He's Deaf, Dumb and Blind...

[Anonymous]

Not in arcades, though.



Imagine: people paying money to listen to their favourite song. Over and over. And over.



While paying money to play their favourite games. Over and over. And over.



Arcades were the perfect place for such gizmos.



People think video game arcades died in the gaming crash of the early to mid-80's. But, no, these playerful parlours, these dens of ludology, are alive and well.



Minus the jukeboxes, true, but still blooping and bleeping.

I think of pachinko parlours in Japan.

[Blurt]

I'd love to walk into one of those. A sensory overload experience.

[Anonymous]

I'd love to walk into one of those. A sensory overload experience.

[Blazor]

I loved the arcade as a kid. None in the area these days. Was a few back then. Always full of people. Think the malls wanted to get rid of them cause of troublesome teens. They even made a rule that you couldnt come in the mall under age without an adult.

[Renee]

Video game arcades were a big deal back in the late 70s and 80s. There were several of them located close to where I grew up. Every large shopping mall had one and there where others dotted throughout the landscape of strip malls that were cropping up all over the place. For us preteens they were social gathering places and hangouts to get away from your parents once and awhile.



One arcade in particular that sticks in my mind, for a peculiar reason was located in a large somewhat upscale shopping mall. It was completely out of place because it was just a little hole in the wall dive called the "Purple Room". Everything in the place (except for the arcade games) was purple. The walls, the ceiling, the carpet were all the same damn shade of dark purple...it was like Barney threw up all over the room..... The place was also very, very dimly lit. You could make out with your Jr. High boyfriend in the corners in what seemed like relative privacy...



 But that's not what makes this place stick in my mind. What we as kids didn't realize at the time is that the arcade was actually the entrance to a theater. In the very back of the arcade was a roped off area with small podium/security booth and an entrance to the theater. The theater was an adult theater.... ac_wot



So here you had a porn theater in the middle of an upper middle class shopping mall with a cheesy arcade as its front with an assload of underage kids all playing Pacman, Asteroids, Galaxian and other shit........



It was a unique and very odd set up to say the least. Unfortunately the mall closed the theater down and made room for more retail space long before I was ever old enough to check it out.

[Anonymous]

Video game arcades were a big deal back in the late 70s and 80s. There were several of them located close to where I grew up. Every large shopping mall had one and there where others dotted throughout the landscape of strip malls that were cropping up all over the place. For us preteens they were social gathering places and hangouts to get away from your parents once and awhile.



One arcade in particular that sticks in my mind, for a peculiar reason was located in a large somewhat upscale shopping mall. It was completely out of place because it was just a little hole in the wall dive called the "Purple Room". Everything in the place (except for the arcade games) was purple. The walls, the ceiling, the carpet were all the same damn shade of dark purple...it was like Barney threw up all over the room..... The place was also very, very dimly lit. You could make out with your Jr. High boyfriend in the corners in what seemed like relative privacy...



 But that's not what makes this place stick in my mind. What we as kids didn't realize at the time is that the arcade was actually the entrance to a theater. In the very back of the arcade was a roped off area with small podium/security booth and an entrance to the theater. The theater was an adult theater.... ac_wot



So here you had a porn theater in the middle of an upper middle class shopping mall with a cheesy arcade as its front with an assload of underage kids all playing Pacman, Asteroids, Galaxian and other shit........



It was a unique and very odd set up to say the least. Unfortunately the mall closed the theater down and made room for more retail space long before I was ever old enough to check it out.

Attached to an arcade where adolescents hang out??

 ac_wot

[Renee]

Video game arcades were a big deal back in the late 70s and 80s. There were several of them located close to where I grew up. Every large shopping mall had one and there where others dotted throughout the landscape of strip malls that were cropping up all over the place. For us preteens they were social gathering places and hangouts to get away from your parents once and awhile.



One arcade in particular that sticks in my mind, for a peculiar reason was located in a large somewhat upscale shopping mall. It was completely out of place because it was just a little hole in the wall dive called the "Purple Room". Everything in the place (except for the arcade games) was purple. The walls, the ceiling, the carpet were all the same damn shade of dark purple...it was like Barney threw up all over the room..... The place was also very, very dimly lit. You could make out with your Jr. High boyfriend in the corners in what seemed like relative privacy...



