As you know, I went to get some new glasses yesterday at Redketchup's place, and noticed that he is located right beside a bowling alley called "Le Spot" in Cartierville. Man, did I ever get a flashback...

Back in 1983, my mom was part of a bowling league with fellow work colleagues and she used to bring me along every week. When we would get there, she always handed me 5 bucks in quarters and told me to have fun... you see, Le Spot had a HUGE arcade right in the front lobby once. I remember seeing 14 pins lined up near the center. I remember Close Encounters Of The Third Kind always being the first pin to the left. And then others like Centaur... EBD... Dolly Parton... Black Hole... Haunted House... Superman (was often dead even then...)... Flash... Firepower... Jungle Lord and others coming in and out.

Vids galore as well... I still remember line-ups in front of Defender and Robotron... some guy always trying to recreate a marathon game on Asteroids deluze like he did on Asteroids, with no success of course... Jungle King kicking my a**... guys swearing after Blinky on Ms.Pacman... Frogger turning into roadkill... Star Wars just being awesome...

2010... the year I made contact... again. And I wish I didn't. Le Spot looks like a run-down dinosaur. A sad sight. The center lobby is empty except for a few cardboard signs announcing bowling nights. The alleys haven't changed, except for looking really old and decrepit. And the only leftovers of an arcade lies in the far left corner in the lobby...

A Street Fighter 3 in decent shape... a Cruisin USA twin that is 4 quarters away from a scrap heap... a shooter game I don't even remember due to it being forgettable... a Guitar Hero machine... a HUGE (bigger than a showcase...)shooting game (Sammy's Sports Shooting USA) with once a big projector screen and now has a 27" screen, which looks lost in the cab and the game lasts all of 3 minutes from start to finish... and a Ms.Pacman in a generic cab with a bluish screen and a joystick that is misaligned (Ms.Pac goes down when you let go of the stick).

Sad... Very sad...

As a teenager, I lived a few blocks away from Spot bowling and I would get off the bus there almost every day. I loved playing in there, arcade, bowling even pool! And when I had extra money I would even go to Belmont park and go crazy there    I could hear the screams of delight from the people on the roller coaster, pretty cool. Today that area is a housing complex. I am saddened to hear the state that Spot it is in today. Sigh, the only constant is change I guess...

It brings back good memories....and that's what's important!

I remember playing Pole Position....at the Montreal International airport in Mirabel...years ago....

tartagliag

Can't live in the past..........but you can bring the past with you going forward that is why this hobby is nice.

Keep on playing..........and your kids will too!

(Ms.Pac goes down when you let go of the stick).    

Sorry I do feel your pain. All the local arcades around me died out years ago. There's nothing left except for the cinema lobby, and they're mosly combat type games

Quoted from shock_me

(Ms.Pac goes down when you let go of the stick).    

Jesus... took long enough for someone to catch that!!!

Quoted from Sparky

Jesus... took long enough for someone to catch that!!!

lol............I figured that was intentional!

I remember standing in line to play Xenon when she was brand new. Something about that female voice had all us teenage guys waiting to have a go  
Now she's in my basement, so I guess you can bring the past with you.

Think of how most of us were privileged enough to be in the main stream of that era and not even know it until it was gone. No matter how we explain or try demonstrate the emotion and passion of our youth, when arcades were actually arcades, it will never be felt or understood by anyone except those who were actually there. Long live Nostalgia.  

Quoted from sorcerer

Think of how most of us were privileged enough to be in the main stream of that era and not even know it until it was gone. No matter how we explain or try demonstrate the emotion and passion of our youth, when arcades were actually arcades, it will never be felt or understood by anyone except those who were actually there. Long live Nostalgia.  

Exactly!! And try to explain the "smell" of an arcade...

tartagliag

I find it amusing how you all reminisce about the "good ole days", might as well break out the rocking chairs and adult diapers there grandpa.  

Arcades were great..... in their day, but lets think about this honestly for a second, how many of you would actually make a point to go to an arcade if they were still available , filled with nothing but punk kids, smoke (cause that is how it was in the "good ole days") and usually in dark dingy holes.

