Old Irish arcade photos - do they exist?

Jack burton · 17-01-2023 10:20pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120092702#Comment_120092702

Gimme a shout if you want some fresh graphics etc. Always like helping out where I can.

Ronan|Raven · 18-01-2023 9:40pm

Prob the wrong thread for this but reading this thread made me remember some of the arcades in Galway I used to goto with my brother. We lived nowhere near Galway but the old man would bring us up every few weeks into Salthill.. off into Seapoint Leisure we would go. It was like something out of this world to me back in those days. Row after row of machines. the 10p machines and then the 20p ones. Trying to make those few quid last as long as possible. SF1 and then finding SF2... Operation Wolf... oh happy days.

i shudder now as a boring old man what happened to all those cabinets... oh how they must have screamed as they were crushed and burnt...

I remember as well a place in Eyre Square called timezone I think? Pay a few quid, play as much as ya wanted for x amount of time.. The T2 Machine... someday when the mortgage is paid off I will get one of them if they still exist in playable condition. **** the 1up version.

tonyotonyo · 18-01-2023 11:34pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120085649#Comment_120085649

https://ibb.co/WFp45tS

Looking at your post got me to dig up some old pictures. I was floating around there myself in 2018, bitter cold winter going around the place too.

There's always other machines lurking about in mad places but the known ones were sucked dry years ago. Still, 2023, more to be found.

dav09 · 18-01-2023 11:40pm

Thats for sure, and wow a radarscope, that definitely wasnt there too, they told me a lot were sold over the years but sounds like they dealt with only a few people.

tonyotonyo · 19-01-2023 12:02am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120127166#Comment_120127166

Yeah everytime I went there something was missing. A megatech went walkies and I was told I had dreamt it up.

https://ibb.co/k47pZ0s

Still have the radarscope, that was when I was cleaning it up and fixing a few bits. Really great condition for its age.

The one thing that stands out about being there was the remains of a nintendo space launcher, its control panel. There are literally none known in the world now which is mad. And I didn't take a picture because that would have been smart. The little story I know is that nintendo were threatened with being sued by star wars due to its artwork, so they got rid. Might not be true. Some pcbs still exist, but the full cabinet is no more, anywhere.

Tons more pictures of old arcade graveyards in Ireland, one day I'll get round to putting them together.

dav09 · 19-01-2023 12:33am

Wow that's absolutely amazing and brilliant condition, really wish I got some bits from there sorta kicked myself afterwards but it all happened so quick. They had some beautiful machines. Do they still have machines or is Bobs gone?

I'd love to see some photos of some Limerick arcades too if anyone has any, I grew up loving The Vic, Funworld (they had a couple of mad rare bits and pieces there over the years like Sonic Blast Heros, Tokyo Wars, one of the first games I remember playing is Shoot Away 2) and even Shannon had a good selection. It's a shame the last of the arcades are really dying here now.

tonyotonyo · 19-01-2023 12:44am

I think it's all but gone now.

Don't know anything about limerick Arcades, but I did come across a Tokyo wars not so long ago. Good game.

https://ibb.co/YLQ0gf9

geotrig · 19-01-2023 9:27am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120127342#Comment_120127342

tokyo war cab looks familiar but dont remember ever getting to play it in funworld.

I spent all my teenage years in the Vic and never took one photo :P don't remember many ever been taken which is a pity and anyone I know that would have had pictures I would have lost touch with years ago .

I also was talking to a guy a few years ago who said his cousin worked in funworld when it opened and had loads of early day pictures of the place but never got to see them ....and that I suppose where the crux of the issue lies the people who have photos scattered about the place from parties in these places etc are probably not into the arcade forums much !

there was a few nice machines in stix as well at a time I still vividly remember the big enduro racer machine there !

o1s1n · 19-01-2023 10:49am

Star Amusements in Bray had a Tokyo Wars twin for years, was one of my favourite cabinets there - really fond memories of playing two player battles with a mate after school.

We'd then go into the internet cafe (remember those???), pay pay 5 pounds and get a Half Life DM LAN going.

tonyotonyo · 19-01-2023 12:27pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDFphdr3Mf4

1991 there. Good chunk not in bray obviously.

Robocop, pacland, turtles, loads.

tonyotonyo · 19-01-2023 2:09pm

There was also a large arcade in what was the Ritz cinema in athlone. I have a rastan pcb that's tagged as being from there.

