ARCADES
Remade
Modern and classic pinball and video
games reclaim their high scores.
BY THOMAS MCPHEETERS
G
aming arcades live again as America has rekindled its passion
for bleeps, buzzers, flippers and joysticks. Modern game rooms
offering food and drinks are thriving: Late last year, The Wall
Street Journal reported that Dave & Buster’s—the goliath of
arcade chains—sees the long-term potential to nearly triple its number of
locations in North America.
Meanwhile, arcades filled with old-school games have sprung up across the
country. From pinball haven Pins and Needles and classic arcade EightyTwo
in Los Angeles, to Logan Arcade in Chicago and Barcade in New York, many
are offering a return to the late 1970s and early 1980s—the golden age of
arcade gaming.
Retro Revival
Los Angeles’ two premiere retro arcades have a range of gaming options
that make them popular among this new wave of venues. EightyTwo offers
a rotating collection of 40-plus classics for the 21-and-up crowd, including space shooter game Galaga from 1981—one of the most bootlegged
arcade games of all time. EightyTwo’s full bar includes a wide variety of
New School
On the other side of the country, Steve Zahler, co-owner of Modern Pinball
NYC, is actually one of the best players in the world (at press time, he ranked
at No. 30). He credits the pinball player scoring system with spurring some of
the recent resurgence.
Pins and Needles houses 24
old-school pinball machines.
OPPOSITE PAGE: BOB JAGENDORF
Molly Atkinson of
Pins and Needles
draft beers and craft cocktails for a boozy night of high scores. Pins and
Needles focuses on old-school pinball, and is home to 24 machines including Gottlieb’s 1975 Atlantis. Molly Atkinson, owner and chief repair technician at both venues, places the retro renewal firmly in this decade.
“The collectorship explosion happened, yes, in the last decade,” she says.
“But the barcade location explosion has just been in the last few years.” She
credits nostalgia as a major source of inspiration for both of her arcades.
Atkinson’s own infatuation with pinball stems from her childhood, when her
neighbors’ vintage pinball machine was pointedly off-limits to kids.
For Atkinson, the overall ambiance and camaraderie of the arcade experience are far more important than honing her gaming skills. “I’m not the best
player in the world,” she says with a laugh. “Or in the top 5,000.”
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