My trip to Mega Play! (Mishawaka, Indiana)

[Todd1780]

***Disclaimer***
The camera on my phone has been taking very low quality pictures lately, so try and look past the grainy and over exposed quality of the pictures. To make things even worse, the entire arcade was insanly bright. Not the best conditions to be taking pictures of arcade games (or to play them).

Hey guys!
I decided, for no good reason really, to visit an arcade that I used to frequent in the early/mid 90s. Its only about 20 minutes from my house...so why not?
I prepared myself for the worst. I've visited most of my old arcade haunts recently only to find them filled with ticket spewing redemption games and "dancing" and "guitar" games.
I'm happy to report that at least one arcade still remains in my gaming starved town.
I counted 76 arcade cabs and 12 pinball machines.



Games like Tempest, Centipede, Frogger and this beautiful Ms. Pacman/Galaga machine. I love the artwork on that cab. I also spent a couple bucks on a Baby Pacman (not pictured) and was reminded why I never liked that game.
The game next to the Ms. Pac/Galaga is a Galaga 3 which I had never seen before. I'm hoping its a conversion and that it didn't come out of the factory with that artwork.



Most of these games were in pristine condition and looked to be very well cared for.



They even had an entire wall of gun games. Its the first time I've seen an Operation Wolf and an Operation Thunderbolt sitting next to each other.


If you look above the games in this picture you will see several rectangles hanging on the wall. This was something very cool that I think I'm going to do myself.
They framed marquees from various arcade games....hundreds of them. Most were games from 1980-1983 so all the greats were represented.


And very quietly hidden in the very back of the arcade was the pinball room!
This was the bitter/sweet part of my trip. I noticed that one of the games was a pinball 2000 (Star Wars)! I have been wanting to play one of these for years now. Thats the sweet part...the bitter part was the condition of the machine.


The glass was scratched and foggy...the right flipper was stuck for about 90% of the time I was playing...and the hologram part of the game was so faint you could hardly see it at all. Not quite the experience I was hoping for.


The pinball games didnt look as clean as the arcade games. A couple had dirty playfields and more than one had sticky flippers. It was sad to see them in such an uncared for condition.




The games were as follows....
Corvette, Monopoly, Batman, Fish Tails, SouthPark, Cueball Wizard, Attack from Mars, Simpsons, Star Wars: Episode 1, Black Knight 2000 (my favorite), Dirty Harry and Star Trek: TNG.

I will probably update pinball finder with my most recent find.

[SubaruBrat]

Great on the spot coverage!

[Duke.Togo]

How far from Indy is that? Might have to check it out if I am ever that way.

[Todd1780]

How far from Indy is that? Might have to check it out if I am ever that way.

We are about 3 hours north of Indy. Right up against the Michigan border.

[BydoEmpire73]

Wow, looks like a great arcade, thanks for sharing the pics! I love the pinball room, despite the Anakin wall art. =)

[RetroPom]

Hey great article. Thanks for sharing.
I'd LOVE to have a place with some of those cabs to play.
As you said, it's a shame about the pinballs though
Andy

[zxspectrum16k]

great pics, the Paperboy cab looks sweet. Why do you think the video games cab were in a better condition than the pins?

[Todd1780]

great pics, the Paperboy cab looks sweet. Why do you think the video games cab were in a better condition than the pins?

More than likely, the operator is maintaining the pinball machines the same way he is maintaining the arcade cabs. You just cant do that!
When I was doing collections I ALWAYS pulled the glass on our pinball machines to clean the playfield and bounce the ball around a bit to make sure everything was working. And then a nice shot of windex over the entire machine after the glass is back in place. I always showed the pins some TLC....they really do need it.
He mostly likely is not doing this.

[frootloop]

AWESOMENESS!!! Thanks for sharing dude!

[JoshWright]

If I ever find myself meandered down that direction, i will have to make a stop in there. Indianapolis has two of three arcades, but most of them are of the ticket varieties. However, i was quite pleased when i went to the Dave and Busters at the Castleton Sqr. mall. It had a good mix of new flash and old nostalgia cabs. Check it out if you get a chance.