I know Toronto had arcades up until a few years ago and I hated going to them in my adult years, I'd much rather have played in someone's home then have to deal with the locals in the area of an arcade.  They don't offer anything, I can't have a beer, everything is dirty and disgusting, things are poorly maintained (that hasn't changed in the last 20 years either) and while they filled a void in our childhood, no way would I see any of us going to any arcade on a regular basics of they even still existed.  

Vengeance, I think it's more of a commentary that no other generation will have that opportunity, not that people miss going to them now...

Personally I liked the games but not the arcades - too noisy and crowded. My best memories are playing a single machine on location, like Williams Flash or Missile Command at the local laundromat. There it was possible to hear the machines properly and fully enjoy them. Plus the owner kicked out any kids acting obnoxious.

Pins at home are much superior to any arcade I ever visited.

With Respect I must say that...the 90's arcade was not even close to the 80's arcade....totally different era...like I said there is no way to explain it to any other generation.

Doubt if I would visit one today. But back then I guess I was a punk kid too. It was a social outlet, that's all. My memories are still and always were mostly the games though, and that's why I even own games today. Certainly not because I have all this free time to spend playing them But it's always a nice distraction after a stressful B.S. day at work.

Adam, not everyone is the same age as you, and their memories will vary.

I just remember that a quarter seemed so precious when you were down to your last and you had time to kill.

My pinball memories start around 1973ish at the pool room, bowling alleys.

In the mid 70's my older brother used to take me to The Pinball Spot and Funland in downtown Toronto. They were scummy.  Late 70's while in junior high there were always a few places to go but again quarters were pretty scarce. Having $2. to spend was typical.

Early 80's there was 2 places near my high school to hang out and occasionally play hookey. At that point it was mostly Bally SS and video (Space Invaders, Pac Man, Defender, Missile Command, Galaga, Galaxians, Centipede...). Of course also smoking and other stuff teens shouldnt be doing.

Last time I played pinball on site (before the last year or so)  would have been High Speed at a pool hall, around 1987.

And now, having missed the DMD era completely, rediscovering it all over again with the plus of being able to feel nostalgia for the 70's games I played when they were new. Pinball and arcade games represent freedom and independance since I was away from my parents, with my friends, doing stuff I couldnt around mom and dad.

The older guys obviously see a value in the machines that is more than just the tangible. I think with each later decade, things have become more supervised, sanitized, etc. The world has gotten cynical and cautious, rightly so, but I enjoyed the freedom to go down to Yonge/ Dundas with a few bucks  to cover subway fare, lunch and a few games back in the day without my parents fearing for my safety.

The console generation's battle ground is the net.

I doubt many kids now can appreciate the kind of hardware and software R&D that has gone into bringing that technology into your home for $299.

It definitely was a different time. Up until then with the exception of pinball, the only games were something from Milton Bradley, made out of cardboard with a few playing cards and some plastic pieces. A trip to the arcade was like a trip to the Cape Canaveral. It did not have the dingy mess hole atmosphere that arcades have been identified with in recent years. Everything was new and everything was fresh. Other than EM pinballs there never before was a device that average person could afford to walk up to and interact with the spectacle of art, light and sound.

The older generation just probably has a greater appreciation for the tremendous influence arcades made at the time. It certainly was a pivotal moment of moving us from our parents industrial generation into our technological generation which is why we identify with it.

BTW Warren I can clearly remember having very little money to spend at Funland. I would walk up and down the rows of pinball trying to pick which game I would put my precious quarter into. I was pretty young and the teens and adults were quite a bit bigger than me which I found intimidating at the time. I remember waiting patiently for the big kids to give me my turn. Precious times.

Quoted from necro_nemesis

The console generation's battle ground is the net.

I doubt many kids now can appreciate the kind of hardware and software R&D that has gone into bringing that technology into your home for $299.

