That old arcade feeling

I was just reminiscing about the days I would spend in arcades or any place i could throw quarters away. Remembering that smell that you can never really describe unless you just say an arcade room. You would spend the little bit of money you had on the machines designed to take your money away by force. You then wander around looking for an quarters on the floor,left on machine sticks, or the panel of machines. If the machine you played on had a crowd around it, you would try to watch the other people playing and learn how they played the game. Learning their strategies  or just little secrets they picked up from others. Watching people play Mortal Kombat in ways you didnt imagine and  witnessing your first Fatality. Jumping on a machine with a random guy to help him shoot aliens in Area 51. I miss the arcade community. This also reminded me that recently, a movie theater had a Crusin' World machine that my sister was playing. She was doing well but then I told her to double tap the gas pedal for a boost. She asked me how I knew that. Arcades
 
also can any video game discussion on this site be off topic?

I was just reminiscing about the days I would spend in arcades or any place i could throw quarters away. Remembering that smell that you can never really describe unless you just say an arcade room. You would spend the little bit of money you had on the machines designed to take your money away by force. You then wander around looking for an quarters on the floor,left on machine sticks, or the panel of machines. If the machine you played on had a crowd around it, you would try to watch the other people playing and learn how they played the game. Learning their strategies  or just little secrets they picked up from others. Watching people play Mortal Kombat in ways you didnt imagine and  witnessing your first Fatality. Jumping on a machine with a random guy to help him shoot aliens in Area 51. I miss the arcade community. This also reminded me that recently, a movie theater had a Crusin' World machine that my sister was playing. She was doing well but then I told her to double tap the gas pedal for a boost. She asked me how I knew that. Arcades
 
also can any video game discussion on this site be off topic?

I didn't go to too many arcades as a kid.  However, when I was younger I would go bowling and afterwards we would go into the small arcade that was inside it.
 
They had a "Cruis'n USA" machine, which was my favorite to play.  If I remember, they also had one of those "Revolution X" games with Aerosmith.  Life was a lot easier back as a kid!

Arcades were always a bittersweet experience.  I rarely had many quarters / dollars to spend on those games.  90% of the time I was the kid looking from a few paces back, watching you play that awesome game.  It wasn't until 1999/2000 that I was able to really get into the arcade experience, because I was spending a lot of time at the mall and I was able to practice on games like Hydro Thunder and MvC2 at home on Dreamcast.  I felt confident enough to play competitive with other regulars to that arcade.  Fun times.  But yea seeing TMNT the arcade game and Mortal Kombat and Virtua Racing and so many other awesome games, it was quite the experience.
 
I'm glad that arcade style games are still being made.  I'd be really depressed if they had died off.
 
Finally, I miss arcade hardware.  There was a good many years were the arcade was always far more spectacular than anything you could get at home on console or PC.  Again, it was bittersweet because you wanted to be able to play those games at home, but at least you had something to wish for.

good times with arcades. i didn't go to a lot of them but i would find places with them. i remember a rolling blading place that had a small arcade room that was pitch black and all the light was from the screens. good times. now you find like three of them at bars but pretty boring games. also the movie theaters.

I can still remember the old SEGA "Daytona USA" Arcade System Cabinet at the old bowling alley when I was young. I spent so many quarters on it and the Time Crisis 2/Time Crisis 3 Arcade Cabinets before it shut down in 2005.

Alright, so here's my pitch: 
 
You make a video game club, monthly membership, you serve food and drink. As a member you get tokens and can play all the arcade games, pinball games, and set up console games (controlled from behind the bar) all you like as long as you're a member. 
You could also have lounges for PC game tournaments and typical games you'd find at bars, darts, pool and such. 
 
So that's the only way i see arcades being able to survive at this point. By using the same membership program gyms use.

Yeah the memories. Killer instinct was great, I remember virtual fighter games and even time crisis 2. Those were the days, however I always disliked tekken games.

it's kind of sad. those were the good old days.

I was thinking some more about this today.
 
In grade school, the school district would rent out the local skating rink and allow all the students to come and skate for free or a lower price.
 
I know the place had a few arcade machines, but the only one I can specifically remember was the X-Men Arcade Game.  It was the 6 person game.  That thing was huge!

I used to go to arcades all the time after school and while on holidays. The arcade at Byron Bay was my favourite, with some great titles:
 
Bubble Bobble
Star Wars sit down cabinet
Wardner
Golden Axe
Ninja Commando
Legend of Hero Tonma
Psycho Nics OSCAR
 
The last two are pretty obscure, and I never saw them in any arcade since, but I loved playing them back then and they still seem like such mysterious and cool titles in my mind.