been to so I can't officially count them. However what makes my list a little different is the places I used to go years before all my time was sucked up by Dumb Record operations and being a Dad. It's been a long time since I've been to some of these locations and they have probably changed a lot, just as pinball has changed a lot in the past 10 years.

1. CP Pinball
2. Galloping Ghost
3. Game Galaxy (Nashville, TN)
4. Flippers Arcade (near Outer Banks, NC)
5. Pinballz (Austin, TX)
6. Game Preserve (Houston, TX)
7. The Strong National Museum of Play (Rochester, NY)
8. Arcadia
9. High Score Saloon (Evansville, IN)
10. Silver Ballroom (St Louis)

Bad Arcades:
Start Bar (St Louis)
WLD
Garcias


1. CP Pinball has been my favorite spot since the beginning. I've watched the place grow and change over time. When I first went there they did not have every new pinball coming out, although there weren't that many new games coming out anyway. New games weren't really the focus, just having a lot of nice working games was great. The newest game at the time was the first Stern Avengers pin and you had to wait in line to play. It was still 3 rooms full of pinballs, but of course there were a lot of older 80s and EMs back then. I remember 2015 being a big year there as they got both Wizard of Oz and Stern Star Trek. Wizard of Oz was kind of a Star Wars episode 1 moment. The anticipation was very high that there might be another legit pinball company out there that could compete with Stern, and then after a few games the excitement wore off pretty fast, especially with Star Trek proving to be an exceptional game. There was also a stretch of time that it was going to be closed forever, maybe 6 months or so before it reopened. I believe Chuck was getting sad about low attendance and didn't want to mess with it anymore but then his buddy needed a job so he put his buddy in charge of operating it. Then I guess Troy started hanging around and the place transformed and now we're in the present day of getting every new and exciting game. Btw this is another arcade where you really don't want to talk to the owner as Chuck is also not fun to hang out with. It will be exciting to see what a new version of this is going to look like this summer.

2. The first time I went to Galloping Ghost was before they opened the pinball location. They had a few pinballs tucked way in the back which were completely broken and unplayable. Still the arcades were cool as I probably appreciate classic arcades a little more than Brian. I had to be selective on where I spent time as I knew I could easily spend all day on a few games and not get to everything. It is a lot to take in for sure. It was also fun to see streamers playing with their cameras going as well as people working to get the highest scores in the world on certain games. The guy holding the highest score in the world on Bubbles wouldn't leave me alone when I was trying to play it. I've been there a couple times since the pinball location was open. At first it was only a few pinballs and then the last time I was there they had expanded and added a lot more. Although they have the largest arcade collection in the world, you can tell they're not trying to go for the largest pinball collection, too. They're curating their lineup on what's affordable and interesting. I feel Doc is probably a horror nerd like everyone else around here and tends to collect games that fit that mold as there are a lot of horror themed pinballs there. I like this collection as there are quite a few rare pins that you don't see other places such as the original heighway Aliens which is a real treat when it's working. They also have a prototype Predator machine which looks way cooler than it plays. Unfortunately the downside to this place is they aren't keeping up with the maintenance on all these games. I figure they get a ton of visitors and it's got to be really hard to keep up even with a whole team of techs. I also get the feeling Doc is more interested in getting that next exciting game rather than maintaining what he's got, can't blame him tho as I know the feeling.

3. I visited Game Galaxy on recommendation from a friend. This was before Game Terminal existed. This was a cover charge kind of place and it was really cool at the time. Some of the games were down and more had minor problems, however they had a very interesting selection of great and rare games. At the time they were advertising having one of the few fathoms known to exist. They also had a Rocky and a class of 1812 among other cool titles. They also had a good mix of arcades and was the first time I ever saw an Exidy shooting game in real life (like Crossbow). I believe they had a Cheyenne and a Chiller. I think since then they've actually been operating two locations, but I haven't kept track. This was the last arcade where I spent the whole day there with my wife. I think she was finally done hanging out at arcades after this, but she did really like No Good Gofers which led to me eventually getting one for a bit. It probably didn't help that she got food poisoning from eating at the burger place next door.

