Bexhill Arcade, East Sussex

On day four of our holiday we travelled down to Bexhill.  There is one arcade in Bexhill, mostly comprising of pushers and fruit machines.  The arcade is quite peculiar, with a large graveyard of classic machines stacked at one end of the arcade and just two videogames switched on.

Daytona USA twin and Operation Thunderbolt were the two workers.  Both were in great condition.

There was also Time Crisis on the arcade floor, but it was turned off.  I haven’t seen a working Time Crisis for a long time.  The cab looked in very good condition.

Games in the graveyard section include Championship Sprint, Hang-On, Lethal Enforcers II: Gun Fighters, OutRun, Racin’ Force, Speed Up twin, various Jamma cabinets and a couple of ‘interesting’ cab conversions.

The OutRun looked in nice condition and the side art looked almost perfect, but there was some serious cigarette burn on the bezel around the map.

Initially I thought this was originally a Street Fighter cab, but going by the shape it seems to be more like a converted X-Men cab.

An Atari System 1 cab converted to Mortal Kombat, complete with instructions!

Two pinball tables at the back behind the arcade machines.

In the building next door there are some even older machines.  The room is dilapidated, the machines seemingly sat untouched for years.  It looks like something out of a horror film and the term arcade graveyard is even more apt.  The below pics were taken through the window.

There is an Asteroids up against the window as well as Gorf.  There also appears to be an arcade machine to the left of Gorf and another at the end of the row of fruit machines, but it’s difficult to see what they are.

Gorf is another classic which has been mutilated with two joysticks on the control panel and a ‘New Video’ marquee.

I spoke to the employee in the arcade about the machines and he said they’ve been there for many years and that the owner may be selling some in the future.  So if you see anything which takes your fancy it might be worth getting in touch and making an offer!

Arcades in Dymchurch, Kent

On day three of our holiday we ventured to Dymchurch, a small seaside village with a children’s amusement park, shops, cafes and sandy beach.  The journey from Romney was made on a one-third full size steam locomotive, part of the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch railway collection.

 

Deck Amusements

The arcade has a nice selection of videogames, including some I had never seen before.

Behind Enemy Lines: Coalition Against Terrorism – Sega / Real3D – 1998

Virtua Cop meets Operation Wolf in this awesome shooter.  I was really happy to play it, having never seen one before.  The game runs on Sega Model 2C CRX hardware, and the cabinet design is very similar to Gunblade NY with two mounted gun turrets. 

Here is a video of the game.

Operation Thunderbolt – Taito – 1988

Another awesome shooter, but from a different era.  It was great to see this classic.  Besides the broken grenade buttons on the Uzi’s, the cabinet was in excellent condition.

Side By Side – Taito – 1996

A forerunner to the Battle Gear series, the game has a strong Initial D vibe with the player selecting Japanese sports cars to race downhill.  Another arcade first for me.

A video of the beginner course.

The Electrocoin Goliath, running Tekken looked in great condition.

Arcades in Deal, Kent

On day two of our holiday at Romney Sands, we ventured down to Deal.  The first arcade we checked out was Pier Amusements on the seafront. 

The arcade featured mostly coin pushers and redemption machines.  However there was an OutRun2 twin as well as a Europa Jamma cabinet which had been converted into Lethal Enforcers II: Gun Fighters. 

After having fish n chips on the seafront, we went to Royal Leisure Centre. 

The arcade had some real classics.  There was a row of four Electrocoin Duet cabinets with a line-up of Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter II’ Championship Edition and Hyper Fighting and Track & Field.

Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker, The Simpsons and WF WrestleFest.

Four Trax, released by Namco in 1989.

A cool game I don’t recall seeing before.

The machines were in pretty good condition for their age.  The monitors were good and the games played well.  The only issue I had was the Moonwalker cab not accepting coins.  Towards the back of the arcade was a fruit machine graveyard.  There appears to be a N-Sub machine at the back behind them, a cool Sega game from 1980.

With Electrocoin cabinets complete with ashtrays, games 20p per credit, vintage arcade signs and the familiar sounds of Street Fighter II’ and The Simpsons, it really felt like re-visiting a nineties arcade.