Hill Brothers Arcade
- Shane Hill
- Mar 29, 2016
- 2 min read
I’m what you might call a first generation gamer. I grew up during the golden age of Atari , arcades, and MTV. In 1981 I’d usually be found with a pocket full of quarters at the local arcade. My hangout was Aladdin’s Castle in Greenwood South Carolina. It was closest thing to Heaven on Earth I had ever seen. As fast as arcades popped up they were gone and by the late eighties I was out of the scene completely.
Fast forward to today and I’m married with five boys and a total ‘non-gamer’. I mean occasionally my sons beat the crap out of me on Halo but that doesn’t really count. All that changed about five years ago when a friend pulled up a copy of MAME on his PC. Seeing those classic games for the first time in 30 years rekindled memories long buried. However there was still something missing. I mean who wants to play Donkey Kong on a keyboard right? I started doing a little research.
What I learned was finding your favorite arcade cabinet from the 80’s can be difficult. Craigslist, KLOV and eBay became my new best friends. Those old games had tough lives and many didn’t survive. The first cabinet I bought was an original Dig Dug. Seeing that beautiful beast roll into my house was like taking a time machine back to my childhood.
Five years later and I now have rustled together enough games to fill a dedicated home arcade. Our arcade is hidden in our ~200 square foot single car garage. Getting old games running reliably takes a lot of TLC. So I learned a little cabinet repair, CRT monitor maintenance, and how to diagnose common problems. The arcade community is excellent and the best source for finding parts and knowledge on how to fix nagging problems.
Our home arcade has become a family affair and now every Friday night is game night!
Current Game List:
Burger Time Joust Donkey Kong
Mario Bros Popeye
PlayChoice 10 Tron
Ms Pac-Man Cruis’n USA
WWF Superstars Street Fighter 2
Dig Dug Star Wars Trilogy
AC/DC Pinball Dream Arcade
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