The Game Room · Arcade, Pinball & Board Games

The arcade wing and the pinball parlor are machines we’ve played out in the world. The closet, the console shelf and the basement TV wall are closer to home. Press Insert coin to light the marquees.

Arcade Row
Pinball Parlor
Midway & Oddities
Board Game Closet
Console Shelf
Breakout Corner

Wing I

Arcade Row

The arcade wing: upright cabinets we’ve played, marquees glowing in the dark. Where a screen caught a reflection, the glass has been dimmed so only the game shows through.

Donkey Kong arcade cabinet by Nintendo: marquee with Donkey Kong, Pauline and Mario, a dark screen showing the attract-mode score table, and a red control panel with joystick and jump button. — Donkey Kong
The screen glass was darkened here; only the glowing attract-mode table was kept. Those scores belong to the machine, not to us.
READS: **DONKEY KONG · Nintendo · PUSH 1 OR 2 PLAYERS BUTTON**

Super Punch-Out!! arcade cabinet by Nintendo with the fight-card screen lit and a checkered control panel with green and orange punch buttons. — Super Punch-Out!!
Screen glass darkened to just the game glow.
READS: **Super PUNCH-OUT!! · Nintendo · FIGHT No. 1 · TIME 0’00”00**

Galaga arcade cabinet: the green-and-white Galaga by Midway marquee above a dark screen of formation ships and a blue control panel with two red buttons. — Galaga
READS: **Galaga · by MIDWAY · Licensed from Namco · Bally**

TRON arcade cabinet by Bally Midway: a glowing grid marquee, a blue-lit screen, and the translucent blue TRON flight-stick joystick. — TRON
READS: **TRON · Bally MIDWAY · ©MCMLXXXII Walt Disney Productions**

VS. The Goonies arcade cabinet by Nintendo: an orange marquee with blue Goonies lettering, a dark screen with a blue level map, and two joystick panels. — VS. The Goonies
Screen glass darkened to just the game glow.
READS: **VS. The GOONIES · Nintendo**

The lit Ms. Pac-Man marquee in pink, yellow and blue, Ms. Pac-Man herself winking beside the MIDWAY and Bally logos. — Ms. Pac-Man
READS: **Ms. PAC-MAN · MIDWAY · Bally**

The Q*bert marquee seen at an angle: orange Q*bert with a cursing speech bubble, yellow lettering, and a purple coiled snake. — Q*bert
READS: **Q*bert · Gottlieb · @!#?@!**

The Tapper marquee in stained-glass style with curly red lettering and a frothy mug of beer. — Tapper
READS: **TAPPER · Bally MIDWAY**

Wing II

Pinball Parlor

Flippers, bumpers and backglasses: tables we’ve played, from old Gottlieb card games to haunted houses and creatures from the lagoon.

Monster Bash

The parlor’s house band: the classic movie monsters, together on one backglass. If the manor has a theme song, it’s probably playing from this cabinet.

READS: MONSTER BASH

A row of lit pinball machines led by Gottlieb’s Haunted House with its green haunted-mansion backglass, then Gorgar and more. — Haunted House & company
READS: **HAUNTED HOUSE · GORGAR · Gottlieb**

Three pinball backglasses side by side: Star Trek The Next Generation, Fish Tales, and Creature from the Black Lagoon. — Creature from the Black Lagoon & friends
READS: **STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION · FISH TALES · FREE PLAY · CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON**
see also the Creature bust in the Workshop →

The Munsters pinball machine by Stern: the family on the backglass and a lit playfield. The score display has been blurred. — The Munsters
A stranger’s initials were on the display, so it’s blurred.
READS: **The MUNSTERS · $1.00 per PLAY · 3 BALLS PER GAME**

Ghostbusters pinball machine by Stern: a crowded neon backglass, a red score display in a boombox frame, and a busy playfield. — Ghostbusters
READS: **GHOSTBUSTERS · FREE PLAY**

Iron Maiden pinball machine: Eddie on a fiery backglass above a lit playfield. — Iron Maiden
READS: **IRON MAIDEN**

Batman pinball machine in the 1960s TV style: Batman and Robin on a bright backglass, a small video screen, and a colorful playfield. — Batman
READS: **BATMAN**

The Big Lebowski pinball machine by Dutch Pinball: the cast over bowling pins on the backglass, a blurred score screen, and a glowing playfield. — The Big Lebowski
The high-score screen showed a stranger’s initials, so it’s blurred.
READS: **THE BIG LEBOWSKI · dutch pinball**

Metallica pinball machine: cartoon band members with guitars on a yellow and orange backglass, above a lit playfield. — Metallica
READS: **METALLICA**

An old Gottlieb Kings & Queens pinball backglass with royal card characters and a score window, above a glowing playfield. — Kings & Queens
READS: **KINGS & QUEENS · Gottlieb · GAME OVER**

A long row of wooden pitch-and-bat baseball arcade games under a big BASEBALL sign, with red stools and inflatable prizes on a turquoise wall. — Pitch-and-bat baseball wall
READS: **BASEBALL · 24 RUNS WINS CHOICE**

Corner

Midway & Oddities

The odd machines: two old slot machines, cut out onto a dark backdrop, and a miniature plastic factory under a dome.

