Now that the end of my college semester has arrived, I want to take a moment to look at what I have accomplished, and what the future holds. I have come much farther with this blog than I could have imagined. This started as a required project for my journalism class, but turned into a welcomed part of my life. I have had the opportunity to meet and talk with so many wonderful people, and have enjoyed every interview I have done. This is truly an experience I did not expect coming into my senior year of college, but I am sure glad I was able to do it.
As for the future of the blog, I plan on continuing on my own. I want to find more stories, and talk to more people. Things in the current world may be presenting limitations, but that won’t stop me from finding new and interesting stories. I want to expand the type of articles I write and the type of media I use to present my stories. I plan on doing video stories on local arcades and people once the world permits. But in the meantime I will continue to experiment with what I can do from home.
Thank you to everyone that has taken the time to talk with me, and to anyone that has visited this site. Here are some of my favorite stories:
This week I caught up with with Dustin Wilcox, 19, from Hopkinsville KY. He is a student at Murray State University majoring in journalism. Dustin is the owner of the Wilcox Arcade blog, where he reviews and discusses everything in the world of arcade gaming. He has loved and enjoyed video games and arcade games ever since he was a kid. He is extremely passionate about arcade gaming, and that passion translates into his insightful and well written articles.
Dustin’s passion for arcade games ironically came from a lack of arcades in his town. He loved playing the few games at the couple of locations that housed them. This lack of games drove him to want to provide other people with access to them. He started his blog in 2017 at 15 years old. One day when talking about arcades with his dad, his dad offhandedly mentioned starting a blog, and Dustin took off with the idea.
“I’m so close to getting 3,000 views a month now, I love it,” said Dustin about his blog. “I can’t stop now, I’ve made a lot of great connections, I love what I’m doing, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Listen to Dustin detail the story of why he started his blog:
“That’s the biggest difficulty, not being able to cover everything I want to.”
Starting his blog at age 15, and currently a college student, I wanted to know how Dustin balanced his life responsibilities with running his blog, and what the most difficult part of running the blog is. He stated that through high school he would wake up at 4 or 5 a.m. to get a couple hours of work done. He always takes care of his important responsibilities first, which means the blog is worked on when he has the time to squeeze it in. And this in turn results in Dustin not being able to cover everything he wants to cover.
“The most difficult thing for sure is having the time to write about everything I want to write about…”
Hear Dustin finish explaining whats most difficult about running his website below:
But don’t let that fool you into thinking Dustin isn’t working extremely hard. Not only on his website, but on his Wilcox Arcade brand as a whole, as Dustin’s website is just part of what makes up Wilcox Arcade.
“A lot of people assume that games they see at, say, a restaurant, or movie theater, or a bowling alley, are owned by the location. But in many cases they’re not. They’re owned by an outside operator, a third party, who is sharing the profits with the location owner. That’s what I do, I’m the third party.”
Dustin said he saw “a need in the market” for more coin operated video games. Hear Dustin detail what it took to get his arcade machine into his first business:
I asked Dustin what he thought the future of arcades will be in 20 years. He hopes to be apart of the arcade scene in the future. He stated he wants to rejuvenate the industry by targeting more hard-core gamers, as opposed to the more casual ones.
“In 20 years, my hope is that I’m apart of arcades then. My goal is to rejuvenate it by targeting, for lack of a better way of putting it, the hard-core gamers as opposed to the more casual fair you see peddled by the family entertainment centers.”
“In 20 years, my hope is that I’m apart of arcades then.
Hear Dustins other thoughts on the future of arcade in 20 years:
I then asked Dustin where he see’s his website and brand going in the future. He wants to continue to grow, bringing in more viewers, and making Wilcox Arcade bigger and better. He stated that it has always been a dream of his to start a gaming magazine. But his ultimate goal is to open his own arcade one day, and to build it exactly how he wants.
“I want to start a dedicated arcade facility as well. That has always been my goal. I appreciate so dearly that these local business owners have allowed me to put games in their establishments. But that also doesn’t change the fact that I think it would be so, so cool if I could have my own place that I could decorate however I want and curate what I consider the most ideal game selection, and give people what I’ve always wanted. And while I know great arcades like that are plentiful in existence, they’ve never been near me, and I want that.”
Listen to Dustin explain his goal of owning his own arcade:
Delio Nogueira, 21, from Jackson, NJ. Photo by Zachary Goldberg.
Meet Delio Nogueira, a 21 year old resident of Jackson, NJ, and a good friend of mine. Delio works at Stop & Shop supermarket, an essential business during this time of quarantine. We chatted about what it is like working during these unprecedented times, and how it is affecting him. We also went into how video games offer a source of fun and comfort, not just for him, but for people around the world. With arcades around the world being closed due to covid-19, there was no better time to talk about their at-home counterpart. Hear Delio’s story below.
