Through my getting to know Bob (the former op whom I wrote about in the previous post), he has told me several stories about the good-ole days of the golden age of arcades. Being far removed from that era and being so innundated with modern technologies like iPhones, laptops, X-boxes, and more, we forget how cutting-edge the arcade machines were back then.

Bob tells stories of coin buckets on Asteroids and Pac Man games overflowing with quarters after only a few days. And based on the coin counters of some of his games I have seen, some have earned more than $32,000 in their lifetime. With all this excitement surrounding these games, the news media was bound to cover the sensation.

One day while Bob was showing me pictures of his first laudrymat, he said, “hey, look at this.” and he pulled out an old section of a newspaper. The newspaper is dated February 1, 1981 and features an expose on Bob’s arcade. While the writing is sub par compared to today’s standards, just remember this is the local paper and not the New York Times. Still an interesting read. Enjoy!

The Times, Gainesville, GA February 1, 1981 – Section C, Page 1

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Tags: Bob, Classic Arcade, Gainesville, History