It definitely was a different time. Up until then with the exception of pinball, the only games were something from Milton Bradley, made out of cardboard with a few playing cards and some plastic pieces. A trip to the arcade was like a trip to the Cape Canaveral. It did not have the dingy mess hole atmosphere that arcades have been identified with in recent years. Everything was new and everything was fresh. Other than EM pinballs there never before was a device that average person could afford to walk up to and interact with the spectacle of art, light and sound.

The older generation just probably has a greater appreciation for the tremendous influence arcades made at the time. It certainly was a pivotal moment of moving us from our parents industrial generation into our technological generation which is why we identify with it.

BTW Warren I can clearly remember having very little money to spend at Funland. I would walk up and down the rows of pinball trying to pick which game I would put my precious quarter into. I was pretty young and the teens and adults were quite a bit bigger than me which I found intimidating at the time. I remember waiting patiently for the big kids to give me my turn. Precious times.

Well said.

Being from a smaller northern town, my experience is slightly different... mainly because in a small town, if you are supposed to "Stay away from that dirty arcade!  Thats where Bad kids go!" you had to be extra stealthy to get down to Corner Pocket and spend your allowance.  I guess all of us think we were in the "golden years" of arcades.... even though we aren't the same age! for me it was mid 80's.  games like Karate Champ and kung-fu master had lineups, then this new game called Double Dragon hit....  I remember playing an environmental Deadly discs of tron, Of course Exciting hour/Mat Mania was my go to.  Black tiger and Twin cobra were well played as well.  It was a little dirty and scummy, but being a small arcade, the owner tended to take pretty good care of it overall.  Of course everything was generic cabs, dedicated machines being a little too precious for us small town kids.  High school saw me playing Dungeons and Dragons (pen and paper version) and a lot of guitar.  Wasn't until i went to college and made a few friends around the Neo Geo machine that i got back into arcade gaming.  and once college was over, i had no money and played mostly computer games.

For me, Arcades should be a little cluttered, a little cacophonous, and I still miss the slight smoke smell (even though i never took up the habit) Its fine to play a game by itself, but without other machines and noise it never feels right.

My $0.02

Quoted from axe

..Of course Exciting hour/Mat Mania was my go to.  

I alweays knew you had sme Coco Savage in you...

I to remember the spot bowling for 2 reasons.

I lived in St Laurent and went to Belmont park regularly and it was right around the corner from Can-Air Hobbies. The place that I got my First REAL RC Car. A Tamiya Hornet......

Back in the day I built a Tamiya. I bought a 4WD racer, Avante and proceeded to get my a** kicked by all the 2WD guys. Man that sucked!

The extra weight for the front and an not being able to drift as well really turned out to be a major disadvantage.

You can still buy that stuff. Nice kit to build. Well engineered.



Crap. I shouldn't have looked at what it's worth now!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Tamiya-Ava.....?hash=item19b903ba73

Quoted from sorcerer

With Respect I must say that...the 90's arcade was not even close to the 80's arcade....totally different era...like I said there is no way to explain it to any other generation.

I lived thru both, preferred the 90's as I was a teenager tho

Quoted from necro_nemesis

Back in the day I built a Tamiya. I bought a 4WD racer, Avante and proceeded to get my a** kicked by all the 2WD guys. Man that sucked!

The extra weight for the front and an not being able to drift as well really turned out to be a major disadvantage.

You can still buy that stuff. Nice kit to build. Well engineered.



Crap. I shouldn't have looked at what it's worth now!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Tamiya-Ava.....?hash=item19b903ba73

The hotshot in back of the Avante was lighter and faster. The Avante had to many metal parts. Great car, well built but just too heavy. For racing  you would have been better off with a Thundershot but the real contenders back then were the RC10's.

Quoted from 1

The hotshot in back of the Avante was lighter and faster. The Avante had to many metal parts. Great car, well built but just too heavy. For racing  you would have been better off with a Thundershot but the real contenders back then were the RC10's.

Ok Ok, but why weren't you my salesman in the hobby store back in 88?

