My memories of arcade machines start a little past my home video game history. My memory takes me back to Showbiz Pizza in West Des Moines, Iowa in 1983 for my 11th birthday. It was a small birthday party since we had just moved there that week from Ohio and I didn’t know anyone but my brother and sister, and I had fun. I don’t remember having an official party, but I remember being there for that event. After that event, or possibly before it (maybe in Cincinnati, Ohio but for sure at the Pizza Hut in Urbandale, Iowa) I played a cocktail arcade game that dad gave me quarters to play while we waited for the pizza. As to the arcades of my high school years, it was all about the Fun Factory at Valley West Mall, Laser X at the Merle Hay Mall, and Aladdin’s Castle at Southridge.
While arcade games were in a ton of other locations, my favorite place, without a doubt, was Fun Factory. I can well remember playing the X-Men Six Player 2 Screen version, Narc, Xybots, Galaga, Gauntlet, and more. A close second would be Val Lanes bowling alley, where I worked for part of high school, spending most of my time playing 1943 – The Battle of Midway. From 1993, I can also distinctly remember playing Mortal Kombat in Campustown at Iowa State University.
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