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I haven't seen one of those old arcades in ages. You could walk into any mall in the 80's and hear the centipede game from halfway across the mall. The one I spent a lot of time in had a very distinctive smell of electronics and carpet cleaner. I could play Spy Hunter as long as I wanted to on one quarter, and my sister could do the same thing with Galaga. I remember being horrified the first time I wandered into a mall in Florida and realized they didn't have an arcade. That situation became more and more common as time went on. I think the demise of the American mall is in some way linked with the demise of the American video game arcade.

The loss of the mall was one factor among many. In order to have an experience better than what you could get at home, you need custom hardware. Moore's Law has kept the cost of bleeding-edge hardware approximately flat in constant dollars, but all the other costs - electricity, rent, lighting, air conditioning - are also subject to inflation over a 10-20 year timeframe. Nobody wants to deal with two slots for quarters/nickels, tokens are a PITA for an operator, and in the end, that means there are two prices for games in the US: $0.25 and $0.50. Nobody could be first to double the price of a game and stay in business, despite the fact that if you're charging $0.25 per play in 2014, it's the equivalent of charging $0.10/play in 1984.

One of the more surprising developments has been seeing them come back, although as playable museums this time, and maybe one or two per state. (Funspot in NH, Ground Kontrol in OR, The 1-Up in CO, and Pacific Pinball and High Scores in CA.) There's also the annual CA Extreme event in the Bay Area with several hundred vids and pins, coming up in about two weekends.

Here in New Hampshire we have the Funspot arcade. While broader in scope than just pinball, they have a nice pinball section along with well maintained classic video games. They claim to be the largest arcade in the world. It is essentially an interactive museum.

As a video game geek, a few recommendations:

This summer (2012) the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C., will be hosting "The Art of Video Games".
http://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/archive/2012/games/

In New Hampshire, there is one of the largest (if not the largest) arcade of classic video games: "Fun Spot"
http://www.funspotnh.com/

If thirsty and heading through NJ, there is always the semi-famous "Barcade":
http://barcadejerseycity.com/directions/

Some decent to great arcades I've been to recently that are filled with classic games, in order of decreasing awesomeness:

• Funspot, New Hampshire
• Richie Knucklez', New Jersey
• Barcade, New York
• Ground Kontrol, Oregon
• Crabtowne USA, Maryland

They're still out there.

In addition to the efforts going on in Ottumwa, there is the already-existing American Classic Arcade Museum, located inside Funspot in New Hampshire. This arcade was prominently featured in the cult-favorite documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. I don't think their mission is to collect every single game ever (that would be a lot of them) but they sure have a huge collection of both popular and obscure games.

The museum is really just one floor of the arcade (there are three) featuring many, many classic arcade games in excellent working order. I imagine the maintenance is a perpetual nightmare, but they do what they can. There is no admission fee, just ordinary tokens to play the games. Most still cost one token (each token costs a quarter, or less if you buy in bulk), and let me tell you $20 goes a long, long way there. For maximum childhood regression, they keep the lights down and play awesome 80s tunes over the sound system. I was there a couple months ago and got to play some games that I had not laid hands on for a long time: Elevator Action (last played at Fuddrucker's), Missile Command (pediatric dentist's office), Sinistar (Lamppost Pizza), Dragon's Lair (Chuck-E-Cheese), Star Wars (basement of the local Sears), Tapper (local bowling alley), Crystal Castles (by the front door of the local Alpha Beta supermarket) and so on. A few machines I had never seen before in person (a stand-up Pong machine, Satan's Hollow). They even have a friggin' Computer Space, but alas it was broken when I visited. The fact that you're even allowed to touch it is amazing.

I also got to play the infamous Donkey Kong machine, where I was proud to hold the high score (a piddly 18,000) for probably five minutes, and the same Pac Man machine where Billy Mitchell played the world's first perfect game of Pac Man (I think I cleared about 3 boards).

It's a real experience - if you're in the area I highly recommend stopping in.

