Ancient Seaside Arcades!

[Hirst]

Hello, my name is Hirst and I have suffered from arcade addiction for many decades. My childhood memories of arcades are more detailed than those of more-or-less anything useful, but if you want to know what arcade machines they had in a pub I went to once in 1993 I'll probably be able to tell you. Sadly, arcades are very much in decline in terms of actual games nowadays but I still like to pick over their rotting corpses. I recently went to the seaside and had a recommendation of a place in Winthorpe (just outside Skegness) called Smith's - as it actually has games! Despite being quite near to where I used to go on holiday as a kid for years, I'm fairly sure I never actually went to this one.

Anyway, it is quite the time capsule to the point where I went and took photos with my phone.


It faces the beach and I was able to park right outside, but the parking rules were quite unclear, I didn't have any money on me nor any time, so it was a flying visit. I'll definitely be returning with a tenner though. It needs a lick of paint, but then you would if you had sand blowing on you all day. It already looked promising though, what a beauty.


Straight through the door and there's Taito's Sonic Blast Man (1990). These used to be absolutely all over the place, with cocky lads trying to show off. It's had an LCD screen replacement, but it's still going. Does it work well? I'm not sure, but I bet those boxing gloves are a bit grim to put on.


It was accompanied by Taito's Real Puncher (1994), a follow-up where it takes a photo so you can bray yourself. I haven't seen a working one of these for absolutely years, they used to have one down the road outside Botton's Funfair - it's very likely that it is this same one. Again, it had an LCD screen replacement but the attract screen was showing that the camera was malfunctioning quite badly. Hopefully that can be fixed easily enough.

More to follow...

[Hirst]

There were quite a few dead machines scattered about, hopefully with it being low season they are just awaiting repairs - but hey I'll take seeing a dead machine over seeing none.

It's Namco's Ridge Racer 2 (1994), the hastily-developed multiplayer version of the first game that was clearly a response to Daytona USA (the original RR was single player only). It was dead as a doornail, but I haven't seen an RR2 for yonks. It always seemed less common than the original machine.

And there's Sega Rally Championship (1995), which I'd have loved to have played as it's been a while. One screen was off, the other displayed "No Signal". But the fact it was plugged in at all suggests some kind of hope. Maybe it'll work next time I go (because I can assure you I am going again).

This was a rarity and I was gutted it was off, I've never seen let alone played this in an arcade (there was a PS2 port). It's Sega's The King of Route 66 (2002), the sequel to 18 Wheeler. Get it fixed! I want to go!

[Hirst]

I wouldn't usually be bothered about gambling machines (bar the iconic sound of an Electrocoin Bar-X making all the weird space shooter noises they make), but...


Deal 'Em 2000 is very similar (I think a later release) to the pontoon machines I used to gamble my last 10p on to play more arcade games. The CRT is clinging on for dear life, but I'd be quite happy to throw some money in that later just to watch the little cards appear.


I'm also not usually fascinated by change machines, but this one is amazing. Thomas Series 3000, look at all that woodgrain! That's how you know it's a quality machine.


But I was even more taken by this unnamed JSK Electronics Change Machine as it was from Leeds! Right around the corner from Machine Mart. Love the stencilled-in "2" sign, like those you used to see on manky potatoes at the outdoor market.

[Baseley09]

Superb stuff, great to see.

[Hirst]

Final two then - and there were more machines here but either Raw Thrills junk or gambling/pushers, so this is just what I'd find worthwhile.


It's Namco's Time Crisis II (1997). Been a long time since I've seen one priced at £1 (!) a go, but honestly I'm quite prepared to pay that as it's in pretty nice condition and the CRTs look lovely. Well done to all involved there. And finally...


The amazing sight of Namco's Suzuka 8 Hours 2 (1993), a late sprite-based motorbike game that I haven't seen since... probably the 1990s? Yeah it's had LCD screens fitted, but honestly just seeing an sprite-based racing game even still running in a normal arcade is an amazing sight. You bet I'm going to be back to shovel coins into this.

Anyway, that was the arcade. Bye!

[QualityChimp]

Although this post could be in the Arcades thread, I'll allow it because it's ace.

I'm the same as you. When someone says "seaside" I'm thinking ice cream shops, fish and chips, buckets and spades and arcades.

I used to love the arcades on family holidays, so will always have a soft spot for them. Those lurid carpets, the chink of coins dropping out of the penny pushers and the cacophony of arcade attract screens.

We went on a family holiday to Lincolnshire last summer and we loved the property/area so much, we're going again.
I spent faaar too much money on the Marvel coin pusher game, but we had a great time in one of the arcades in Skegness.

Looking forward to hitting Skeggy again, but will look into Winthorpe, thanks.
We spent a day at the beach in Mablethorpe, higher up the coast.
I tried to go into Jackson's arcade, but my wife steered me away.

[Golgo]

Although this post could be in the Arcades thread, I'll allow it because it's ace.

Also a candidate for the 'Derelict World' thread.

[Hirst]

Looking forward to hitting Skeggy again, but will look into Winthorpe, thanks.
We spent a day at the beach in Mablethorpe, higher up the coast.
I tried to go into Jackson's arcade, but my wife steered me away.

If you're in the area, the best to find actual games is probably Empire/Plaza in Skegness, near the entrance and upstairs. There's OutRun 2 and some other bits left. If you can find time to get to Ingoldmells, there's a handful in Planet Fun and there's still a working (but heavily hacked-about) Daytona USA twin in Fantasy Island. My favourite arcades of the day (Skegness Pier, Sun City) are a bit disappointing as they must have had enough money to move onto other things rather than keeping old-but-good machines in place. I could quite easily do a ghost walk thing where I explain in enormous detail which machines were in which place over the years.

I'd put this in the arcades thing but it was such a weird relic (and a lot of the things that excited me were arcade-adjacent stuff like change machines) that I felt it would clog it up with nonsense.

What a place though, I'd love to buy it and just fill it with rough-and-ready machines and run it at a small loss.

[QualityChimp]

Arcades is arcades, from the Trocadero to Arcade Club to Smith's.
I'm just saying it's fine to post in the main thread, don't worry.

Either way, thanks for posting. Looks ace!

[wakka]

Great post and great to see a genuine relic of an old school seaside arcade that hasn't been turned over to Crossy Road and other depressing modern efforts.

Whenever we went to see the seaside as a kid I used to love the arcades too. We usually went to North Devon so it was ones in places like Ilfracombe, Woolacombe, and Combe Martin.

Sonic Blast Man and its sequel are definitely rare sightings, as is King of Route 66.

We used to have a Ridge Racer 2 at one of the barcades near me but it was been moved now to one of the bar's other branches in Hackney. I wouldn't be surprised if these days Ridge 2 is more in demand, as I think there's more mileage for operators in a multiplayer racing game.

[Anpanman]

Lovely stuff, extra point from me for the change machines!

[Hirst]

Lovely stuff, extra point from me for the change machines!

I would have used them, but I actually had zero change on me other than 2p coins. Any time I go to the seaside, I sneakily collect any discarded 2p coins I see in the penny pushers. That weekend I got 84p - another 16p and I can go on Time Crisis 2.