Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Old Irish arcade photos - do they exist?

  • 30-12-2013 2:41pm
    #1
    o1s1n
    Registered Users Posts: 34,360 ✭✭✭✭
    Master of the Universe


    Recently I came across those horrific pictures of Dawson's Amusements being torn down in Bray and realized - I have absolutely zero photos taken inside any Bray arcade!

    Are there photos anywhere? (or any other Irish arcades for that matter?)

    Googling turns up zero results (which is sad in itself :(), but I'm sure there are photos out there somewhere...


«1345

Comments

  • #2
    Optimus Prime
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators Posts: 5,380 Mod ✭✭✭✭Optimus Prime


    There is a few old photos on the Mosney facebook page of the old arcade. seen those bray ones before. not sure about others, im sure someone has some somewhere, id love to see them.


  • #3
    o1s1n
    Registered Users Posts: 34,360 ✭✭✭✭o1s1n
    Master of the Universe


    Never thought of searching through Mosney pictures, good idea. Here's one. For am moment I though that 2p machine in the middle was a candy :eek:

    430503_222937204464828_139356003_n.jpg


  • #4
    STG.Otaku
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,214 ✭✭✭STG.Otaku


    IMG_2013123043840.jpg

    :D


  • #5
    Steve X2
    Registered Users Posts: 8,847 ✭✭✭Steve X2


    I've been on to the RTE archives about getting some pics and vids of Irish arcades, inside and out.
    They're not exactly super helpful but I'm still working on it.


  • #6
    o1s1n
    Registered Users Posts: 34,360 ✭✭✭✭o1s1n
    Master of the Universe


    Steve SI wrote: »
    I've been on to the RTE archives about getting some pics and vids of Irish arcades, inside and out.
    They're not exactly super helpful but I'm still working on it.

    Good luck! There's whole dark, dingy, smoked filled 'bleepy' 'bloopy' documentary waiting there for the making.

    My dad always says he remembers a really up market, adult focused arcade in Dun Laoghaire full of 'those sit down table top arcade machines' - I'd love to see photos.


  • Advertisement
  • #7
    the groutch
    Closed Accounts Posts: 16,096 ✭✭✭✭the groutch


    Think I roughly remember the layout.

    The big Arabian Derby machine was almost there as you came in, with the dodgems & Waltzer in behind.
    The arcade machines were to the left iirc, with the slots in an extension to the far left, and on the right was the 2p pushers, and the other stuff you played to win tickets/tokens (I know "skeeball" was one, can't really remember the rest) to buy various toys with.


  • #8
    CiDeRmAn
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 34,526 CMod ✭✭✭✭CiDeRmAn


    There was at least two arcades wasn't there?
    I remember playing Virtua Racing there for the first time, and they had lots of traditional cabs.
    I imagine they all might be still there, rotting away


  • #9
    the groutch
    Closed Accounts Posts: 16,096 ✭✭✭✭the groutch


    4 actually

    Dawsons, Star Amusements (still there), Fun Palace down the other end (still there as slots only now), and a small one I think was called Esplanade which only lasted a few years.


  • #10
    Mr.Saturn
    Registered Users Posts: 3,910 ✭✭✭Mr.Saturn


    I'd love to see something of Quirkey's set-up from its glory-years, or even its brief late-90s/early-00s revival with the TTT scene. It's all foggy, but the vague memories of the kit they had in there was impressive. They've still got a little something, something down back.

    Caesar's Palace in Phibsboro got cannibalized into a Quirkey's annex, and the sole remaining hint of it ever being anything other than a slot-gaf is the Tekken 6 cabinet off to the side as you enter. I'd like to see something from when it stood proud as an arcade.


  • #11
    o1s1n
    Registered Users Posts: 34,360 ✭✭✭✭o1s1n
    Master of the Universe


    It's gas how many foggy memories from these places exist, but no damn actual imagery! I have so many memories of Dawsons and Fun Palace, but don't think I actually took a single photo there over the years. Even The Fun Factory had an arcade.

    Maybe the Mammy has some stored away in all those tomes of photos.


  • Advertisement
  • #12
    CiDeRmAn
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 34,526 CMod ✭✭✭✭CiDeRmAn


    Actually I was talking about Money.
    And no, don't think I'm in that shot.
    Most of my childhood snaps are in black and white

    I wonder if the arcades there are still there, or have they been cleared for accommodation/dining space for the new inhabitants?