Not to bang on about the radarscope, but with a bit of detective work there were originally two in Ireland from new, both originally from the ritz. Somebody in the Netherlands grabbed one of them in a van, and comparing the serial numbers the two machines rolled off the production line beside each other.

It would be interesting to see the insides of the arcade but I can't find any at all. As well as there being few cameras around back then I think the owners of these Arcades weren't mad about photography in general, it's a pity.

https://ibb.co/B4SZDHc

o1s1n · 19-01-2023 3:24pm

Yeah it was one of the reasons I started this thread originally, was trying to find photos inside Dawsons, Star Amusements and Fun Palace in Bray but there really is nothing online. Not sure how much photography happened in them at all. I suppose they were dark places so any photos that do exist are probably shite.

That 'Rough Guide to Bray' is by far the best I've ever seen in that regard. One of the things I was hoping to see was Mercs in Fun Palace which I was always playing, here it is in all it's glory!

I think that's one of our local's Youtube channels by the way :) - thanks for saving that as I tried to watch it on the RTE player a couple of weeks ago and it wouldn't stream. Was worried it might be gone!

dav09 · 19-01-2023 3:39pm

Not sure if this has been shared earlier on this thread but from 2:34 onwards shows the arcade in Mosney.

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

Did anyone ever get this stuff? It's crazy to see almost everything still working in 2010, it almost seems like it was being maintained. But lots of good stuff there 6 Player Daytona I believe, Ridge Racer 2, GTI Club, sit down Outrun Motion (same type I have), tones of Jamma cabs, Alien 3, and looks like a good few Megalo cabs too. Mosney closed at a time when a lot of this stuff was worth practically nothing so can see why it was left there by operators. Also would have had a store of stuff too which had the likes of the TX1 I believe, the operator I mentioned above said it was almost impossible to get anything out of the place and that multiple operators were involved I believe.

Steve X2 · 19-01-2023 4:01pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120129655#Comment_120129655

Yeah I think I grabbed that video from the RTE archives or something like that a few years back and cleaned it up a bit. Wanted to keep it for posterity so stuck it up on YouTube. I also have Bosco up there, I overpaid with real money for the 2 sets of DVD's 😀

RobbingBandit · 19-01-2023 4:36pm

Courttown had a massive arcade if I remember from summer camp trips there. There was also a huge one I think beside the Belgard Inn in Tallaght.

Inviere · 19-01-2023 5:21pm

Virtually impossible I'd say, but I'd love to see some photos of XL Bowl in Palmerstown, Dublin, circa mid 90's. That's where I first beat Street Fighter 2, and Champion Edition too. I remember getting my weekly 'pay', £3.60. It was 30p on the 18 bus up to Palmerstown, and 30p back...that left me with £3 to play games with...I can still remember the noise of the machine that changed the pound coins into 20p pieces. You'd go off then with your pockets full of coins, try and try and try to get better at Street Fighter, maybe play some Final Fight or Sunset Riders (they'd the big 4 player cab), and then bus it home to continue SF2 on the Snes.....good days

DublinWriter · 19-01-2023 5:27pm

Happy memories of playing lots of Electro-mechanical cabs in Bray in the mid 70's before Space Invaders came along and ruined everything!

o1s1n · 19-01-2023 7:34pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120129779#Comment_120129779

I haven't seen one of those horse racing machines in an eternity! I'd say they were probably some of the first to the skips, were huge yolks, couldn't imagine many enthusiasts trying to keep them for home use.

Star amusements had great roulette machines about 25 or so years ago. I wasn't interested in gambling, but used to throw my last few 10p coins into them when I was running out of money to try to get a bit more to keep playing Time Crisis. Worked more often than not!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120129880#Comment_120129880

Hah yeah I saw those Bosco videos, you're doing god's work 😁

dav09 · 20-01-2023 12:32am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120130828#Comment_120130828

Certainly not me anyway only bad memories from the horse machine lol, too many memories of wasting half my fiver for the week for the arcade on it trying to win back my original 0.20 cent where ithe horse was going to win until the it spun or slowed down at the end after being miles ahead, it took me far too many years to figure out they were rigged (and even more for the claw machines and pushers).

One mad thing is I seen a modern looking version of that at an arcade in salthill, which is actually a really decent arcade and had some pins/decent videos on last visit.

Old Irish arcade photos - do they exist?

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