4. This was a very unexpected place to find. I could never remember what this place was called but I think this is it. So the setting is Cat and I went to the Outer Banks for our babymoon. I really wanted to go see the ocean and didn't really know where to go so we chose the outer banks since they have wild horses hanging out in the surf and Cat likes horses. It was a great trip although I was completely and utterly obsessed with pinball at the time. I had already got my first pinball and I was absolutely obsessed with getting something better, like a 90s williams or something. While we were there one of the restaurants had a FishTales that had some problems that I played a ton of even tho I couldn't really play the game fully. I was scoping out every place all over the outer banks to find any other pinball machines to play. Once it came time to leave, I was stopping to get gas when it turned out the gas station had a pinball arcade! And a really good one too!! I saw a row of machines and was instantly drawn to them and then noticed they had another room or 2 of pinball! Also each machine was immaculate. They also kept the machines turned off when not played so they were probably annoyed with me going around and turning on all the machines. This was also the time when LEDs were first being introduced as a mod for pinballs and many of the games had been upgraded to LED and looked very impressive. I couldn't stay a long time since we needed to get on the road but man that was such a cool spot. 

5. I visited pinballz back in 2013, my last time attending SXSW. I spent a whole day playing pinball there instead of going to shows, that's how obsessed I was. We were also visiting family so I brought my nephews too, who were probably pretty bored about halfway through. One thing that stuck out at this place is that every machine was for sale. They had price tags on all of them although the prices were a bit high. I remember getting to play a lot of games on my wishlist for the first time here. i don't remember any games being super rare although they did have an Elton John EM machine that was in a see through cabinet so you could see all the relays and mechs working as the game played.

6. Cat had family in Houston that we used to visit once a year. While there I would spend one day driving to the other side of the city for Game Preserve. There's really nothing that spectacular about this place other than it has a decent selection of pinball and arcades. It did have an EM room and a vector arcade room which were a nice touch. It also had a big screen in the middle and a dj booth for events. I remember Ghostbusters being the hot new pin last time I was there. I also put up some of my big scores on pinside while playing at this place as I had a lot of time to kill and not too many machines I wanted to play so I spent a lot of time on each one.

7. The play museum is just a great place in general. We were visiting my brother's family and they recommended that we stop there for our kids to check out. This is what the Illinois State Museum's Gen X exhibit would look like if it had an upstate New York budget. Massive themed play areas that makes the Lincoln Museum look cheap. I wasn't even going there thinking about arcades and pinball but it turned out they had a huge arcade and a large selection of pinball. The games were setup like a museum with different themed sections showing the history of the games and they made a point to have many unique and rare games such as a Hercules and a whitewood LOTR. There was a big modern stern section where they had all of the latest releases from the past couple years. I actually visited this place twice while we were there as there was just so much to see and do. 

8. Of course Arcadia has to be on this list as despite the problematic owner, it's still a cool spot. The first time I visited, it was just one building and there were only 4 or 5 pinballs in the back. I remember when he added the bank building for Pinball Paradise and then expanded the original building. I also have stayed at his AirBnB with some friends and that was really fun. One thing John is good at is setting up a space and his buildings are very well maintained and presentable. There were a lot of nice touches at the airbnb. All the bedrooms were very nice, beds were nice, living room had a giant screen with a lot of game consoles to choose from. There were vintage gaming mags on coffee tables and the basement arcade that you get to via spiral staircase was cool, even tho he charged quarters for the pinball. Maybe someday we should have a forum sleepover.

9. I think I like the idea of this place and the guys running it better than the actual location, although I bet their new location is going be cool. I remember in my early pinball days being really disappointed once I met the owners of my favorite arcades and realizing they're really not as cool as I thought they would be. Not so with these guys, although it probably has helped that they have given me good deals on games over the years. Every once an a while Clint and I message each other jokes and shop talk which is always fun. They do have a pretty decent lineup of arcades and pins although they're more interested in making sure their selection is economical and good for business rather than getting something super rare and interesting, although that's kind of where I'm at as well. Their arcade selection is probably more interesting than their pinball selection. They also have a family arcade location that I'm lumping in as it's got plenty of cool arcade machines to check out even if it is a bit light on pinball. i'm excited to see their new place and it's motivating for me to watch them succeed.

