Arcade Machines: How Quarters Built a Billion-Dollar Entertainment Empire
7K views · Aug 23, 2026 · People & Blogs
Comments · 17
@thelorax9622 · 3 weeks ago
I went to Hawaii from Australia in 1973 with my parents, where at age four, I stood on a milk crate and played Pong. It wasn’t until many years later that I realised I had played the first real arcade game just by chance.
2
@isamuu99 · 1 month ago
I've seen a metric ton of arcade related documentaries over my lifetime, and I don't say this lightly, but this is one of the BEST ones I've watched to date! Absolutely superb job! Thoroughly enjoyed it.
2
@MichaelZweifel · 1 month ago (edited)
Battlezone when I was in the Marines on Okinawa Japan. 1979
2
@BURRITO44 · 2 weeks ago
Awesome video
1
@shlomomarkman6374 · 3 weeks ago
Written as if arcades disappeared completely. They didn't and an arcade exists not that far from my home. Even celebrated my son's 9th birthday in it.
@paulkoopmans9534 · 1 month ago
The year was 1972 and my young bride and I went to Maria Calendar’s restaurant in South San Jose CA to go to dinner with our friends. We walked in and the waiting area was packed. The hostess said the waiting time was 5 minutes. Why was the waiting area so packed? We found that the crowd was waiting their turn to play Pong at a table shaped machine and the crowd was cheering when someone scored. The waiting time to play Pong was about an hour!
1
@stevenholt1867 · 3 weeks ago
then came the Playstation
1
@robertfletcher · 3 weeks ago
Some of my favorite arcade games were Joust, Tron and Mario Brothers (minus the Super). Super Mario Brothers was OK, but I like Mario Brothers better.
@JosephEdwards-v2i · 1 month ago (edited)
First comment after the first four hours.
1
@dztennessee9744 · 1 month ago
First comment
1
@thejasonknightfiascoband5099 · 3 weeks ago
I wiish i knew the details of the partnership between Nolan & Ted. Anyone know if Nolan was an a-hole to Ted or was Ted a drama queen?
@Gamevet · 1 month ago
What is Space Ware?
1
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