I was reading about electro mechanical arcade machines, games before computer screens but with moving objects, alongside early atari games, not just the pong ones, from the early to mid 1970s the other day.

I found it really interesting and feel like it is period that isn't talked about enough, since everyone focuses on the late 1970s and early 80s games (pac man, space invaders, the home consoles etc)

1.What games do you remember from back then

2. What was the atmosphere like? Any pictures?

3. Did you have any particular favorites?

These caught my attention:

Speedway 1969:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao8-I8tWtTw


Combat by Sega from 1970:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gspc_2PLyeA

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/fSDNNQxfOmM/maxresdefault.jpg

Anybody remember these? Cocktail arcade game. They had one or two of these at the local pizza joints when I was little. My sister and I would sit down and play and it was a cozy feeling. That was the only time I’d ever seen them.

The Pizza Hut from the 70s is still there but modernized. But the other place has been abandoned and crumbling away for decades. Would be interesting if it’s still in there.

I could never justify getting one of these, but it might be fun to visit once and play for old times sake.

I just remember places like Chuck E Cheese and games like PAC Man

Please limit videos to only 2 per post.

Thank you.


Cat

I remember playing something like that Chicago Speedway game. I only went to arcades when on vacation. Most seaside towns in the U.K. had several arcades with a mixture of fruit machines, coin cascades and other similar entertainments.

The tabletop Pac-Man game was in the bar of the sports and social club my dad belonged to. That type of thing came along a lot later though.

In the 70s in the city, "pinball arcades" as we called them, could be a little on the seedy side. Drug and prostitution activity, etc. I don't really remember much about the games because it wasn't really my thing but I remember the pre-digital pinball machines with the numbers that moved, I guess, on an endless loop. And the "ding ding ding" sound they made. In the late 70s/early 80s "Asteroids" was the big game. It was deathly boring unless you were into these things. I had a friend who loved it.  :D

Never got into Asteroids, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and the like. But, pinball, that is another story. I can't tell you how many quarters I put into pinball machines.

This one was one of my favorites:

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a2/cc/85/a2cc8597916ef9d5d20ceea4e4d8f016.jpg

Yeah, it was pretty gory but it wasn't so much the subject as to why it was my favorite but because I got high scores on it. One time I think I had something like 25+/- games on ONE quarter.  :o :o  I couldn't even finish the last games because I had to go so I gave my free games to someone else (who lost). Yeah, I was a Pinball Wizard.  ;) :D ;D ;D ;D


There was another machine that I remember one time as someone was playing, the ball got stuck. He shook it just a bit to get the ball loose. Instead of loosening the ball, the points started racking up. So, the guy just stood there for a while and gently shook the machine as the points started to go up and he got free games. After a while, he wanted to actually play so he shook it hard enough to loosen the ball and of course that tilted the machine. But, he had a lot of extra balls/games not to mention a high score.


Cat

In the 70s in the city, "pinball arcades" as we called them, could be a little on the seedy side. Drug and prostitution activity, etc. I don't really remember much about the games because it wasn't really my thing but I remember the pre-digital pinball machines with the numbers that moved, I guess, on an endless loop. And the "ding ding ding" sound they made. In the late 70s/early 80s "Asteroids" was the big game. It was deathly boring unless you were into these things. I had a friend who loved it.  :D


Voice, What was your favorite pinball game?

Voice, What was your favorite pinball game?


I didn't have one, I had no interest. Seemed like a boring waste of time to me.

Never got into Asteroids, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and the like. But, pinball, that is another story. I can't tell you how many quarters I put into pinball machines.

This one was one of my favorites:

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a2/cc/85/a2cc8597916ef9d5d20ceea4e4d8f016.jpg

Yeah, it was pretty gory but it wasn't so much the subject as to why it was my favorite but because I got high scores on it. One time I think I had something like 25+/- games on ONE quarter.  :o :o  I couldn't even finish the last games because I had to go so I gave my free games to someone else (who lost). Yeah, I was a Pinball Wizard.  ;) :D ;D ;D ;D


There was another machine that I remember one time as someone was playing, the ball got stuck. He shook it just a bit to get the ball loose. Instead of loosening the ball, the points started racking up. So, the guy just stood there for a while and gently shook the machine as the points started to go up and he got free games. After a while, he wanted to actually play so he shook it hard enough to loosen the ball and of course that tilted the machine. But, he had a lot of extra balls/games not to mention a high score.


Cat


I remember Gorgar very well.  I used to always see it in arcades and hear that voice say "me got you" and thought it was kind of scary lol  I sucked at Pinball, but oddly enough, there have been several pinball compilations on modern video game consoles that feature realistic versions of actual pinball games (Gorgar being one of them), and I actually do well at those.

