Arcades before video game arcades

Wednesday, March 22, 2023
by Scott Campbell
wonderland_arcade
Arcades existed before video game arcades! Wonderland Arcade, c.1968 (Flickr)

How were arcades before the appearence of video games?

Just as most people forget that computing predates modern electronic computers, most people forget that arcades also predate video games.

Arcades in the 1960s In the 1960s, video games were a technology of future. But arcades existed, and operated much the same. Pinball, target shooting, and various electromechanical games of skill, chance, and love testers...
Those machines crowded the walls of noisy, flashy, coin-driven entertainment centers known as amusement or penny arcades.
arcade
This is the empty arcade in Missouri from 1968. Uploaded by the US National Archives a few years ago. My favourite photograph shows a row of pinball machines and signs to remind patro of the local rules. Some rules local bylaws, but setting rules is an important part of arcade culture.
An important part of the arcade story can be traced from the pinball games in the photo, such as Miss America, Gay Time, and Key West. All three were manufactured by Bally, which also manufactured some of the most popular video arcade game, as Pac-Man.