10. I probably wouldn't visit Silver Ballroom these days with so many better options around, but it was my first pinball arcade once I got pinball bug bad. I had dropped my wife off at the airport as she was gone for a week, and we didn't have kids yet. So I was feeling like I should do something really cool. I was in St Louis during the day and nothing that had pinball was open except for this place. At this point I haven't bought my first machine yet. I've been playing a lot of emulated pinball on my computer and that's about it. I had built my first arcade which was based on MAME, and I had an idea to build a virtual pinball machine to go with it. I stopped into this place and there was no one there as it was early for a bar to be open. I pretty much had all their pinballs to myself which was only about 8 or so pins at the time. I was in heaven as I spent hours there playing pinball and didn't even mind the punk rock jukebox blasting so loud that you couldn't even hear the pins. Eventually the owner came over to talk to me and I was nerding out about everything I knew about pinball at the time and he was very patient and talking about his games and whatnot. He gave me a free t-shirt. I went back another time or 2 before I discovered CP Pinball and I haven't been back since. I think Brian went once and told me it sucked.


The Bad

Start Bar - I was staying at a hotel in downtown St Louis and couldn't really drive somewhere to play pinball but I could walk to the Start Bar so I thought I would check that place out. The arcade selection is ok. Everything is pricey of course but the pinball sucked. They only had modern sterns and most of them had issues, half were completely unplayable and they were all dirty as heck. They were obviously not doing anything to maintain the pins. It was cool that they had some modern indie arcade games like Killer Queen. It was not cool that the owner got called out multiple times during the pandemic for staying open and being problematic in general.

Sorry WLD but last time I was there I couldn't hear the pinballs at all because the speakers and tvs were so loud. Also Brian and I were the only ones there that seemed to even notice the pinballs and we probably looked like huge nerds to the patrons.

Garcias - ok I actually like Garcias as it's such a charming spot and I like their style of pizza. Just if you go there specifically for the arcade then you'll be disappointed. Most of the games are unplayable or just not able to turn on at all. They did have a modern stern pinball from Troy last time I was there, not sure if it's still there or not. It was just a Star Wars tho so no big whoop. I still don't know the Garcia's story, was it two guys who had a lot of fun building a business together in the 80s, making all those fun posters, and then ended up hating each other? I hope that's not me and Brian. I hope Brian and I will have our picture on the front page of the paper 40 years from now as 2 old grumpy men complaining about the city and threatening to close over some small inconvenience.

[jackparanoia]

Brian is a lean mean typing machine! While I was shopping I heard a lot of clickity clacks and said, "you better not be typing a post on the forum because I'm not going to read all that." It's all numbered though, so it's much easier for me to read. I haven't been to enough arcades to have a top 10, unless you count 1994-2001.

[jeffradon2000]

May 2, 2023 17:18:10 GMT -6 jackparanoia said:

Brian is a lean mean typing machine! While I was shopping I heard a lot of clickity clacks and said, "you better not be typing a post on the forum because I'm not going to read all that." It's all numbered though, so it's much easier for me to read. I haven't been to enough arcades to have a top 10, unless you count 1994-2001.

I want to hear your 1994-2001 arcade recap

[jackparanoia]

May 3, 2023 10:44:49 GMT -6 jeffradon2000 said:

May 2, 2023 17:18:10 GMT -6 jackparanoia said:

Brian is a lean mean typing machine! While I was shopping I heard a lot of clickity clacks and said, "you better not be typing a post on the forum because I'm not going to read all that." It's all numbered though, so it's much easier for me to read. I haven't been to enough arcades to have a top 10, unless you count 1994-2001.

I want to hear your 1994-2001 arcade recap

I lived across the street from Just For Fun in Arlington Heights. I got grounded a lot for stealing change from my parents and walk to the arcade. I will type up my favorite arcades from that era once I finish remembering them all. Chicago's Northwest suburbs had a lot of them.

[opivy82cco]

I gotta visit some more of these arcades! Great forum read!

[opivy82cco]

May 3, 2023 11:21:45 GMT -6 jackparanoia said:

May 3, 2023 10:44:49 GMT -6 jeffradon2000 said:

I want to hear your 1994-2001 arcade recap

I lived across the street from Just For Fun in Arlington Heights. I got grounded a lot for stealing change from my parents and walk to the arcade. I will type up my favorite arcades from that era once I finish remembering them all. Chicago's Northwest suburbs had a lot of them.

This is awesome!