The Time Zone Arcade and other Arcades from back in the day

[Detroitej72]

For anyone who lived around 7 Mile and Gratiot, the hangout place was Electric Palace Arcade on the corner of Lappin and Gratiot. My friend's mother would always tell us not to hang out there because it was frequented by "a bunch of bullies". Of coarse, that made us want to sneak in at every opportunity. My favorite games were Centipede, Galaxy, Asteroids, Pac Man, and Gauntlet.

For a short time, there was a small arcade at Manning and Gratiot which doubled as an ice cream parlor. And during the early 80's on Gratiot just south of ED High School there was a token war between Rick's Pop Shop and Ceaser Palace. At one time Rick's offered something like 32 tokens for a buck and Ceaser's closed soon afterward and became a barber college.

[CountrySquire]

Which shops at 9 and John R are were the Time Zone was? The woman's clothing store or the shops north of Kroger? We only went there one time as kids when my friend's mom drove us there. Our favorite place was Alligator Alley then later the Tel Twelve mall arcade.

[Django]

Anybody remember Spankys on M-59. Arcade games and dance floor with a DJ spinning.

Was Jungle Hunt the equivalent to the Atari 3600 game of Pitfall?

I was big on Defender, Donkey Kong, and Astroids. I remember learning the pattern to Pac Man which would get you to the next screen for about 4-5 levels.

[Danny]

When I was a kid [[ Living on Lawton St in Detroit's Northwest Side) I there were 2 neighborhood arcades along Puritan Rd. between Linwood St. and Livernois. Right after school lots of kids bum rushed to one of those arcades and play some video games. Pac-Man was a hot spot game followed by Donkey Kong, Galaga and Millipede. Atari games were very popular in all 1980 arcades. I even seen my cousins play those games before I joined the the video game golden age.

[7 & Van Dyke]

My friends and I would spend hours in the nerdy darkness of Olympia Arcade on Gratiot just south of I-696. It's closed now. The last time I was there was almost 10 years ago. I loved it. We played Guns 'n' Roses' "Appetite for Destruction" over and over on the jukebox.

We also went to Galaxy Arcade farther down Gratiot near Macomb Mall. That one stayed open longer. For all I know it's still open. Also, the East Pointe Cue Club had some games we played, along with pool. That place was kind of scary.

I spent many hours playing SuperChexx and Mike Tyson's Punchout at Galaxy. I guess they just closed in '06. Pretty good run for the burbs.

[Hypestyles]

It was the space station in RO for me, i think. That was the one by Yorba Linda bowling alley, right? now it's a [[gag) starbucks

ah, the space station... don't know where I got flying saucer from.. lol..

[Danny]

At least there are some arcades still survive in this century

Here's in Southeast Michigan we have GamersUSA, Zap Zone, and American Fun Center.

[psubliminal]

We used to go to Westland Shopping Center's Arcade 5, which was accessible from the outside, and there was the Third World Arcade [[later Fiesta Fun Spot) on Ford Rd. just west of Newburgh. Also, I think there was the Wizzard Room out on Warren somewhere, and several others I'm probably forgetting, including the short-lived one at Michigan Ave & Middlebelt in Inkster. Did Firemill Village out on Northwestern Hwy have one? I know it was a head shop, jeans, incense etc but I'm hard pressed to find anyone who even remembers it. My cousins grew up nearby and they're astounded when I bring the place up, but they don't remember, either, even though they went there a lot.

[psubliminal]

Back in the early 80,s spent many a night in the arcades in the Wayne/Westland area. Roscoes on Merriman and Cherry Hill, Westland, Zebra Den on Mich ave in Wayne [and] Tin Pan Alley at the Westland Mall.

Tin Pan Alley was called Arcade 5 when I used to go there mid '70s. I'd forgotten the other two you mentioned. My brother worked at the Ford & Newburgh one so that's the one I spent most of my time playing foosball in. I think the same guy that owned it opened another one on Middlebelt at Avondale.

[ptero]

Anybody been to Marvin's Mechanical Museum recently? it may be over a year for me..

Have not been there for a LONNNG time. btw, that's Marvin Yagoda of the Yagoda family that ran Sam's Drugs at Fenkell and Ardmore in the 60's and 70's. Marvin had his own dark little storefront in that same block w/toys for kids. Loved the place but it was creepy dark, as was himself!

[313WX]

EDIT: Never mind, someone bumped an old thread.

[Rochelle St.]

For anyone who lived around 7 Mile and Gratiot, the hangout place was Electric Palace Arcade on the corner of Lappin and Gratiot. My friend's mother would always tell us not to hang out there because it was frequented by "a bunch of bullies". Of coarse, that made us want to sneak in at every opportunity. My favorite games were Centipede, Galaxy, Asteroids, Pac Man, and Gauntlet.

For a short time, there was a small arcade at Manning and Gratiot which doubled as an ice cream parlor. And during the early 80's on Gratiot just south of ED High School there was a token war between Rick's Pop Shop and Ceaser Palace. At one time Rick's offered something like 32 tokens for a buck and Ceaser's closed soon afterward and became a barber college.

I used to hang out at the Electric Palace too, I went for the high score on Bubbles and played pinball, Battlezone, Galaga, and this game about the Red Baron that had graphics just like Battlezone, but I forget the name of it.
The nieighorhood WAS a lttle rough even then, but I dont remember any bullies.
Though I once saw a guy getting a BJ from a hooker in the parking lot out back.
Eastland Mall also had a good arcade, and so did Macomb Mall.

[Detroitej72]

The nieighorhood WAS a lttle rough even then, but I dont remember any bullies.
Though I once saw a guy getting a BJ from a hooker in the parking lot out back.