A blue and red Mills Blue-Bell slot machine with three fruit reels, a payout card, a side handle and a paper lot tag reading 37, shown on a plain dark backdrop. — Mills Blue-Bell, 10¢
READS: **MILLS Blue-BELL · 10 · JACKPOT +20 · lot tag 37**

A red Golden Nugget slot machine with three reels, a BAR and JACKPOT payout panel and a side handle, on top of a wooden barrel, shown on a plain dark backdrop. — Golden Nugget, 25¢
READS: **GOLDEN NUGGET · 25¢ · BAR BAR BAR · JACKPOT**

A Mold-A-Rama machine: a glowing sign over a clear dome holding the mold press, with gauges, a $5.00 price sign and a coin and bill slot. — Mold-A-Rama
READS: **NOW YOU CAN OPERATE THE AMAZING MOLD-A-RAMA · AUTOMATIC MINIATURE PLASTIC FACTORY · 1965 MUSTANG · $5.00**

Wing III

Board Game Closet

Behind the closet door: shelves packed to the top with boxes.

Dark wooden shelves stacked with board game boxes, including Jumanji, Trivial Pursuit, Guess in 10, Scrabble, Careers, The Game of Life, Monopoly, Taboo, Jenga, Don’t Spill the Beans, Kerplunk and No Stress Chess.

On the shelves

Boxes you can read from the doorway:

Jumanji · Risk · Trivial Pursuit Genus 5 · Guess in 10 · Scrabble · Careers · The Game of Life · Monopoly · Taboo · Jenga · Chutes and Ladders · Magikus · Don’t Spill the Beans · Kerplunk · Star Wars · Chickapig · No Stress Chess · Relative Insanity

Plus a few magic and card-game books tucked in the corners.

A Stratego game board: a green and gold map with two blue lakes, bordered with portraits of soldiers. — Stratego, the battlefield
READS: **Stratego**

An open Stratego box: rows of red pieces on one side, blue pieces on the other, and the Stratego lid insert in the middle. — Stratego, the box tray
READS: **Stratego · A MILTON BRADLEY GAME · LIFT UP INSTRUCTION BOOK STORED BELOW**

A colorful Ravensburger board game in play: a red-roofed village, a winding river, a castle on a rocky island, felt-green trees and a trail of yellow and blue spaces. — A Ravensburger castle-quest board game
The name isn’t on the board, so it stays a mystery game.

A vintage Uncle Wiggily board: a numbered yellow path winds past the Bow Wow Dog House, Wibble Wobble Duck Pond and Rabbit Hole to Dr. Possum’s. — Uncle Wiggily
READS: **UNCLE WIGGILY’S BUNGALOW · SKILLERY SKALLERY ALLIGATOR · THE BAD PIPSISEWAH · MILTON BRADLEY CO. · SPRINGFIELD, MASS.**

A vintage Milton Bradley Operation board in its red tray: the patient Cavity Sam with a red light-up nose, a tweezer on a red wire, and cavities labeled Adam’s Apple, Wish Bone, Broken Heart, Spare Ribs, Butterflies in Stomach, Bread Basket, Charlie Horse, Water on the Knee, Writer’s Cramp, Funny Bone, Anklebone Connected to the Knee Bone and Wrenched Ankle. — Operation
READS: ADAM’S APPLE · WISH BONE · BROKEN HEART · SPARE RIBS · BUTTERFLIES IN STOMACH · BREAD BASKET · CHARLIE HORSE · WATER ON THE KNEE · WRITER’S CRAMP · FUNNY BONE · ANKLEBONE CONNECTED TO THE KNEE BONE · WRENCHED ANKLE · TYPE D BATTERIES (2 REQUIRED)

Wing IV

Console Shelf

Down in the basement, the TV wall glows green against the stone.

A wooden TV stand against a green-lit stone wall: a dark TV on top, and below it a Sega Genesis, Dreamcast, Nintendo 64 and Wii, with a PlayStation 2, original Xbox and Xbox 360 on the lower shelves.

The basement TV wall

Genesis, Dreamcast, N64 and Wii up top; PlayStation 2, Xbox and Xbox 360 below.

Overhead view of a table of old video games: stacks of NES cartridges and controllers, a box of Atari 2600 cartridges, a Sega Genesis Street Fighter II box, an Atari joystick, N64 controllers and a yellow Pac-Man-shaped controller. — The retro haul
READS: **Street Fighter II · SEGA GENESIS**

A black Sega Genesis console glowing green, with an NBA Jam cartridge in the slot. — Genesis, plugged in
READS: **GENESIS · 16-BIT · NBA JAM**

A home game shelf on pegboard: a Guitar Hero Gibson guitar controller, LEGO sets including a lighthouse, a Luigi kart, a neon Pac-Man and three ghosts sign, and a TOMY Astro Shooter tabletop pinball. — The pegboard shelf
READS: **ASTRO SHOOTER PINBALL · TOMY · Gibson**

Breakout Corner

A nod to breakout (escape room) games: a three-digit lock. The clue is posted on the pitch-and-bat wall in the Pinball Parlor: how many runs win your choice?