Tony Temple with his Missile Command machine. Photo provided by Tony Temple.
This week I was able to catch up with Tony Temple, 51, from the United Kingdom. He is the creator of “The Arcade Blogger” website. His blog covers arcade history, arcade locations, arcade machine restoration, and more. You’ll find engaging articles that gather information, pictures, and videos from across the internet, that Tony mixes together to create intriguing articles that are fun and easy to read.
Tony started collecting arcade machines in 2005. He purchased a Missile Command machine, which was his favorite game as a kid. He broke the high score record on the machine multiple times, scoring 4.4 million points in 2010. After this, his interest in the hobby began to evolve.
“I got more interested into restoring classic arcade games. The hobby sort of morphed for me, from setting high scores to buying old arcade machines and restoring them.”
One day when searching the web for information, Tony realized that there was tons of information and history on classic arcade games, but that no one had ever pulled it all together. He found himself having to visit multiple sites to find the information he needed. This motivated him to build his website. His goal was to create a website that anybody could come to and get something out of it.
“I took it upon myself to build the website that I never saw, and just wanted to create something that was accessible. That’s the key thing. There is a lot of history out there but a lot of it can be very technical and nerdy and not presented very well. So I really wanted to pull this information together and write a series of articles related to arcade restoration, arcade history, how people go about finding old arcade games, and some of the stories behind that.
“What I don’t want to do is state the obvious and regurgitate what’s already out there.“
Tony says the most challenging part of running his blog is finding interesting content and expanding on it. He tries to write things that are different and interesting, and he tries to take a different angle when writing. A problem he sees is people making posts on information that is already readily available and easy to find. “What I don’t want to do is state the obvious and regurgitate what’s already out there.”
As for the most rewarding part of running his blog, Tony says it’s when he gets positive feedback from people coming up to him and saying they enjoy his website and his content. He says it’s not about how many people visit his website, and he doesn’t make money from the website. Having people enjoy what he does keeps him motivated and connected, and prevents him from getting bored of running the site.
I asked Tony what advice he has for people trying to maintain a website like his.
“I would say the biggest thing that people need to focus on is to keep producing content. And the one thing I learned is that if you don’t keep updating regularly, people won’t come back, and you won’t build that brand…. I just try to grow organically, and I think the only way you can do that is to keep producing regular content.”
Tony has been to the US multiple times and visited arcades across the country, so I was excited to ask him about any differences he saw between US arcades and UK arcades. I was fascinated to find out the biggest difference he saw was the variety of games we have here in the US. Tony stated there are several games the UK never saw. The visits he takes to the US arcades have allowed him to see and play games he never was able to before.
“The real appeal of visiting the US, which I try to do once a year, is an opportunity to get to see and play some of the rare titles we never got to see over here. It fills the gaps in terms of arcade history.”
“I think there’s a healthy future for classic arcade gaming, because I think there will always be interest.”
I also asked Tony about the future of arcades, and here’s what he had to say:
“I think there’s a healthy future for classic arcade gaming, because I think there will always be interest. When I get out of the hobby, I’m quite sure there will be younger people coming up who will want to be custodians of these machines, either in terms of a commercial arcade or a private collection in their house… But certainly, in terms of classic arcades I think its healthy right now and I think its only gonna get stronger.”
This week I had the opportunity to visit the Silverball Museum Arcade in Asbury, NJ. I got to talk to Patty Barber, 53, Personnel Director of the arcade, and Tim Sulivan, 24, game technician who fixes the machines and keeps them running. They are a free play arcade, meaning you pay one upfront charge, and can play unlimited games for a certain amount of time. Unfortunately, due to the covid-19 virus, business was slow, and on Wednesday, March 18, they closed until further notice. However, this is only a bump in the road for an arcade that is confident they will come back strong, and continue to provide the community with a fun, friendly place to hang out. Let’s take a look inside the Silverball Museum Arcade.
Outside entrance view of the Silverball Pinball Museum.
1978 Silverball Mania pinball game, which shares part of its name with the arcade. It is one of the first machines you see when you walk in the door.
A row of pinball machines. Even popular movies jumped in on the pinball craze, including the Terminator 2: Judgment Day pinball machine seen here.
More pinball machines line an entire row in the arcade. Their lights have an eye catching glow.
The 1988 Banzai Run pinball game. What makes this game special, is that the top half doubled as another area to play. The ball would be sent up there when it landed in a certain spot.
These pinball machines all have physical ticker score counters, as opposed to digital.
A row of some of the older machines in the arcade.
All the machines have an information card on top that tells you the year and name of the game, along with some details about it. There are also cards that display who holds the high score for each game.
Two machines with their information cards on display. The Black Knight game has an additional card stating the games 40th anniversary.
