Recently somebody on Facebook posted a picture (above) of the old Gold Mine video game arcade that used to be in the Coronado Center Mall in Albuquerque, New Mexico. That image brought back a ton of memories. I remember dropping a ton of quarters into those machines back in the day, which prompted me to think:
"Yeah, it was a gold mine for the guy that owned the joint." (lol)
It honestly made me wonder if that is why the owners named it that?
Anyway, I did a little digging about the history of the Gold Mine arcade chain and found this:
Gold Mine was a chain of arcades found inside various shopping malls across the United States from Hawaii to New York, along with some also existing in standalone locations. Gold Mines were notable for having a mineshaft theme. - SourceThat was brief.
Of course the Gold Mine wasn't the only arcade I frequented back in the day. I can still remember playing Pac-Man at the Putt Putt Golf on San Mateo while Men Without Hats song Safety Dance played. I also remember playing Donkey Kong at the Smith's grocery store across from Eldorado High School before class. And I fondly remember playing some martial arts game with my best friend at the Allsup's by his house. I wish I could remember the name of that one.
Update: I looked it up and it's called Karate Champ!
All great memories!
My Video Game Of Choice:
Galaga!
I want share a conversation I had with my son, who is a huge video game player ... fanatic ... lunatic, about some of the games his old man played back in the eighties. He asked me "what were the back stories for those games." I told him that there really wasn't any back story per say. You simply shot everything on the screen that wasn't you.
He didn't like that answer very much.
Alas our youth was a more simpler time. I would like to think a more happy time.
Another of my favorites:
Centipede!
Again the concept here is simple. Avoid the bugs and blast everything in front of you.
I'm starting to see a trend here that I never noticed before. I sure loved to blast bugs. It's a wonder I never became an exterminator.
Take that space bugs!
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