    Are those poor souls having their spirits lifted with Gradius on free play?


  • #13
    STG.Otaku
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,214 ✭✭✭STG.Otaku


    CiDeRmAn wrote: »
    Most of my childhood snaps are in black and white

    free-vector-medieval-farming-clip-art_114931_Medieval_Farming_clip_art_hight.png

    :D


  • #14
    Myrddin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 33,733 ✭✭✭✭Myrddin


    CiDeRmAn wrote: »
    Most of my childhood snaps are in black and white oil paintings

    That's true, still...:P


  • #15
    Kidchameleon
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,482 ✭✭✭Kidchameleon


    Mods, sorry for digging up old thread. The links to the photos are gone, would you guys be able to re share. I was in Bray yesterday and I remembered all the good times I had in Dawsons, I would love to see some photos. What was the place beside Dawsons called? Man, Bray was arcade heaven to me


  • #16
    o1s1n
    Registered Users Posts: 34,360 ✭✭✭✭o1s1n
    Master of the Universe


    Kidchameleon wrote: »
    Mods, sorry for digging up old thread. The links to the photos are gone, would you guys be able to re share. I was in Bray yesterday and I remembered all the good times I had in Dawsons, I would love to see some photos. What was the place beside Dawsons called? Man, Bray was arcade heaven to me

    I don't think we ever found any in the end! :( the photos I had up of Dawsons were of it being torn down sadly.


  • #17
    Kidchameleon
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,482 ✭✭✭Kidchameleon


    o1s1n wrote: »
    I don't think we ever found any in the end! :( the photos I had up of Dawsons were of it being torn down sadly.

    Ah thats a shame. There must be footage out there somewhere of the place. Probably sitting on a vcr tape


  • #18
    Steve X2
    Registered Users Posts: 8,847 ✭✭✭Steve X2


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3Hi4izjVoc


  • #19
    rubadub
    Registered Users Posts: 32,373 ✭✭✭✭rubadub


    o1s1n wrote: »
    My dad always says he remembers a really up market, adult focused arcade in Dun Laoghaire full of 'those sit down table top arcade machines' - I'd love to see photos.
    roughly what year was this. All I remember is the pierrot club, snooker upstairs and arcade games downstairs, had to ring a bell to get in. They had one on the quays across from virgin megastore too.

    Pierrot Snooker Club (1984)
    045-Pierrot-Snooker-Club-1984.jpg?itok=ofVuzi3z

    The one in town often had Asian lads in it destroying tetris, now I wonder how good they really were. The one in dun laoghaire had pickpocket scumbags trying to fleece me playing SF2.

    Photos costed money back then, so they were not to be wasted, while now people take snaps of anything.
    the groutch wrote: »
    4 actually

    Dawsons, Star Amusements (still there), Fun Palace down the other end (still there as slots only now), and a small one I think was called Esplanade which only lasted a few years.
    I think there were more small ones, maybe not all on the seafront. There was one up a backstreet which had much older games, like donkey kong. I used to cycle down and stop at most of them.

    Maybe for searching people need more terms that were possibly used in the media, like "amusements" "one arm bandits" "slot machines". I remember rows of auld dears with cups of coins and reckon they must have been videoed at some stage, and might have got a few games in too.

    In bray I remember a pole position with a terribly burnt in screen. Midnight resistance with the twisty joystick. Queues for double dragon when it first came out. Chase HQ & roadblasters. A Neo Geo and I think a NES unit?. Golden axe was also very popular.

    And the mechanical horse racing with the Stephen Hawking voice "place your bets now please"

    Searching "slot machines" in RTE got hits, some might be worth a watch.

    https://www.rte.ie/archives/category/archives/?q=slot%20machines&filter=programmeid:30004608%20OR%20uri:*%2F%2Fwww.rte.ie%2Farchives%2F*&page=1


  • #20
    Ronan|Raven
    Registered Users Posts: 8,140 ✭✭✭Ronan|Raven


    Anyone remember Seapoint in Galway? Back in the early 90's.
    I used to love when dad brought us up for the day and we got to go in. I remember play SF1 in there on the 10p row of machines.

    There was also the place above supermacs in eyre square which had a pay by hour job. If I ever win the lotto I will buy a Terminator 2 cab..


