What were your laundromat arcade machines?

#1 Posted by GalacticGravy (433 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

I have fond memories of being a kid and finding arcades in all of those places that make you wait or were just for general errands. The barber, the laundromat, the deli on the corner...

What were yours? Mine were:

Addams Family pinball machine - Laundromat

Samurai Showdown - Barber

Aero Fighters 2 - Grocery

#2 Posted by MonetaryDread (1459 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

My high-school had a full blown arcade across the street (it's still fully operational today), so that is where I did my arcade gaming.

The laundromat closest to my house still has a copy of Strikers 1945 by Psikyo.

#3 Posted by mosespippy (2610 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

My dad went on a lot of business trips when I was a kid. The airport had a The Simpsons Arcade Game and I think it had Turtles in Time and a Mortal Kombat 2 but I didn't watch TMNT as a kid and thought Mortal Kombat was for older kids. Mrs. Pac Man must have been pretty popular because there was a cocktail Mrs Pac Man at the Greyhound Station in Brandon, and standup cabinets at the diner by the ferry terminal on Bell Island and in the candy shop in Downtown St. John's. My university had a Virtua Cop 2 and a House of the Dead as well as a Junk Yard Pinball and a couple others that I never looked at (the arcade there is basically a storage closet with a change machine) while the bowling alley had San Francisco Rush 2. The only one I really put any time into was The Simpson's though.

#4 Posted by JoeyIA (653 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

Pizza place - Simpsons

Bowling alley - TMNT

Gas station - Double Dragon

#5 Posted by uniform (1787 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

Pizza place had Ms. Pac-man
Corner store had Dig Dug
 
That's all I can remember. Eighties are a little foggy for me.

#6 Posted by ninjakiller (3405 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

Ms. Pac-Man at bar we always went to eat at.

#7 Posted by TheHBK (4884 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

The first Marvel vs Capcom and the liquor store next door had Terminator 2 the Arcade Game, fucking awesome. And the car wash still has Metal Slug.

#8 Edited by WilltheMagicAsian (1521 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

Golden Tee, MvC1, Raiden, and Addams Family pinball were at my Laundromat.

I had better alternatives to get my Arcade fix though, Max Sportsters in San Rafael and Alladin's Castle at Northgate Mall in Terra Linda was where I spent my allowance and youth.

Max Sportsters had a Title Fight cabinet which was like the biggest cabinet I had ever seen at the time.

#9 Posted by GalacticGravy (433 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

My brothers played ice hockey and I was the fat, sedentary middle child so I would often play NFL Blitz and Buster Bros, as those were the 2 machines by the snack bar at the rink.

#10 Posted by JasonR86 (7734 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

I remember Willow, Ghouls and Ghosts, Hard Drivin', and NBA Give'N'Go.

#11 Posted by Hot_Karl (3309 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

I never really went to laundromats when I was young, and even then, we'd never go to the same one, so I don't have that experience.

I went to a laundromat with my roommate when I was living in Irvine in this sketchy part of Santa Ana, and they had a weird Street Fighter II machine that was made to run Ms. Pac Man. Ghetto as hell.

#12 Posted by Iamsam3 (1 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

Spyhunter - Video store

Vigilante - Video store

WWF Wrestlefest - Movie theater

#13 Posted by Rolyatkcinmai (2536 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago
#14 Posted by nintendoeats (5970 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

I never had one, but there is an Adams Family at our airport.

#15 Posted by NTM (6427 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

Pong and Pacman. Yeah.

#16 Edited by WilltheMagicAsian (1521 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago
#17 Posted by upwarDBound (654 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

One laundromat I remember going to had a sit down Castlevania arcade cabinet. I think it was a rom of the NES version.

I went to the nearby Circle K to get my Neo Geo fix.

#18 Posted by Wicked_Wumpus (158 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

The local pool/skating rink had WWF WrestleFest which was sweet as well as an old Foosball style hockey game.

I played most of my arcade games at the movie theater (Cruisin USA) or at Putt Putt, the mini golf place (X-men Arcade)

#19 Posted by GalacticGravy (433 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

Oh yeah a bowling alley by me had House of the Dead and Daytona USA. I remember that Daytona theme so well. It's burned into my brain.

Daaaytooonaaaaaa....

#20 Posted by MysteriousBob (6201 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

I live in the North of England, I've never had a local arcade or... any arcade for that matter.

#21 Posted by PerfidiousSinn (594 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

X-Men Arcade and The Simpsons.

My dad and I kept going back to play those even after we got a washer/dryer in our house. And I don't think we ever actually beat The Simpsons.

#22 Posted by Dagbiker (6368 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

I didnt go to the laundromat, but i had a dentist who had a street fighter II ( i want to say ), and motorstorm, or somthing like it.

#23 Posted by Bleeble (93 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

Die Hard Arcade, Bust-A-Move, and some SNK machine that I can't remember all the games on it, because I usually just played Metal Slug.

#24 Edited by Sargus (657 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

I only ever remember going to a laundromat once, and I don't even remember why (my family has always had laundry machines in the house). I was really young, so I don't remember it vividly, but I WANT to say there was maybe a NeoGeo machine there with Bust-A-Move and Samurai Showdown or something... Mostly I remember a soap opera being on the TV.

