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| Penny Fun Arcade, Pwllheli -North Wales 'then and now' |
You will
recall my 39th Birthday Bonanza- 299th Blog Post Special back in January
reporting my visit to the Arcade Club in Bury who provide many of us with our much
needed arcade nostalgia fix but shortly after my visit I found myself wondering
what is the general state of the modern arcade? I understand it’s still going
but it must have changed somewhat because we seem to be seeking out the
classics and if this is indeed the case how much has it changed? Unlike most of us these days I am actually able to say that
my local arcade is still open however, the Penny Fun arcade in Pwllheli North
Wales was a regular haunt of mine back in the early to mid 90’s although
somewhat different these days, this was the place I convened with my friends
and played such games as Pac Land, Outrun, WWF and Robocop 2, why I even had my
first proper kiss outside of it just next to the medieval Themed Aqua Blasta...
but I digress! I was always in here either socially or passing the time waiting
for buses during my college years. The Penny Fun arcade was opened back in 1970
as part of the Funland Fairground which has occupied ‘Y Maes’ in Pwllheli since
the 1960’s when travelling fairground Ht Studts & Sons decided to stop
travelling up and down the country and trade solely in the market town. It was
reopened in 2005 with larger premises and a cafe and continues to
thrive, so I thought I would pop in for a visit and see just how much has
changed... a great deal!
The building is somewhat larger and filled with various
redemption machines, High Resolution racing simulators and the familiar 2p
machines but there to the side, the only two ‘relics’ of the past the original Midway
Addams Family pin-ball machine (which I remember being new!) and an original
Harry Corbett Sooty T.V Concert machine from the 1970’s both of which were a
welcome sight! Please don’t misunderstand me I am incredibly impressed by the
standard of today’s amusement machines, I just happen to prefer the classics... If I had
to name a second arcade that I frequented during adolescent years I would say the
ones at Butlin's Pwllheli the holiday camp located around 4 miles outside
Pwllheli. A little trickier to get to it had originally been opened in 1947 but
renamed ‘Starcoast World’ by 1990 the occasional visit aside I worked a summer
season there back in 1995 (I say worked I actually spent most of my time riding
the rollercoaster and visiting the arcade...) but in 1999, the camp became part
of Haven Holidays and renamed Hafan y Môr (Sea Haven) and most of its attractions
such as the chairlift, miniature railway, roller coaster and funfair removed
focusing mostly on static caravan accommodation. It still has an ‘arcade’ as
such but it’s a shadow of its former self.
Fun
Factory - 10 Sandbank Rd, Towyn, Abergele LL22 9LB
A great
start to the expedition! Filled with various redemption machines and numerous fruit
machines (never really appealed to me) and I loved the Angry Birds machine! Special
Mention: A Zoltar Machine outside! A traditional gypsy fortune teller machine
that inspired the Zoltar from the movie Big these machines are produced by Harem Leisure lovely machine, and well worth your time and money.
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Zoltar outside
the Fun Factory!
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Part of
the Knightly's Fun Park their sign proudly declares “A family business since
1961” and quite right too as they offer a traditional setting for largely new
machines, racing games seem to be very popular almost as much as those before mentioned
redemption and fruit machines which seemed to dominate the room, although I did
like the Tom and Jerry themed 2p machine.
Small
and adjoining the pub this one I rather liked, it had all the classic seaside
arcade trappings that appeal to me- small, enclosed no nonsense. Pirates Gold
machine, Saga Racers the Arm Champs 2 was fun.
Special Mention: House of the Dead, out of order missing a gun... I wonder if they would let me have it if I asked nicely?
Special Mention: House of the Dead, out of order missing a gun... I wonder if they would let me have it if I asked nicely?
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The
Dunes Casino Lounge, nice traditional layout- House of the Dead (1997)
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Another
batch of ticket machines and fruit machines although there was a rather nice
retro one armed bandit there that we had a go at. A rather lovely looking Sonic
Sports Air Hockey table and something else that interested me, which I hadn’t
been aware of, possible copyright infringing themed machines such as ones
featuring a cave man called ‘Freddie’
and one featuring a cyborg called ‘The
X-Terminator’... Special Mention: An original (albeit slightly damaged) Addams Family Generator I played one of these in Rhyl back in 2003 when I visted the Palace of Pleasure (or... Rhyl's RustyLady)...
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Electric
Avenue Amusement Arcade: Sonic Sports
Air Hockey an Addams Family Generator (1999)
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Another Fun
Factory which I would have almost dismissed for having almost identical redemption
machines but for that dedicated Terminator Salvation game at the back- very
impressive!