 But that's not what makes this place stick in my mind. What we as kids didn't realize at the time is that the arcade was actually the entrance to a theater. In the very back of the arcade was a roped off area with small podium/security booth and an entrance to the theater. The theater was an adult theater.... ac_wot



So here you had a porn theater in the middle of an upper middle class shopping mall with a cheesy arcade as its front with an assload of underage kids all playing Pacman, Asteroids, Galaxian and other shit........



It was a unique and very odd set up to say the least. Unfortunately the mall closed the theater down and made room for more retail space long before I was ever old enough to check it out.

Attached to an arcade where adolescents hang out??

 ac_wot

Yeah, and it was in the middle of an affluent middle class area. Ain't that some shit?....



I swear, only in NJ can you find oddball shit like that...  In fact, I think it was even featured in one of the old bimonthly "Weird NJ" magazines.

[Anonymous]

Video game arcades were a big deal back in the late 70s and 80s. There were several of them located close to where I grew up. Every large shopping mall had one and there where others dotted throughout the landscape of strip malls that were cropping up all over the place. For us preteens they were social gathering places and hangouts to get away from your parents once and awhile.



One arcade in particular that sticks in my mind, for a peculiar reason was located in a large somewhat upscale shopping mall. It was completely out of place because it was just a little hole in the wall dive called the "Purple Room". Everything in the place (except for the arcade games) was purple. The walls, the ceiling, the carpet were all the same damn shade of dark purple...it was like Barney threw up all over the room..... The place was also very, very dimly lit. You could make out with your Jr. High boyfriend in the corners in what seemed like relative privacy...



 But that's not what makes this place stick in my mind. What we as kids didn't realize at the time is that the arcade was actually the entrance to a theater. In the very back of the arcade was a roped off area with small podium/security booth and an entrance to the theater. The theater was an adult theater.... ac_wot



So here you had a porn theater in the middle of an upper middle class shopping mall with a cheesy arcade as its front with an assload of underage kids all playing Pacman, Asteroids, Galaxian and other shit........



It was a unique and very odd set up to say the least. Unfortunately the mall closed the theater down and made room for more retail space long before I was ever old enough to check it out.

Attached to an arcade where adolescents hang out??

 ac_wot

Yeah, and it was in the middle of an affluent middle class area. Ain't that some shit?....



I swear, only in NJ can you find oddball shit like that...  In fact, I think it was even featured in one of the old bimonthly "Weird NJ" magazines.

I am surprised the shopping mall allowed it.

[Renee]

Video game arcades were a big deal back in the late 70s and 80s. There were several of them located close to where I grew up. Every large shopping mall had one and there where others dotted throughout the landscape of strip malls that were cropping up all over the place. For us preteens they were social gathering places and hangouts to get away from your parents once and awhile.



One arcade in particular that sticks in my mind, for a peculiar reason was located in a large somewhat upscale shopping mall. It was completely out of place because it was just a little hole in the wall dive called the "Purple Room". Everything in the place (except for the arcade games) was purple. The walls, the ceiling, the carpet were all the same damn shade of dark purple...it was like Barney threw up all over the room..... The place was also very, very dimly lit. You could make out with your Jr. High boyfriend in the corners in what seemed like relative privacy...



 But that's not what makes this place stick in my mind. What we as kids didn't realize at the time is that the arcade was actually the entrance to a theater. In the very back of the arcade was a roped off area with small podium/security booth and an entrance to the theater. The theater was an adult theater.... ac_wot



So here you had a porn theater in the middle of an upper middle class shopping mall with a cheesy arcade as its front with an assload of underage kids all playing Pacman, Asteroids, Galaxian and other shit........



It was a unique and very odd set up to say the least. Unfortunately the mall closed the theater down and made room for more retail space long before I was ever old enough to check it out.

Attached to an arcade where adolescents hang out??

 ac_wot

Yeah, and it was in the middle of an affluent middle class area. Ain't that some shit?....