The 1981 Centaur pinball game. The stylized artwork is big and eye-catching, as a lot of pinball artwork was.
The arcade also has some classic cabinet games, including Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, and Galaxian.
Jerry Colonna, 42, poses in front of his arcade, Colonial Solider Arcade, Wed, Feb 26, 2020. Photo by Zachary Goldberg.
Jerry Colonna is a South Jersey Native who grew up in Mt. Laurel. He loved going to the arcade growing up, and his passion for arcades continued to grow as he did. Colonna opened The Colonial Soldier Arcade in Nov, 2018, in Deptford, NJ. His arcade is free play style, meaning guests pay one fee up front, and can play unlimited games for the day.
This wasn’t Colonna’s first foray into gaming. He founded New Jersey Gamer Con in 2014, a gaming convention located in South Jersey. I got to speak to him about this and more in our conversation. Read and listen below to hear what he had to say.
What made you interested in opening your own arcade?
Yeah so, a good friend of mine who has established the worlds largest arcade in the suburbs of Chicago, was pretty influential on my wanting to start an arcade of my own. So Doc Mack is his name.
Doc Mack opened and runs currently the Galloping Ghost Arcade in Brookfield Illinois. At the time, he and I were talking about my want to put an arcade somewhere to his arcade in New Jersey, and we’re bouncing around ideas and I came up with the idea of maybe easing into the, easing into it with the event. So we created Gamer Con then, New Jersey Gamer Con.
And with every Gamer Con I had more and more games. I would store them all year, bring them out. So with each passing event I kept growing the collection and I grew the collection to a point where I said alright, the middle of 2000, well actually probably 2017, I started looking for an area to possibly put this arcade. So I transitioned out of Gamer Con in 2018 with a partner, and eventually she took over entirely and at that time the timing was right. I found this location, it almost found me and I jumped on it.
Is there a reason you gravitated towards south Jersey?
Absolutely. Being a south Jersey native I’ve had a connection and roots in this area and when NJ Gamer Con started, and the same thing applied when the arcade started. I wanted it to be family focused for my family, rather involvement for my family. So I have two children, a total of 15 nieces and nephews, and they’re all within the age group of my two kids. So there’s a lot of kids, and then it just was something, a business that I could have them involved with. So same thing with Gamer Con, they were all involved, they would always help. It was gonna be in south Jersey specifically for that reason.
Do you have any stories of interactions with guests?
Once we opened, there was a couple occasions where early on people would come in, and usually an old timer like myself, someone comes in and they’re like taken back by the idea that this is here again, because it’s so nostalgic for so many people, they’re literally taken back to a point where one guy was standing in front of the counter and staring and he was like, this is unbelievable, and he was like, he’s like I’m almost tearing up this is all my memories right here. And it wasn’t the first, it wasn’t last guy to act like that. So that kind of stuff is like, you can’t put a price tag on something like that.
Listen to Colonna tell this story below
Anyone can get any game they want, and in their own home. Why would someone go out to an arcade today?
There is no reason why anybody should come here to play the console games for example. Ok…
Listen to Colonna give his explanation
Can you touch on the restoration process of the games?
So you take a typical board and you have rom chips and you have your capacitors your transistors mounted, and once any one of these go bad you either are pulling it out, or desoldering it and replacing it, reburning it, either which way you have to get it back to the way it was. So the difficulty is you’re not walking into any old store and picking up any one of these pieces, so you’re tracking a lot of it down online.
“…Just sourcing the equipment has become an art form.”
So you’re dealing primarily in a 3rd probably 4th 5th hand you know, market where you’re capturing an item like this whenever you can, either at another cabinet, a project cabinet that’s dilapidated but maybe it had good bones to it. Your pairing up parts from one cabinet and another, maybe two or three cabinets putting it together. You’re gonna find something hopefully on eBay, your gonna look online for market place items or Craigslist items that get listed. And then you network with other operators throughout the country and a lot of people trade amongst each other. So it too in itself, just sourcing the equipment has become an art form.
What do you think the future of arcades is?
So nationally, and especially, and specifically in NJ, more arcades are opening now than ever. I can tell you just within 5 miles of here, I’m the first of 3 arcades that will be open in this area, if you count Dave and Busters in Gloucester township and the then when you count Round One that will open here. There’s another free style, free play excuse me, free play style arcade that opened in Burlington county this year. There’s about 6 or 7 free play style arcades that opened in Newark Jersey in the past 5 to 6, 7 years. Go back 10 years there was probably one arcade, free play style arcade in New Jersey…
Hear the rest of Colonna’s story below…
What makes going to an arcade a useful experience when some people still hold a stigma against them?
