Anyone have any photos from the INSIDE of the old arcades?

[mizary]

About once a year I search for this and fail.  I mainly would like to see photos inside the coney arcade (specifically the pinball area) over by where the monster was.  But I would love to see the skeeball arcade or the rivertown? arcade.  I suppose the lack of photos is due to it being dark in there and tough to get a good photo. Plus they were “just” video games and pinballs.

I’d also love to hear from anyone that remembers any of the pinball machines they had there.  The only one I remember for sure is Bugs Bunny Birthday pinball for some reason. It’s not a great game but I remember it vividly. I also remember playing the Dragons Lair video game there.  Not sure if it was the original or timewarp.  The other game I remember playing at KI was that stupid hologram game “time traveler” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Traveler_(video_game) 

I’ve always been a pinball fun and I spent many hours playing pinball at KI from 1984-1994. I’d just always wanted to see some pics.  I would also love to see a photo of the skeeball redemption items.  I still have a BUNCH of tickets. Would love to see what junk I could have had.  If anyone remembers any of the pinball machines there I’d love to know what games I was playing back then.  I could probably guess at many of them… like I bet they had lots of amusement park themed machines like Comet and Funhouse.

I also played quite a bit of pinball at Forest Fair mall in the early 90s. I remember they had a Star Trek: next generation and Rocky and Bullwinkle.  They had at least 10 games. Maybe 15-20.  I think KI had even more. They were on the back wall I believe.

I loved all the games at KI.  Recently I keep thinking about the roller bowler game. I loved that game.  I don’t think I ever won anything. They were this model I believe or very similar. https://fineartamerica.com/featured/1-bowler-roller-steve-harrington.html

Sorry if posts like these are annoying.  Especially for a first post. I’ve been lurking on this site from time to time for years. I rarely get to KI these days. But I am due for a visit.  I got a pass about 9 years ago and probably used it 3 times all year. But every year I consider it again. heh.

Ok since this is already a crazy rambling post I’ll quickly list off other things I loved and miss.  The music video place. Never did it but always stopped by. Was fascinated. I am sure at the time I thought it was too expensive. But dang if I had a music video from 1992 featuring me and my friends and sister.  That would be priceless. The Eagles. Why was this so fun?  Simple ride but a staple for me. I got to ride the screaming demon a few times before they tore it down. No lines, ever and a good 30 seconds of excitement. I miss the moat around The Beast. The only time I ever ice skated was at KI. I got blisters in about 5 minutes and had to stop. ha.  The shows were great back then too.  I remember giant puppets in the festhaus at winter fest one year.  On der flying dutchman the people on one side would yell “tastes great” when it got to the top and the people on the other side would yell “less filling” in reference to the miller light commercials of the time. Out of all the carnival style games the one I got to play most often was the cups. For some reason my dad let us play that one.  I think it was because there was a good discount if you bought 20? balls and it took a while to play. I also loved to watch people play the game where you threw a softball? at plates or these fuzzy looking creatures. I also loved the small of the yellow UV ink re-entry hand stamps.  Lemony.  I know I bought at least one keyhole photo keychain.  I’d love to know what happened to it. But almost every visit I’d get my pic taken and look at the photo and not buy it.

If you read this far. wow!  Thanks for listening to my rambles. I figure finding photos of the arcade is still a long shot, but I had to finally make an effort.

Oh and if anyone is looking for an arcade these days…  There is a nice one in Forest Fair Mall!  Arcade Legacy!  They also have a barcade in northside and are opening an arcade in Newport.  Downtown MOTR pub has 4 pinball machine in the basement. For a long time this was the only place to play pinball in the city. And there is 16-bit downtown but it’s always crowded and their games are not very well maintained. The Cone - ice cream shot in west chester has a bunch of nice pinball machines but it’s seasonal. And if you like pinball come to a tourney at Arcade legacy in northside. Currently held 2nd and last Fridays.  You too can be a world ranked player! Thanks again for listening.

[jcgoble3]

Welcome to KIC! It's always nice to get someone who remembers the older days, especially pre-Paramount. So many of us, including myself, are too young to have any memories of those days, so hearing those who are older reminisce about those days is a treat. I hope you stick around!

I remember spending a lot of time in the Skeeball room as a kid; it's one of the very few memories of Kings Island from the 90s that my brain has retained. I too would love to see a picture or two from that room. I also do enjoy an occasional game of pinball, but like most games, my skill level at it is abysmal. I won't be a world-ranked player any time soon, unless I can rank in last place.

[KingsMills79]

I don't have any pics from inside the old game rooms in Coney Mall but when I as a kid, the Evil Knievel pinball machine was extremely addicting and it was (IIRC) on the very back wall of the big game room that was right next to the Skeeball building right beside Racer's lift hill. It was very popular and sometimes you had to wait to play it, but I spent many hours and a lot of quarters in there on that machine. I think they finally removed it around 1982 or so.

 

pic source: pinside.com

[mizary]

12 hours ago, jcgoble3 said:

I remember spending a lot of time in the Skeeball room as a kid; it's one of the very few memories of Kings Island from the 90s that my brain has retained. I too would love to see a picture or two from that room. I also do enjoy an occasional game of pinball, but like most games, my skill level at it is abysmal. I won't be a world-ranked player any time soon, unless I can rank in last place.

I feel like I saw a guy get a perfect score on skeeball (450pts) by banking the balls off the side of the flat area where you roll the ball.  It would hit the side around the point where it would ramp up - and bam - right in the 50 every time. I was amazed.  I've never seen anyone do that before or since.  As for pinball - there is only one way to get better!  For most people it's more about having fun and socializing. There are LOTS of beginner players...  and a few serious ones too.

As a kid I'd be dropped off at KI (passenger pickup) with maybe $5. If I wanted candy we figured out we were good enough at skeeball that it was cheaper to use out money to play skeeball then use the tickets on candy. Pretty sure they had those sweet-tarts paper wrapped things with like 3 sweet-tarts in it.  At some point they switched the tickets from being worth 1 to being worth 3.  Some of my skee-ball tickets at home say "3 tickets" on them.  Maybe this was to save money on tickets.  Instead of a game spitting out 15 tickets they would only have to give you 5.  Kinda sad that many modern places don't use tickets at all these days.

[mizary]

10 hours ago, KingsMills79 said:

I don't have any pics from inside the old game rooms in Coney Mall but when I as a kid, the Evil Knievel pinball machine was extremely addicting and it was (IIRC) on the very back wall of the big game room that was right next to the Skeeball building right beside Racer's lift hill. It was very popular and sometimes you had to wait to play it, but I spent many hours and a lot of quarters in there on that machine. I think they finally removed it around 1982 or so.

That was a little before my time.  I got to play EK in a tourney in Louisville earlier this year and loved it. Those spinners are great. Lots of good pinball in NC.  Supposedly there is an EK at the pinball museum in Ashville.  Or for those in Cincinnati there is one at Casa Figueroa in Pleasant Ridge.  Down in the basement. They are a new Latin restaurant. Need to get over there.

[Oldschool75]

My favorite was the Star Trek video game that you sat in

 

Photo courtesy of www.i-mockery.com

 

 

[The Bat at night]

This was probably around 1980 but I remember finding a broken skeeball machine where you didn't have to put in the quarter to release the balls. I bet I spent five hours in there before someone caught on!

I don't remember what I bought, but I had lots of tickets!

[VekomaRulz]

Bowler Roller is one of my favorite skill games. I saw it at both Knoebels and Hershey this year although the not in the arcade. At Knoebels, it is only $0.25 to play.