I swear, only in NJ can you find oddball shit like that...  In fact, I think it was even featured in one of the old bimonthly "Weird NJ" magazines.

I am surprised the shopping mall allowed it.

The theater in question was there for a long time. I think it was original to the mall and I don't think it was an adult theater when it started out. There were actually 2 theaters in that mall. The other one was a regular multi-theater mall cineplex....Both are long gone now.



I think the mall management did eventually and purposely force both theaters out.

[Anonymous]

I  have never seen an  adult theatre inside a closed in shopping mall.

[Blurt]

One arcade in particular that sticks in my mind, for a peculiar reason was located in a large somewhat upscale shopping mall. It was completely out of place because it was just a little hole in the wall dive called the "Purple Room". Everything in the place (except for the arcade games) was purple. The walls, the ceiling, the carpet were all the same damn shade of dark purple...it was like Barney threw up all over the room..... The place was also very, very dimly lit. You could make out with your Jr. High boyfriend in the corners in what seemed like relative privacy...



 But that's not what makes this place stick in my mind. What we as kids didn't realize at the time is that the arcade was actually the entrance to a theater. In the very back of the arcade was a roped off area with small podium/security booth and an entrance to the theater. The theater was an adult theater.... ac_wot



So here you had a porn theater in the middle of an upper middle class shopping mall with a cheesy arcade as its front with an assload of underage kids all playing Pacman, Asteroids, Galaxian and other shit........



It was a unique and very odd set up to say the least. Unfortunately the mall closed the theater down and made room for more retail space long before I was ever old enough to check it out.

From https://forum.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?108207-Fun-N-Games-in-Wayne-NJ-Closing">another forum:

Does anyone remember The Purple Room in Willowbrook Mall?

I do. Right about where the food court opening was eventually added. The Purple Room was really small and from what I remember, really really dark. I remember cigarette smoke, the thumping of Jungle Hunt, and a single Dragon's Lair machine near the entrance shortly before the place closed down.



Ah, Willowbrook Mall. Good times, though I've managed to steer clear of the place for the last 3 or 4 years.

This is a vid of Fun 'n' Games, the successor to The Purple Room. Although it seemed thriving at the time this vid was shot, this arcade, too, shut its doors.

[Blurt]

The arcade where I worked for a number of years (it was a 30-second walk from the university):

[priscilla1961]

The arcade where I worked for a number of years (it was a 30-second walk from the university):

[Renee]

One arcade in particular that sticks in my mind, for a peculiar reason was located in a large somewhat upscale shopping mall. It was completely out of place because it was just a little hole in the wall dive called the "Purple Room". Everything in the place (except for the arcade games) was purple. The walls, the ceiling, the carpet were all the same damn shade of dark purple...it was like Barney threw up all over the room..... The place was also very, very dimly lit. You could make out with your Jr. High boyfriend in the corners in what seemed like relative privacy...



 But that's not what makes this place stick in my mind. What we as kids didn't realize at the time is that the arcade was actually the entrance to a theater. In the very back of the arcade was a roped off area with small podium/security booth and an entrance to the theater. The theater was an adult theater.... ac_wot



So here you had a porn theater in the middle of an upper middle class shopping mall with a cheesy arcade as its front with an assload of underage kids all playing Pacman, Asteroids, Galaxian and other shit........



It was a unique and very odd set up to say the least. Unfortunately the mall closed the theater down and made room for more retail space long before I was ever old enough to check it out.

From https://forum.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?108207-Fun-N-Games-in-Wayne-NJ-Closing">another forum:

Does anyone remember The Purple Room in Willowbrook Mall?

I do. Right about where the food court opening was eventually added. The Purple Room was really small and from what I remember, really really dark. I remember cigarette smoke, the thumping of Jungle Hunt, and a single Dragon's Lair machine near the entrance shortly before the place closed down.



Ah, Willowbrook Mall. Good times, though I've managed to steer clear of the place for the last 3 or 4 years.

This is a vid of Fun 'n' Games, the successor to The Purple Room. Although it seemed thriving at the time this vid was shot, this arcade, too, shut its doors.

[Anonymous]

I've never been in an arcade.

 ac_unsure