RMD - Arcades in Blackpool

[Portland]

So, quick overnighter in Blackpool next week - are there any actual arcades left with decent cabs and/or pin tables, or is it all just fruities now?

[subzero]

coral island - simples

[Portland]

Is that the one on the corner near the tower with the big skull on it?

[subzero]

yep - thats your only half decent badger

[gilesgoat]

People in Blackpool play with black puddings all the night long in the dark.

[Mr_Loon]

Was up in Blackpool a few weeks ago and was very disappointed at the lack of classic video games / pinball. There were a few decent games in Coral Island and very little elsewhere from what I could tell.

Wish someone would open a classic arcade up there.

[seanyseansean]

Went to Blackpool in January for an Elvis festival - thought i'd go to the arcades, wish I didn't bother.

All Coral Island had were a couple of House Of The Dead types, and a Guitar Hero setup. Everything else was money related fruities and SWP stuff.

Depressing

[Jamie]

Damn that Socialist Workers Party.

[gilesgoat]

Whatever happened to that famous "Retrocade" ?

[Portland]

Ah well, we're only there for a full day, and might well spend most of that in the tower and/or the pub. Might give Coral a nosy, or just play some cheesy crazy golf etc.

[Portland]

Was chuffed to find 3 pin tables all in excellent nick in Scarborough - if you happen to be there, the big arcade near the cliff lifts with the bowling lanes upstairs has 3 tables on the ground floor - Indy, Batman and CSI - Indy's the best of the 3 btw. Battered them hard at Easter we did...

[gumboot]

Was up in Blackpool a few weeks ago and was very disappointed at the lack of classic video games / pinball. There were a few decent games in Coral Island and very little elsewhere from what I could tell.

Is this to say that Blackpool is especially poorly endowed compared to the rest of the UK, or that people expect there to be arcades in Blackpool and it lets them down?

Cambridge is hopeless. I just thought that was normal.

[Portland]

Think it's because people have fond memories of seaside arcades from the 70's onwards. I still remember the Oasis in Morecambe as having the Atari trackball basketball game near the entrance, Gorgar and Supersonic against the side wall with asteroids and lunar lander just down from it. Wall to wall bandits now

[CharlieF]

Hee. This is a thread topic that surfaces once in a while. I'm not going to get drawn into a longing for times past as it kind of makes me sad and it won't bring back the 80's arcade of my youth. Damn you, Gamesroom!!

Last time I was in Blackpool, there was a grotty, poorly maintained arcade close to the pleasure beach. It had a fairly good selection of old cabs such as, Darius, Prehistoric Isle, Space Invaders and others (Nemesis?) but my memory fails me. Quite a few years ago now, so no doubt it now only has fruit machines now.

I wonder how much interest there would be in an arcade that specialised in classic video games. If I won the lottery, I'd bloody well open one just to find out. I don't play the lottery, so theres not much chance of that happening soon...

In interest, as a lot of older machines are now out of commision, I wonder whether it would be possible to use emulated coin-op machines in an arcade and paying the relevant fees to the holders. I'm guessing it isn't an option?

[dmillburn]

Still plenty of retro arcade goodness in Blackpool - this article is 12 months old but might help:

http://retrogamedepot.com/blog/retro-ga ... -blackpool

Coral Island is a shadow of it's former self these days (I was there last week) - it's still worth a visit for the mix of old and new games but a lot of the gems lie elsewhere. I've not been to the pleasure beach for a while but there has always been lots of classics there - some in the PB arcade at the front and plenty inside the pleasure beach itself (although be aware that you need to either buy a unlimited ride wristband or pay £5 to get in these days). There used to a great one down past the pleasure beach near Coasters and Ripley's Believe It Or Not but sadly I believe it's gone now.

General tips: you do need to hunt around a bit though as they tend to get tucked out the way at the back of the arcades these days with fruties and coin waterfalls getting the prime floorspace. Don't just stick to the ones on the seafront along the golden mile centre - walk back one street from the front too. There's still a few interesting items on the piers. Apart from Blackpool I'd also check out Lytham St Annes (which is well worth a visit anyway), and Fleetwood also used to be worth a look but not been for a while.

Blackpool are my football team so I've been visiting the Blackpool arcades on a regular basis for 30 years or so - and whilst, like everywhere else in the UK, it's true that it's a far cry from the glory days when I was a kid (playing the laserdisc gem Super Don Quix-ote in Barry Nobles for 10p followed by the Discs of Tron Environmental Cab in Mr B's Funland was the perfect day in 1984) there's still plenty of great old cabs to discover there.