#25 Posted by Metric_Outlaw (1113 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

The laundry mat my family had to occasionally go to had a Samurai Showdown machine. However my aunt owns a skating rink where I got to go after hours and play unlimited Simpsons Arcade and Metal Slug 2.

#26 Posted by sopranosfan (1907 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

Pizza Place and pool hall both had Gallaga and I still love that game.

#27 Posted by hwy_61 (874 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

This fast food joint me and my brother were always at had a Raiden Fighters cabinet. That game was so badass!

#28 Posted by Bonsai (92 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

Pizza place- Alien vs. Predator which was later replaced by NBA Jam. 
 
Laundromat- Pacman, Galaga.

#29 Edited by pantzing_nome (546 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

A barber shop near my house had a Tetris machine

A Love at First Bite(pizza place) had a Alien3: The Gun and a Golden Axe machine

#30 Posted by chrismafuchris (993 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

The laundromat had Marvel vs. Capcom 2
The pizzeria had Mortal Kombat 2
The roller rink had Super Pacman, Pole Position and Street Fighter II

5 of the best arcade games were all within a 20 minutes walk from my house.

#31 Posted by crusader8463 (13079 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

Never been to a landromat. When arcades were a thing the only place in my area was at the bowling alley. Many an hour was spent on that aerosmith light gun game.

#32 Posted by Claude (15850 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

From '83 to '86, My ship lived on Pier 21 in Norfolk, Virginia and at the end of that pier was a laundromat and my gaming heaven. Pole Position and Star Wars were my favorites.

#33 Posted by Zleunamme (546 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

Growing up in San Antonio, Texas there were a some places that had arcade cabinets. Nowadays the only place I find arcades are bowling alleys and movie theaters.

The laundromat I went had Super Mario Bros and Ms. Pac man. A third game I can't remember. The laundromat became a Blockbuster and is now a liquor store.

When North Star mall had an arcade. I played Mortal Kombat 2, NBA Jam and a version of Tetris.

When I use to live Mexico, the little bodega close to my home had a Street Fighter 2 cabinet.

#34 Posted by HerbieBug (2633 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

Corner store had SFII: World Warrior
 
Other corner store had Mortal Kombat and X-Men. 

#35 Edited by nate6858 (107 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

I can think of a few .. the convenience store down the street from my friend's house had a couple of arcade machines that they changed out fairly regularly ... the ones I remember the most were Karnov and Cabal. The grocery store we went to was the same way, but the only one I remember was Rolling Thunder. The pizza place we ate at sometimes had Smash TV and some sort of baseball game with robots .. it might have been Super Baseball 2020 but I'm not sure. The roller skating rink had a bunch but Zaxxon was definitely the highlight. Man I miss those days. Except for the part where I never had enough quarters.

#36 Posted by GalacticGravy (433 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

I worked as the DJ of a roller skating rink for a year or so (i also used to go there often as a child). They had 8-10 arcade machines by the snack bar and between sessions, on my breaks, I would sit by there and eat. I vividly remember sitting there and hearing the same loop from The Simpsons arcade machine over and over and over every weekend that I worked. Also they had Revolution-X (to date my favorite machine) and Star Wars Arcade. I remember those 3 blasting at full volume while I miserably ate my lunch. Without the screaming of 100+ children those arcades were at ear-damaging volumes.

#37 Posted by stryker1121 (941 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

The mall near my house had a full-blown arcade, so lots of time was spent there plugging quarters into TMNT. 7-11 was always swapping out games. Gauntlet, Elevator Action and this Dragon's Lair type flash game (whatever the genre's called) but with armed helicopters. I sucked at it.

#38 Posted by Lunar_Aura (2780 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

Before it used to be some flavor of Rainbow Street Fighter II

Now that equivalent would be Neo Geo cabs with hacked ROMs, I shit you not. My local laundromat has them.

#39 Posted by yakov456 (1772 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

Karate Champ. And this is circa 2000. Pretty sad.

#40 Posted by GlenTennis (3128 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

We didn't have any, but the Round Table Pizza had Hydro Thunder.

#41 Edited by Fajita_Jim (1463 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

Mrs. Pacman, Galaga and Centipede and the laundromat. Didn't go often unless the dryer or wash was broke.
 
Pizza Hut had Super Mario Bros., and they're responsible for my gaming addiction. SMB = NES so it began. (The Atari 2600 was dull, even back then. Bleep...blop.)

#42 Edited by ThePhantomnaut (5860 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

Laundry, SNK stand up Neo Geo MVS with Metal Slug, Samurai Shodown 2, and KOF 97.

#43 Posted by Zephyria (59 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

Pac-Man and one of the Mortal Kombat games are the ones I remember. I was at the laundromat fairly often back in the day.

#44 Posted by PatPandaHat (108 posts) - 1 year, 3 months ago

Laundromat - Popeye.

Grocery - World Heroes.

Bowling Alley - Mortal Kombat.

The local Pizza Hut had a Neo-Geo cabinet with the original Art of Fighting and Fatal Fury on it, so that was nice.

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