  • #21
    rubadub
    Registered Users Posts: 32,373 ✭✭✭✭rubadub


    Here is a video of the tv show nighthawks from 1991 she walks through an arcade in bray
    https://www.rte.ie/archives/2016/1125/834415-rough-guide-to-bray/
    In a sketch for ‘Nighthawks’ Anne Marie Hourihane and Paul Tylak provide a satirical guide to the seaside town of Bray.
    From the video games in the amusement arcade to the esplanade on the seafront edgy presenters Magenta (Anne Marie Hourihane) and Sankha (Paul Tylak) provide a “rough” guide to all things Bray. The attractions don’t end there as Bray has been home to many a celebrity from film director Neil Jordan to rock star Bono. Although they don’t live there anymore.


  • Advertisement
  • #22
    Optimus Prime
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators Posts: 5,380 Mod ✭✭✭✭Optimus Prime


    I think I seen that Mercs cab for sale on DoneDeal. The marquee combo with that cab style.


  • #23
    o1s1n
    Registered Users Posts: 34,360 ✭✭✭✭o1s1n
    Master of the Universe


    rubadub wrote: »
    Here is a video of the tv show nighthawks from 1991 she walks through an arcade in bray
    https://www.rte.ie/archives/2016/1125/834415-rough-guide-to-bray/

    That's amazing!!! Fairly sure that's Fun Palace at the start, which means that's the Mercs machine I used to play as a kid.


  • #24
    rubadub
    Registered Users Posts: 32,373 ✭✭✭✭rubadub


    Kidchameleon wrote: »
    Mods, sorry for digging up old thread. The links to the photos are gone, would you guys be able to re share.

    I guess you were talking of this post
    STG.Otaku wrote: »
    IMG_2013123043840.jpg

    :D
    this thread showed up in google images, and I guess this was the one missing!

    images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSPViGO586gp0qmUIjtCc9P6znC3IKKGQebsQmhyI0EzuswfJFnSQ

    Fun Palace back in 1962 in this video
    https://www.rte.ie/archives/2017/0704/887644-blustery-bray/
    000e485d-642.jpg


  • #25
    CiDeRmAn
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 34,526 CMod ✭✭✭✭CiDeRmAn


    [grumpy]No, not me![/grumpy]

    They are playing bingo in Mosney, I would have been playing Virtua Racing!


  • #26
    Relikk
    Registered Users Posts: 1,800 ✭✭✭Relikk


    rubadub wrote: »
    I think there were more small ones, maybe not all on the seafront. There was one up a backstreet which had much older games, like donkey kong. I used to cycle down and stop at most of them.

    Yeah, in the lane beside the DART station there was a tiny arcade, can't remember the name of it as it seemed to change quite frequently.

    There was Loppy's in the middle between Dawsons/Star and Fun Palace. Loppy's was where I saw Starblade for the first time. Blew my mind.


  • #27
    KevW24601
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 80 ✭✭KevW24601


    Very interesting stuff! :D

    I'd be curious myself as to if there's any photos out there of the Tramore arcades or from Perks (pre location change in late 90s) back in the day? Those were my formative arcade experiences. :P


  • #28
    eddhorse
    Registered Users Posts: 5,780 ✭✭✭eddhorse


    Video, after 10 mins there is an arcade in city centre.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRQxQaCX4DY


  • #29
    CathalDublin
    Registered Users Posts: 4,146 ✭✭✭CathalDublin


    Speaking of old videos anyone remember when Todd Landers in Neighbours was addicted to Ghosts N Goblins?
    *Edit:Here's some footage*
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ1UA-f3EBE


  • #30
    o1s1n
    Registered Users Posts: 34,360 ✭✭✭✭o1s1n
    Master of the Universe


    Some absolute gold appearing in here!

    That's some line of cabs in the Neighbours clip :eek:


  • Advertisement
  • #31
    CathalDublin
    Registered Users Posts: 4,146 ✭✭✭CathalDublin


    o1s1n wrote: »
    Some absolute gold appearing in here!

    That's some line of cabs in the Neighbours clip :eek:

    There was a whole storyline going with footage of GNG.
    skip to 18minutes
    http://dai.ly/x6bwjyd

    oh he got to the second level skip to 16minutes
    https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6bwjz5

    High score achieved
    skip to roughly 10minutes
    https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6bwk00


Advertisement