You can actually get one called "Pinball Arcade" on PC and it has several pinball favourites of the 70s-90s, and Gorgar is on it.  I absolutely love the pinball games Funhouse and Medieval Madness, but they are from the 90s.  There is one from 1974 called 'Big Shot' that is fun but the space between the flippers is very large, so you have to master shaking the table and either I suck at it, or it is really hard lol

Wp0n7I26TqY

In my college dorm's one rec room there were two pinball games (circa 1978).  That's where I spent all my money - a quarter at a time  :D

In my college dorm's one rec room there were two pinball games (circa 1978).  That's where I spent all my money - a quarter at a time  :D


AG, What was your favorite pinball game?

Never got into Asteroids, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and the like. But, pinball, that is another story. I can't tell you how many quarters I put into pinball machines.

This one was one of my favorites:

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a2/cc/85/a2cc8597916ef9d5d20ceea4e4d8f016.jpg

Yeah, it was pretty gory but it wasn't so much the subject as to why it was my favorite but because I got high scores on it. One time I think I had something like 25+/- games on ONE quarter.  :o :o  I couldn't even finish the last games because I had to go so I gave my free games to someone else (who lost). Yeah, I was a Pinball Wizard.  ;) :D ;D ;D ;D


There was another machine that I remember one time as someone was playing, the ball got stuck. He shook it just a bit to get the ball loose. Instead of loosening the ball, the points started racking up. So, the guy just stood there for a while and gently shook the machine as the points started to go up and he got free games. After a while, he wanted to actually play so he shook it hard enough to loosen the ball and of course that tilted the machine. But, he had a lot of extra balls/games not to mention a high score.


Cat


Great game and impressive. I remember playing this recently, just last year in place that has a lot of vintage pinballs.

There was this other one from around the same time, I took a picture of my high score. Are you familiar with this one:

I also liked playing on pinball machines. I can remember a Kiss themed one somewhere and I was the only one in my group who knew who Kiss were.

I also remember a Pool themed one that constantly said “Go for the eight ball”

In the local students’ union there was a machine with a fun fault. It cost 10p for one game or 50p for seven games. Except you could put a 2p coin in the 50p slot and get seven games. It was like that for at least three years as my brother told me about it when he was in the fifth year at secondary school and I played the same trick when I was in the fifth year.

Great game and impressive. I remember playing this recently, just last year in place that has a lot of vintage pinballs.

There was this other one from around the same time, I took a picture of my high score. Are you familiar with this one:


Nope, not familiar with that one.


Cat

In my college dorm's one rec room there were two pinball games (circa 1978).  That's where I spent all my money - a quarter at a time  :D


I don’t remember what they were called but there was a little room in my college dorm with 2 pinball machines as well. I played them quite a bit. This was 94-96.

I also liked playing on pinball machines. I can remember a Kiss themed one somewhere and I was the only one in my group who knew who Kiss were.

I also remember a Pool themed one that constantly said “Go for the eight ball”

In the local students’ union there was a machine with a fun fault. It cost 10p for one game or 50p for seven games. Except you could put a 2p coin in the 50p slot and get seven games. It was like that for at least three years as my brother told me about it when he was in the fifth year at secondary school and I played the same trick when I was in the fifth year.


There is modern remake of the KISS one. I wonder how the original was.

There is modern remake of the KISS one. I wonder how the original was.


I can only vaguely remember what the back scoreboard area looked like, nothing about the playing surface at all.

What was everyone's favorite pinball game?

What was everyone's favorite pinball game?


Understand, I don't remember what the pinball games I played were - even though they were the same ones over that time span.  :-\\

Unlike many of the electronic video games, pinball machines were often not that memorable for "which game" they were, as they all pretty much worked the same way (even though most had their little idiosyncrasies). I did have my favorite among the two, but it was "the red one".  I played both.

Understand, I don't remember what the pinball games I played were - even though they were the same ones over that time span.  :-\\

Unlike many of the electronic video games, pinball machines were often not that memorable for "which game" they were, as they all pretty much worked the same way (even though most had their little idiosyncrasies). I did have my favorite among the two, but it was "the red one".  I played both.


Same here. I only remember the ones I talked about for random reasons, not anything about the game itself.

Understand, I don't remember what the pinball games I played were - even though they were the same ones over that time span.  :-\\

Unlike many of the electronic video games, pinball machines were often not that memorable for "which game" they were, as they all pretty much worked the same way (even though most had their little idiosyncrasies). I did have my favorite among the two, but it was "the red one".  I played both.



Yeah, I liked "the red one", too.  ;) :D ;D ;D


Cat

What was everyone's favorite pinball game?


Don't have a current favorite one, but older favorites include rescue 9-11 and jurassic park, really depends on the era. Usually it was anything you could find.

One of the games everyone should try out is the Addams family, there are pinball/old game places in a lot of cities nowadays, I think its common. There might be a digital version you can download actually not sure.

Its really easy to play and is really addictive and the effects are nice as well. It's considered one of the most popular pinball games of all time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MXl71OkfBM