The Places I Used To Play Games Are All Gone

I recently took a drive through my old stomping grounds in Chicago. I looked for places familiar to me. I got a little misty eyed as I drove looking for a place I could walk into that I used to frequent as a kid. It soon became evident though, that all of them have closed. Victims of the real estate boom and the fact that nobody plays arcade games anymore.

Each place I thought of brings a smile to my face. I have many memories of my mom trying to get me to leave places while I’d be stuck playing on the same quarter. Oh the many memories I have. Here are the places I remember that now only exist in my memories.

Chicago Game Company - Located previously on Western avenue, right across the street from where Riverview amusement park used to be was a small arcade in an old building. It was the first video arcade I ever went to. It had all the classics. Pac-Man, Galaga, Defender. Everybody gathered around the Tron machine there, but I didn’t want anything to do with that as the kids were much older than me. I was too busy playing Mappy. The smell of burgers, fries and cigarette smoke always filled the place. Yes, you could actually smoke in this place! They even had ash trays attached to some of the games. My mother would try to force me to eat sometimes when we were there, but I always wanted to get back to playing games.

This place was located across the street from Lane Tech High School, so many of the older kids from that school took it over. They later started playing loud rock music inside the place. The crowd of older teens with long hair and mullets was way too intimidating for me, so I stopped going there and started going to Fun Zone down the street. Chicago Game Company closed in the late 80’s to make way for an auto parts store.

Fun Zone - Located a stones throw away from Chicago Game Company on Western Avenue, this place was a little more family friendly. A nice and clean place with no troublemakers. Perfect for a kid my age. It had a ton of games for me to enjoy, and it was usually not very crowded at all. The sign outside advertised foosball, but they didn’t have a foosball table. They did have a nice little hockey game that made noises like you were in a stadium. You’d hear it play music or the sound of a crowd every 3 minutes or so. I spent many hours here playing Donkey Kong, Centipede, Q-Bert and Elevator Action. My dad would sit near the window at the front of the place waiting for my $5 in tokens to run out.

The games rarely changed, but when a new hit game came out, they usually would get it. When I was in high school, I challenged many people to a Street Fighter II matches here. I also enjoyed playing WrestleFest or their huge 6 player X-Men machine.

Fun Zone stayed around much longer than I thought it ever would. It closed around 2005 or so.

John’s Drive In - Previously located at 2221 W Belmont Ave. John’s was a fast food restaurant that was run by a Greek man that didn’t take any crap from his customers. He was like the Soup Nazi at times. He served the best gyros in Chicago. He also had the latest coin-op games from Taito in his restaurant. Kids crowded in this place to play games like Mat Mania, Tiger-Heli and Double Dragon. My mom would give me a few quarters while we waited for our food to cook. She’d often have to peel me away to eat. Then after we ate, there was always time for one more round. The only way she would get me to leave is to tell me she’d be waiting in the car for me.

John, the owner didn’t like these games in his place for very long. The people it attracted didn’t buy any food and often fights would break out in his place over who was next in line. I remember one time I was playing Mat Mania and a kid tried to move in and takeover the game because he wanted to help out. I screamed NO and pushed the kid out of the way. John screamed at us both to get out of the restaurant. That was the end of me gaming there for a while.

Later the games were taken out of the place. John couldn’t deal with them anymore. John’s closed in 2006 to make way for a huge condo project. I think I miss the food more than the games.

Batter Up! - Located on Shakespeare near the Webster Place Theater. This place was around the corner where people hardly noticed it. Those that did know about it packed in to play video games, laser tag or hit in the batting cages. I spent most of my high school days here. I was lucky to have friends working in the place, so I got free tokens. Here, I could always find a challenger to play Street Fighter 2, Mortal Combat, or NBA Jam with me. In between games I could eat nachos or cheap pizza. Everything a teen needs.

Traffic in the place wasn’t that great during weekdays. That fact, along with what I think were bad financial moves caused this place to close earlier than it should’ve.

Denis’ Place For Games - Located near Belmont and Clark under the El. I was scared to go into this place for the longest time. There were strange characters that would hang around outside of the place day and night.

After a friend in high school convinced me to go there, I realized it was just a crowded arcade. One that was open until 4am! Denis’ had customers that looked pretty rough from afar, but they all came to be many of my temporary gamer friends. Despite the reputation, I never had a problem with anybody at Denis’ and I never saw a fight. They usually had an off-duty police officer keeping order.

We would play Street Fighter 2 while the sound of the El train rattled the place all night long. I don’t think we really played anything else too often because the Street Fighter competition was just too good to pass up for anything else. I remember discovering Smash TV there though.

I liked Denis’ because when I went there, I really felt like an urban dweller. The sounds, location and the urban teens that frequented the place provided an atmosphere you can’t get anywhere else. Hanging out there just made you realize what a great city Chicago is. Denis’ closed in December 2007. The place had gotten pretty run down and half of the games didn’t even work anymore. It was still sad to see yet another arcade casualty. I actually cried when I found out that it closed.

Diversions - Located in Lincoln Villiage. This was the place to go while waiting for your a movie at the Lincoln Villiage theater. It had a mix of kids from the inner city to the suburbs. Much Street Fighter 2 and Tekken was played here while waiting for my favorite 90’s movies to start. For some reason it always smelled like body odor in this place. Maybe it was because it was so hot inside. Security forced me to take off your hat while inside this place due to the gang activity. As a result, I lost many baseball caps at this place, leaving them on top of machines while I played and then forgetting about them as I walked away.

Diversions had the arcade half as well as the other part for little kids to win tickets for prizes. I enjoyed acting like a kid and playing skeeball at times. They also served food, but the people working that area looked sketchy and unclean so I didn’t bother to try any of it. I may have had an Icee or two though.

I drove by Diversions about 8 months ago and found that it had closed. The theater seems to no longer have all that much traffic anymore, so I’m sure Diversions suffered based on that alone.

Well that’s my list, and it’s gone. I’m glad I was a teen during an era where you would face an opponent in person as opposed to today over the Internet usually where people trash talk you more than play or disconnect early if they are losing.