I think my friend's mother thought all the older teens looked shady because of how they dressed because I never had any problems in all my hours spent there. I never saw any hookers, the worst I ever saw was some older kids smoking a joint in the alley

[Original63]

Wow Danny I remember at least 1 Puritan arcade, it was near Lawton and Parkside I thought, near what was a Dr's office, now a Lawnmower repair shop..

Also the old 2nd floor arcade in Greektown during the late 70's and thru the 80's

[Thruster315]

I once got bumped into by Red Wing Darren McCarty while playing pinball at Marvin's about ten years ago. Gruffy, shaggy and just looked like death warmed him over for the night too.

[MissingDetroit]

Has Pinball Pete's been in A2 since the early 70's? Seems I remember an arcade by that name from that era.....

Yes doug, it has, although I don't think it was in the basement as they are describing it today. For a brief hazy period I lived in the apartment upstairs.

[Downtown Dave]

Detroitnerd - I worked in the Arcade at Greenfield Village for a few summers when they launched Suwanee Park [[and began the perimeter railroad). Our challenge was to keep all the machines in working order - and not get a shock when we had the mutoscopes open to collect the coins at the end of the day. The Keyhole Stripper was one of my favorites, too. I made all the signs on those machines. Thanks for bringing back a good memory!

[MizMotown]

Hawthorne Valley and lower level Westland Mall.

Defenders and Stargate champ!!!!!

[mallory]

There was a place in Allen Park, I think it was on Southfield near Allen Road. Anyone remember the name of the place? I went through many rolls of quarters on pinball mostly, but also liked Qix and the Tron video game. This would have been right around 1985 if I can pull enough cells to remember.

Slightly off the subject, wasn't there a house in Allen Park that was all dressed up in Christmas stuff all year round? I vaguely remember going there a few times, but I can't be sure. Anyone?

[Django]

Galaga. That was a badass game.

[detroitsgwenivere]

My boyfriends mother ran timezone in HP for over a decade. LOTS of great stories there. One of them was how the place got shut down. Apparently, the Feds showed up one day with padlocks and accusations that the place being used to funnel $$ by the mob.

[douglasm]

How long has Pinball Pete's been around? I remember it from the early 70's when I divided some of my free time between it and a Ypsilanti pinball storefront named Flipper MaGee's, just down Cross Street from Ted's....

[G-DDT]

Yeah, so I was a videot when I was a kid.

Six Mile and Telegraph had Sparky's Arcade [[used to give you 5 free tokens for every "A" you got on your report card as an incentive for kids to study more and prove to the parents that the games are not rottting their branz-luckly dem videoo gams neber hert me brian.) In the mid-90's there was also an arcade on Telegraph near I-96 in the stripmall next to the giant frickin' Arby's hat [[my friend and I beat the Simpsons game https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9DE-KyZnLcthere, and we also saw Dragon's Lair 2 therehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWXtBTTpcHk). The mini golf place on Grand River had an arcade. Tel-12 mall had an arcade right near the foodcourt entrance [[complete with Space Acehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iplXu8jXc0). Fairlane Towncenter Sears had an arcade [[with the Star Wars sit-down game) right near the salon entrance [[my mom took me there for many years to get a cut; my favorite part was having the young buxom ladies lean over and give me a shampoo first).

I always thought the Fun Factory was on Grand River where that horrible Indian food place is now.

Showbiz and Chucky Cheese actually had lots of video games back when [[phased them out to appear more active). Dragon's Lair had it's debut at Showbizhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pST5jnB5OwY. You had to wait forever for a slot open for your little Birthday Pizza Party, and then you get greeted with a flat and nasty disc of "pizza" and a creepy animatronic performance similar to thishttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxxdFr16nLc.

Marvelous Marvin's Mechanical Museum never had an actual video game in it when it was in the center of Tally Hall, but when it acquired it's own solitary location there, I seem to remember a few kicking around in there [[including a Simpson's game that had a word balloon above Bart's head thanking the owner, who I later found out was related to the guy who ran McVee's Bar in Southfield.).

Gauntlet and Berzerk were classic, because the video games talked and had catch phrases that stuck with folks [[I still would like a "Wizard needs food badly" T-shirt to let the greater populace know what is up with my persistent blood sugar condition.). The games I had trouble with were the double joystick games like Black Widow and Robotron 2084.

Does anyone remember the weirder games like Tapper, Zookeeper, or Make Trax? You do know those specific games you may've played were heavily monitored Michigan Works sponsored games that were measuring your occupational aptitude and sharing the data with top secret government agencies to decide your very job future?

[G-DDT]

The very first time I set foot in Madison, I found a place on Williamson St. that was crammed full of arcade games that were all rigged for free play. They basically charged you 50 cents for each segment of fifteen minutes you were in there, as you gadded about from game to game like a nostalgic loon. I don't know if it moved out to Monona or what.

While certain Vector graphic games like Asteroids and Star Wars were manageable, the other ones like Tempest and Omega Race got too hectic for me to play. Anyone else felt weird about having to put their head up to the dingy worn viewfinder they had on the Battlezone games [[Robot Tank for Atari 2600 was better)?

[ah8176]

The Space Station in Royal Oak. I had a friend from Birmingham that rode his bike all the way there just to find out the place was shuttered the week before. LOL.

I suppose it doesn't really count but I remember an arcade inside the food court of Wonderland Mall that was always packed.

Then there was an arcade at the corner of Ford Rd and Beech Daly in an old grocery store during the early 90's.

I remember seeing a sigh for an old arcade/pinball joint right in Capitol Park [[inside the old Farwell building?) I don't know why, but as I young kid I thought it was an awesome location and looked like it was huge. I would have loved to play there. Anyone on here remember that one? Or am I going insane? Could never find any photos of it or it's decayed state to know if it was real or if I was just seeing things.