In addition to the efforts going on in Ottumwa, there is the already-existing American Classic Arcade Museum, located inside Funspot in New Hampshire. This arcade was prominently featured in the cult-favorite documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. I don't think their mission is to collect every single game ever (that would be a lot of them) but they sure have a huge collection of both popular and obscure games.

The museum is really just one floor of the arcade (there are three) featuring many, many classic arcade games in excellent working order. I imagine the maintenance is a perpetual nightmare, but they do what they can. There is no admission fee, just ordinary tokens to play the games. Most still cost one token (each token costs a quarter, or less if you buy in bulk), and let me tell you $20 goes a long, long way there. For maximum childhood regression, they keep the lights down and play awesome 80s tunes over the sound system. I was there a couple months ago and got to play some games that I had not laid hands on for a long time: Elevator Action (last played at Fuddrucker's), Missile Command (pediatric dentist's office), Sinistar (Lamppost Pizza), Dragon's Lair (Chuck-E-Cheese), Star Wars (basement of the local Sears), Tapper (local bowling alley), Crystal Castles (by the front door of the local Alpha Beta supermarket) and so on. A few machines I had never seen before in person (a stand-up Pong machine, Satan's Hollow). They even have a friggin' Computer Space, but alas it was broken when I visited. The fact that you're even allowed to touch it is amazing.

I also got to play the infamous Donkey Kong machine, where I was proud to hold the high score (a piddly 18,000) for probably five minutes, and the same Pac Man machine where Billy Mitchell played the world's first perfect game of Pac Man (I think I cleared about 3 boards).

It's a real experience - if you're in the area I highly recommend stopping in.

Ottumwa is the founding location of Twin Galaxies, and from 1982 to 1984 it really was the video game capital of the US at least. Nowadays, I find it much more convenient to visit Funspot when I'm looking for that sort of thing though, rather than go to the middle of Iowa. (All of Iowa feels like the middle)

If you're ever up in NH, be sure to visit Fun Spot. Here's their list of classic games:

http://www.funspotnh.com/gms-classic.htm

Yes... To me, the 80's are the best years, too. Add Robotron, Final Mission, Gauntlet, Star Wars, Glory Road, Space Duel, Scramble, Gyruss, Tempest, and others I'm forgetting.

Time for another pilgrimage to NH Fun Spot. I'm lucky I'm only an hour or so away from it...

I had Atari 2600 and 800 at home. There was certainly some great stuff for the 800. I particularly enjoyed Gauntlet (no relation to the multiplayer arcade dungeon game). It was a shareware game, basically a side-scrolling shooter (except it didn't actually scroll). You flew a UFO around, destroying an enemy batlegroup dug in on a small moon. Great game, I wish I had sent in money to the author for the expanded version, but I was speding most of my money on my D&D habit in those days...

Here's a list of their classic games. They even have Cheyenne!

a place called Funspot, which is in Weir's Beach (called "the wee-ahs" by the locals). Funspot should be a landmark for every geek, since they're famous as being one of the largest arcades in the country

Here's a link to the funspot homepage.

From the website:

"If there's one thing FUNSPOT is famous for it's games! We are the second largest arcade in the country, with the world's largest collection of classic games!"

The greatest classic arcade in the country is in Weirs Beach, NH, known as Funspot. It contains over 170 different classic games and has been site to Twin Galaxies tournaments over the years. For a place near you, check out the classic arcade locations site.

Big whoop, one weekend? If you want to really play some agmes, go to FunSpot in Laconia NH any time of year.

Actually, a better place is FunSpot in Weirs Beach, NH. Something like 180 classic arcade games, in one room. I'm really looking forward to my next trip there.

You can get discount coupons on their tokens, so games cost something like .08 a play, instead of a quarter

That I know of is at Weirs Beach at FunSpot You name a game, they have it there most likely. From old school Asteroids to new games that you actually have to move your body to play. Anytime I go there it's a blast!

FunSpot in Weirs Beach, NH, is the second largest arcade in the US. Their classic arcade, though it runs on tokens, is a quarter a game. Much less if you get your tokens in quantity. Far, FAR less if you use the coupon on their site.