Do you guys still have Arcades around you?

[Ack]

I have one relatively close by called the Joystick Gamebar. The food isn't bad, but the place tends to get pretty crowded, and parking sucks, so I don't visit too often. Here's what they currently have in rotation:

http://joystickgamebar.com/games/

They also have a couple of pinball machines, and the MVS that Metal Slug is in is a four slotter which also contains World Heroes 2, Puzzle Bobble, and Double Dragon(the mid-90s fighting game).

[Frag Mortuus]

There is one in my local mall. However, it's pretty terrible. But back when I was in High School my cousin and I would go there every weekend. They had both old and new games. We would sit in the racing cabs and race each other for literally hours. I loved playing Rival Schools, MvC2, Tekken 4, along with House of the Dead, Silent Scope, Area 51 (best on rail shooter ever) and so on. Now it is all redemption games and Cabella's dear hunting games. It sucks.

Now even further back than that the arcade had the two Dungeon's and Dragon beat em up cabs. A big screen version of KoF95, Street Fighter 3, and pretty much every other awesome game you can think of.

[Bradtemple87]

Currently in NH, so I am fortunate to have Pinball Wizard and Funspot if I am up for the hour and a half drive.

BUT, back home things have gotten really scarce in the Bay Area. Privately run arcades are not a con on thing anymore.

[sneth]

There's a few places around here. Pinball is having a resurgence around this area. Quite a few pinball bars and arcades.

[YoshiEgg25]

Northern Illinois has quite a few. Star Worlds Arcade in DeKalb is my choice; it just celebrated its 29th anniversary and is the oldest still-open arcade in the world. Feels like the '80s and the owners are awesome.

For in Chicago, the owner of Logan Hardware, which has gotten a bit of press over the last year or so, is opening up a new arcade on Monday. Galloping Ghost Arcade in Brookfield is one of the largest arcades, if not the largest, in the world. There's also a couple others in the area.

Basically, if you love arcades, move to Illinois.

[Cronozilla]

There's a pretty good Arcade downtown. It's got Sunset Riders, Raiden, TMNT, Simpsons, House of the Dead, MK2, X-Men, a few Street Fighters, and lots of others. The second floor is almost entirely pinball. It's pretty good.

The only thing that sucks is they own too many games and not enough space. The place is Ground Kontrol, they pretty much did the entire arcade section at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo without taking machines out of the actual arcade. Though, I'm not sure how often games are rotated out.

There's some Wunderlands still around. The Beaverton recently closed and moved to Tanasbourne to become a lot larger, add laser tag and an extremely cheap theater. I haven't been in it yet, from what I hear the game selection has gone to crap. Which sucks, since even five years ago, they had a steady stream of imported arcade games.

As far as I know that's pretty much it. There's a couple other barcades downtown, but I think one of them is exclusively pinball. There's random places that have games throughout the area too. The bowling alley that isn't too far from my house actually has a great selection of games ... the downside is most of them need to be serviced. The games run, but most of the control decks have been extremely abused.

[Octopod]

Currently in NH, so I am fortunate to have Pinball Wizard and Funspot if I am up for the hour and a half drive.

Same for me. The arcades at Hampton/Salisbury Beach had some decent games still last time I went, which was at least a couple years ago, but they also had a lot of broken down machines.

[KalessinDB]

None whatsoever in my city (save the handful of games at movie theatres, and I imagine there might still be one in the local amusement park but that's seasonal and I haven't been in years)... if I feel like driving an hour, hour and a half I can be in Niagara Falls and there's a couple there. Boston Pizza has one there for sure, though it's nothing great. Dave and Busters too, but again not that impressive.

Seems like the majority of arcades left are operating nothing but redemption games anyway, at least that I've seen.

Edit: Actually I lied. My city has the National Museum of Play (http://www.museumofplay.org/) in it, which DID recently (within the last 3-5 years) acquire a rather large collection of old video games, including a respectable arcade's worth of standups. BUT, much like movie theatres, you're looking at a separate admission price. Do I REEEEALLLY wanna pay $15 on TOP of feeding quarters? Yeah, yeah occasionally I do. But not that often, honestly.

[BogusMeatFactory]

BUT, much like movie theatres, you're looking at a separate admission price. Do I REEEEALLLY wanna pay $15 on TOP of feeding quarters? Yeah, yeah occasionally I do. But not that often, honestly.

Oh man that sucks. There are arcades out here that are a bit of a drive, but they have the motto of one price, unlimited play and are strongly encouraging the high-score scene on classic games. It is like 2 hours away for me though...which is not fun.

[IrishNinja]

considering Miami's classic gaming scene is quite lacking, i'm lucky to have such an awesome arcade not too far off (which i need to hit up more often!), Arcade Odyssey - http://www.arcadeodyssey.com/

the owner's a big time collector & great guy, ive had a chance to play all kinds've rare/japanese ones i'd never have played otherwise. i was so bummed the other year when they tried a Typing of the Dead halloween contest & not enough people signed up