It was pricey then too, but a disappointment. They touted the AWD aspects and better motor as being a superior car, but in the end it didn't perform as well for all your aforementioned reasons. No matter how much I did to upgrade the car it just couldn't run in with cars half it's price tag.

Quoted from Sparky

As you know, I went to get some new glasses yesterday at Redketchup's place, and noticed that he is located right beside a bowling alley called "Le Spot" in Cartierville. Man, did I ever get a flashback...

Back in 1983, my mom was part of a bowling league with fellow work colleagues and she used to bring me along every week. When we would get there, she always handed me 5 bucks in quarters and told me to have fun... you see, Le Spot had a HUGE arcade right in the front lobby once. I remember seeing 14 pins lined up near the center. I remember Close Encounters Of The Third Kind always being the first pin to the left. And then others like Centaur... EBD... Dolly Parton... Black Hole... Haunted House... Superman (was often dead even then...)... Flash... Firepower... Jungle Lord and others coming in and out.

Vids galore as well... I still remember line-ups in front of Defender and Robotron... some guy always trying to recreate a marathon game on Asteroids deluze like he did on Asteroids, with no success of course... Jungle King kicking my a**... guys swearing after Blinky on Ms.Pacman... Frogger turning into roadkill... Star Wars just being awesome...

2010... the year I made contact... again. And I wish I didn't. Le Spot looks like a run-down dinosaur. A sad sight. The center lobby is empty except for a few cardboard signs announcing bowling nights. The alleys haven't changed, except for looking really old and decrepit. And the only leftovers of an arcade lies in the far left corner in the lobby...






















































































































































































A Street Fighter 3 in decent shape... a Cruisin USA twin that is 4 quarters away from a scrap heap... a shooter game I don't even remember due to it being forgettable... a Guitar Hero machine... a HUGE (bigger than a showcase...)shooting game (Sammy's Sports Shooting USA) with once a big projector screen and now has a 27" screen, which looks lost in the cab and the game lasts all of 3 minutes from start to finish... and a Ms.Pacman in a generic cab with a bluish screen and a joystick that is misaligned (Ms.Pac goes down when you let go of the stick).

Sad... Very sad...

Growing up in Pierrefonds I remember a place in Laval I used to con my dad into going to..I think it was called Recreotheque?And an arcade on St.Charles Rd. that lasted about 2 years in the late '70's..Better Dead it was called ( weird name for sure!) Had a blast there. Also Laurentian lanes and Pare Lanes always had Pins. And trips to the States....Dream machine arcades, Aladdins Castle arcades, the Fun O Ramas in Maine and Weirs Beach NH, Rec Halls at campgrounds, Game Rooms at Holiday Inns, etc..etc....things are definitely different now but thats the way it goes sometimes. What matters is all the good times that were had and all of the great memories. And that many of us are lucky enough to be able to relive some of those memories now in our own homes!!!!!!

Quoted from necro_nemesis

Back in the day I built a Tamiya. I bought a 4WD racer, Avante and proceeded to get my a** kicked by all the 2WD guys. Man that sucked!

The extra weight for the front and an not being able to drift as well really turned out to be a major disadvantage.

You can still buy that stuff. Nice kit to build. Well engineered.



Crap. I shouldn't have looked at what it's worth now!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Tamiya-Ava.....?hash=item19b903ba73

Hahaha, the brother in law is an RC fanatic... roped me in a few years back with nitro stuff, i got out, then last summer he roped me and another buddy back in with the new generation electric... THe electric cars are even faster than the gas ones now!  R/C racing, Arcade collectiong, Pinball, Video games, Guitars, Home theater.....

Does it show that my wife and i don't have kids?

Quoted from 1

The hotshot in back of the Avante was lighter and faster. The Avante had to many metal parts. Great car, well built but just too heavy. For racing  you would have been better off with a Thundershot but the real contenders back then were the RC10's.

Yes the RC10 was the bare bones approach. Power to weight ratio was really the ticket to getting fast on the track and AWD didn't seem to offer much under those conditions, but by comparison the Avante was an engineering masterpiece. Everything work beautifully, the suspension articulated properly to hug the ground. It didn't skip around like a motor on a board but it simply was too heavy.