I grew up through the 80’s and was a teenager in the 90’s so I saw that stigma. I heard that, you know, arcades equals hangout equals you know bad behavior, you name the elicit bad behavior. It was like skateboarding. Skateboarding in a park equaled defacing property, equaled loitering, equaled you name the elicit behavior. I mean, it always tied every activity to something that was negative, if it didn’t fit the standards of the day or the 1950’s. Anything that was coming out, and new and different, there was always a bad group of people in everything. So that kind of ruined the, the image or whatever at the time, but anybody today I think holds an arcade in like a higher regard. I think most people are like, its fascinating to see again. Like I said it’s a nostalgic thing, nobody is like, “uh, this place, this is gonna bring all the bad kids.”
There’s far more people today who look at something like this as something they treasure.
I think sensationalism kinda, you know a headline here and there about this or that and everybody can make assumptions, can make a generalization about something based on the news cycle, and the social media, the way things spread, and the way things get out there, people exaggerate the real information. Anybody who would hold something against something like this, I think those are a small percentage of people. There are far fewer of them today than there were ever before. There’s far more people today who look at something like this as something they treasure.
What’s your favorite arcade game?
I have like a little bit of an emotional connection to a game called carnival…
Hear Colonna’s story behind his favorite game…
I was a little bit cocky about it because here I’m a little guy and I was just beating these guys asses at this game
Hear Colonna talk about another one of his favorite games
Chances are you have some sort of gaming device in your household. Whether it be a console like the Xbox, or a handheld system such as the Nintendo DS, you have an entire game library at your disposal. Without leaving the comfort of your home, you can play thousands of games, with millions of people throughout the world. But what if you didn’t have that luxury? What if you had to go to a physical location to play a game? At one time, this was the only option for many. Today however, this is no longer necessary. It is instead a choice. So why would you choose to go to an arcade today?
The Experience
There is something unique about going to the arcade. In a time when video games are more complex and technologically advanced than ever, there is something special about playing an older game with much simpler graphics and themes. And having to play that game while standing up, with joysticks and buttons that are locked into a tall wooden cabinet, is an experience in stark contrast with modern gaming. You can’t sit on the couch and get comfortable. And when you want to play another game, you have to actually walk and find another game to play. If you are someone who has never been to an arcade, this may sound crazy. Which is why I urge you to go, before it’s too late.
The People
Unlike online gaming, at an arcade, you actually come face to face with the people you talk with. What makes this so great, is that the people at arcades have a shared passion for the experience. You get to meet and talk to strangers, and have meaningful conversations that are hard to come by on online gaming platforms. Being in an environment with other people all enjoying the games together adds a sense of community. While it’s fun playing games online with friends, going to an arcade together brings a new level of gaming and friendship.
Photo by Carl Raw.
The Games
No matter how many new games come out for modern gaming systems, they can never replicate the games found inside of an arcade. From the original arcade cabinet games, to more advanced and interactive games, arcades provide a gaming experience that can only be had at a physical arcade location. And with a wide variety of games to choose from, you will find yourself playing something new and exciting on each visit.
No matter how advanced in-home gaming gets, there will always be a place for arcades. So take a break from the Xbox or the Switch ever once in a while, and go out to an arcade, to enjoy a truly one of a kind experience.
Hello! My name is Zachary Goldberg, and I am a senior studying at Rowan University in New Jersey. One of my favorite things to do when I was younger was to go to the arcade with friends. As I grew older, my love for arcades never faded, instead evolving as I began to enjoy both modern day and retro arcades. That’s why I am going to be exploring retro/hybrid arcades throughout New Jersey. I hope to find unique places and people that have a passion for the arcade just as I do. Talking to the owners and workers of these arcades should provide me with interesting insight into an industry that is dying out. I want to learn how these arcades remain open in the days when video games are played predominantly online in the privacy of ones home. Why do some people still visit these arcades? Is it because of special events and tournaments? Is it because they enjoy gaming with strangers who share their passion? These are a few of the questions I intend to answer over the next couple of months. I hope you ready up with me, as we learn about the hidden fun side of New Jersey.
Hello! My name is Zachary Goldberg. I am a senior at Rowan University studying advertising. I have been a big fan of arcades since the first day I set foot in one. As I have gotten older, my interest has only grown, and evolved into love for both modern and retro arcades. Unfortunately, the arcade business isn’t what it used to be. These businesses continue to dwindle as online, in home gaming continues to dominate the market. I want to explore and learn about these remaining arcades. I want to know how they stay in business during these tough times. I want to know what motivates them and drives their passion for a form of gaming that is no longer standard. Just like a good game, these arcades tell a story, and I’m ready to hear them. I hope you’ll ready up with me.
“Wake me… when you need me.” – Master Chief (Halo 3)
Zachary Goldberg posing in Disney’s Magic Kingdom in his work costume.
Ready Up NJ 