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Fun
Factory: A nicely dedicated Terminator Salvation (2010) corner
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Another
one of those arcades that feels ‘traditional’ with some age behind it, I did
ask a member of staff and apparently they have been open since the 60’s a great
looking Kentucky Derby at the back and even PacMan makes an appearance,
although only on the facade of a PacMan
Ball a 2p machine. Special Mention: Classic metal Walls Ice Cream bin and House
of the Dead 2.
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The
Black Cat Amusement Arcade ‘s Kentucky Derby
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Although I was perhaps more impressed with the Raging
Ape hand-wrestling game outside and the
Tower of Terror game inside a Special Mention: for their arcade style carpeting
throughout, although there was blue neon in the ceiling the black light that emitted
from the Lane Master Game made it come up a treat and I wish they did more with
it!
Side
Note: We had our lunch at the integrated Route 66 Diner an Americana styled restaurant
that doesn’t sell Coke... once you get over that factor it’s very nice, I had
the Elvis themed Chicken Burger. Yum!
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Lyons
Winkups Amusements Arcade: Carpeting and lighting
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Lyons Winkups Holiday Park - Towyn, Abergele LL22 9EL
Part of
the Carvan Park’s entertainment with a small but nice selection of shooting or
racing games. The Chameleon Paradize kiddie game was cute...
The
Palace Fun Centre is one of the biggest family entertainment centres in the
area they have skill games and cranes, instant prizes, mini bowling, indoor
mini-quad’s, fun gamblers and big video challenges not forgetting Laser Zone a
laser combat game (more about them in a future post) I walked around the countless
fruit machines and weaved my way through children running around with tickets to
find something that I liked... Aliens Extermination... Aliens Armageddon with the
Batman Racing game possibly being the only driving game that appealed to me...
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Palace
Fun Centre: Aliens Extermination (2006), Aliens Armageddon (2010) and Batman (2017)
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One of
the very few places that promotes the humble Pool table.
A bright
red flashing fruit machine and Bingo mecha and so I didn’t hold much hope in finding
what I liked in here, there was a great Rambo game there and Temple Run but
there in the corner was a welcome sight Space Invaders FRENZY! A modern take on the
classic, officially licensed from Taito it has dual cockpit seating”Ultra-powerful
blasters” 8 foot LED display! I took my seat inserted my £1 and frankly dear
reader, rocked! Those invaders didn’t stand a chance! I loved it and the
machine proceeded to vomit 500 tickets all over my leg (much to the dismay of
the child waiting behind me!) in today’s currency 500 tickets is the equivalent
of 4 arcade keyrings!
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| Space Invaders FRENZY! |
Permanently
closed, now a retro looking Pigeon perch!
A lot of
crane machines and usual slots and guess what, Bowling! Bowlingo to be precise,
6 lanes and great one it is too. Side note, no photos- the only place to object
to me taking photos...
The
Bright Spot arcade was the first arcade owned by Solomon Lawrence Parker (1908 –
1999) of Parker Leisure (they also owned the before mentioned Black Cat). And they produced around 2000 Allwin machines(a generic
term for a cup and ball machine) in the 1950’s for their own arcades before other
showmen and arcade operators took note and started buying them for their own
premises making Parker Leisure a key figure in the world of amusements. The
arcade is still going strong and marked the end of our expedition. So what did
I learn? Regarding Rhyl itself only half of its arcades are
still running these days, which is sad. This expedition took place on a mild
August day but there were masses of people around so the demand is still there.
But as for the classic style arcade the Pacman’s, Konami X-Men’s and Mad Dog
McCrees have long gone and even the classic novelty machine is a rare sight...
Bingo is alive and well, the fruit machine is king and the penny arcade is now
a land of crane machine and redemption machines, nobody seems to play for high
scores anymore- it’s all about those tickets!
My sincere thanks to everyone that made this post
possible- support your local arcade!
© Arfon Jones 2018. All images are copyrighted throughout the world.
© Arfon Jones 2018. All images are copyrighted throughout the world.
Oh golly, an Addams Family pinball machine? Excellent. Bubble Bobble was my arcade game of choice back in the day.
ReplyDeleteOne of the all time, greatest pin ball machines! (although I'm rather partial to revenge from mars) they had Bubble Bobble there as well! :)
DeleteHey
ReplyDeleteKeep it up and always share informative stuff like this.