Here in Ottawa we had allot of nice places to play before they vanished.
I was lucky well sort of my parents where divorced and when I went to see my mother she would bring me to the arcade and give me 2 rolls of quarters and said go have fun.
That started when i was 6 i had a blast so i lived both eras 80 and 90 and played many new and old games because of my mother.
The bad thing was i later realized my mother was scoring from the local drug dealers while i had fun and she almost got busted    and she stop doing the heavy mess and stayed away from the arcades after that,
We never went again together after that but did not stop me from going by myself in the 90.
But few places i miss 80s from child hood Imperial Arcade,the 3 Gamesroom,the 2 Mister arcade,Vikies Donuts ,Steves, conveniences store in vanier believe it or not you would never figure this crappy convinces store with a side store room with about 2 pins and 10 arcades later pins where removed.
But god i wont even do 90s i had so many places i went the list would be to long.

Quoted from shoeguy

Growing up in Pierrefonds I remember a place in Laval I used to con my dad into going to..I think it was called Recreotheque?And an arcade on St.Charles Rd. that lasted about 2 years in the late '70's..Better Dead it was called ( weird name for sure!) Had a blast there. Also Laurentian lanes and Pare Lanes always had Pins. And trips to the States....Dream machine arcades, Aladdins Castle arcades, the Fun O Ramas in Maine and Weirs Beach NH, Rec Halls at campgrounds, Game Rooms at Holiday Inns, etc..etc....things are definitely different now but thats the way it goes sometimes. What matters is all the good times that were had and all of the great memories. And that many of us are lucky enough to be able to relive some of those memories now in our own homes!!!!!!

I remember that too... La Récréathèque in Laval... I lived in a very small village about an hour Ouest of Montréal, and we use to go there often....

Ah! Rolling on Eddy Grant's Electric Avenue.....

tartagliag

Anyone remember the crowds that Dragon's Lair drew when it first arrived at the local arcade? I remember it when it first arrived at Electronic Encounters in the Pinecrest Mall in Ottawa. There was just a mass of people huddled around the game hoping to grab a sneak peak at the action. My first game lasted all of 30 seconds.
I remember my dad giving me my allowance and going to the arcade.We'd play for hours until we were down to the last dreaded quarter. I'd walk around trying to decide which game 'deserved' my last quarter.
I think every generation had it's 'pop culture event'. For the 80's it was the arcade and unfortunately Culture Club .
BTW, if it wasn't for the R&D $$ that the original game companies plowed into the arcade industry back in the 70's and 80's we probably would not have home consoles today. The kids today are really no different than we were in the 1980's. Instead of putting $50 in quarters into their favorite game at a local arcade into a game that just line up at Best Buy and pay $50 for the newest game disc.

Quoted from heinekenlvr

Anyone remember the crowds that Dragon's Lair drew when it first arrived at the local arcade? I remember it when it first arrived at Electronic Encounters in the Pinecrest Mall in Ottawa. There was just a mass of people huddled around the game hoping to grab a sneak peak at the action. My first game lasted all of 30 seconds.

Oh yeah.  First saw it in Montreal (Dollard-des-Ormeaux).  They had it setup with an extra monitor on top of the machine so everyone could see.  For the longest time I thought that's how the cab was made... 2 screens

I believe it was the first game to cost 50 cents too..

Mike

Quoted from MrMikeman

I believe it was the first game to cost 50 cents too..

Mike

And to last under 20 seconds ... my god was it HARD at first !

Quoted from MrMikeman

Oh yeah.  First saw it in Montreal (Dollard-des-Ormeaux).  They had it setup with an extra monitor on top of the machine so everyone could see.  For the longest time I thought that's how the cab was made... 2 screens

I believe it was the first game to cost 50 cents too..

Mike

Yup... Pinnocchio's Arcade on Sources Blvd. I lived right behind there. I spent lots of time there as well, and I also remember that DL.