Reconstruction Vol. 14, No. 1

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Funspot Review / Elias Aoude

<1>Funspot, located in North Laconia, New Hampshire, claims to be the largest arcade in the world, and is recognized as such by Guinness World Records [1]. Founded by Bob Lawton in 1952, Funspot is a family friendly location that spans two buildings, three floors, and offers ten pin & candlepin bowling, a bingo hall, outdoor & indoor mini-golf, a restaurant, a tavern, ticket games, air hockey, pinball machines, and over 500 arcade games [2]. The most interesting attraction at Funspot is the American Classic Arcade Museum (ACAM), located on the third floor, which holds over 250 classic arcade machines spanning from the 1970s to the late 1980s [3]. You may also recognize the ACAM as the location where the 2007 documentary, The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, was filmed [4].

<2> Upon arriving at Funspot, you will notice that the arcade machines take tokens rather than quarters, so you'll have to head to the token dispensers to make a purchase before you can get your game on. If you are planning a trip to Funspot, visit their website and print out a coupon for free tokens. The current offer is 25 free tokens with the purchase of $20.00 worth. After printing the coupon, make sure you cut it out or Funspot will not take it (seriously). Prior to arrival, I was under the impression that coupons were required to be clipped so that they could be fed to the token dispenser, but the employee behind the counter was taking the coupons by hand and refused to take them unless they had been clipped out.

Credit: Funspot.com

<3> After purchasing my tokens, I walked up to the third floor, which is home to the ACAM and where I spent the majority of my time during my visit. Stepping into the ACAM is like taking a time machine back to the 1980s. The floor is dimly lit, with much of the light being provided by the arcade cabinets and CRT displays that reside within them, and the 8-bit sound effects of the arcade games are complimented by a playlist of top hits from the 1980s playing over speakers. Various pieces of memorabilia and posters of classics such as Pac-Man (Namco, 1980), Ms. Pac-Man (Bally Midway, 1982), and Dragon's Lair (Cinematronic, 1983) were on display throughout the museum. Tokens go a long way in the ACAM, as most of the arcade games only cost one token to play. At the time of my visit, most of the arcade games at Funspot appeared to be in good condition and in working order, housed within their original cabinets with the original cabinet artwork.

Photo Credit: Jennifer deWinter

<4> The ACAM includes a number of important arcade cabinets. Of particular interest are Computer Space (Nutting Associates, 1971) and Pong (Atari, 1972), two of the first commercially available arcade games [5]. ACAM also has two of the earliest games to cause a moral panic. Long before Mortal Kombat (Midway Games, 1992) and Grand Theft Auto (DMA Design, 1997), there was Death Race (Exidy, 1976) and Chiller (Exidy, 1986)[6][7]. While Death Race may seem trivial when compared to today's violent video games, Chiller has held up well, and I found the game disturbing despite its age.

Photo Credit: Jennifer deWinter

<5> After touring some of the ACAM's most important holdings, I went looking for some of my favorite arcade games, such as Pac-Man, Galaga, Space Invaders, Frogger, Donkey Kong, and Tapper (also known as Root Beer Tapper). After getting my fix, I started looking at games I had never played or even heard of. Many of the games I played were terrible clones of Galaga and Space Invaders, but I did find a few hidden gems - Juno First, a space themed third person shooter, and Eagle, a space themed shooter with gameplay similar to Galaga. I also noticed some neat tricks used by older games to overcome technical limitations. One such workaround involved placing a transparent plastic overlay on top of a monitor in order to implement color graphics.

<6> On the same floor as the ACAM is an in-door, retro 9 hole mini-golf course, which felt out of place on a floor containing hundreds of classic arcade games. The in-door mini-golf course is based on a 9-hole mini-golf course that used to be part of Funspot in the 1950s.

Photo Credit: Jennifer deWinter

<7> After spending some time in the ACAM, I got into my time machine and came back to 2013 (aka the ticket games area on Funspot's lower floors). The ticket games area is brightly lit, a stark contrast to the ACAM. In fact, the ticket games area is so brightly lit that it gives off the ambience of a retail store rather than an arcade. I have been to other arcades that primarily features ticket games, and even they tend to feature the dim lighting often associated with arcade environments.

Photo Credit: Jennifer deWinter

<8> My only complaint about Funspot is in the lack of arcade games from the 1990s. While exploring Funspot, I came across a few '90s arcade games such as NBA Jam (Midway, 1993), Mortal Kombat (Midway Games, 1992), and Daytona USA (Sega, 1993) in the ticket games area, but the amount of 1990s arcade games on offer pales in comparison to the extensive collection of 1970s and 1980s cabinets that are part of the ACAM.

<9> With that being said, the lack of modern games should not keep anyone from visiting Funspot. The ACAM has a collection of games that span across all themes and genres, such as light gun (Crossbow [Exidy, 1983], Chiller [Exidy, 1986]), sit-down (After Burner [Sega, 1982], Star Wars [Atari, 1983]), laserdisc (Dragon's Lair [Cinematronics, 1983], Space Ace [Cinematronics, 1984]), driving (Death Race [Exidy, 1976], Super Sprint [Atari, 1986]), run and gun (Contra [Konami, 1987], The Real Ghostbusters [Data East, 1987]), beat'em ups (Double Dragon [Taito, 1987], Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [Konami, 1987]), hack and slash (Gauntlet [Atari, 1985], Dark Adventure [Konami, 1987]), scrolling shooters (1942 [Capcom, 1984], Defender [Williams Electronics, 1980]), fixed shooters (Centipede [Atari, 1981], Millipede [Atari, 1982]), and pinball (Close Encounters of the Third Kind [Gottlieb, 1978], KISS [Bally, 1978]).

<10> At the beginning of my review, I mentioned that Funspot features a variety of activities, including bowling, bingo, mini-golf, ticket games, pinball machines, and hundreds of arcade games. The Funspot complex offers enough activities that the appeal of the games and amusements is broad, and visitors of all ages are almost guaranteed to find something enjoyable to do while they visit. The layout of Funspot creates a separation between most of these activities and gives each floor a unique atmosphere. All of the activities available felt like self-contained attractions that come together to form what we know as Funspot.

<11> I highly recommend visiting Funspot, whether as a scholar, a gamer, or both. Funspot provides scholars with a great opportunity to study the history of the video arcade or a specific genre of arcade game. Older gamers that grew up during the golden age of the arcade can relive their childhood, and it provides younger gamers with a chance to see what the industry was like before consoles took over in the household.

<12> Funspot is located at 579 Endicott Street, North Laconia, NH 03246. For hours, directions, and additional information, visit their website at www.funspot.com.

Works Cited

Kocurek, Carly. “The Agony and the Exidy: A History of Video Game Violence and the Legacy of Death Race.” Game Studies 12:1 2012. <http://gamestudies.org/>

de Matos, Xav. “Joystiq visits: Funspot & The American Classic Arcade Museum” Joystiq. 28 April 2009. <http://www.joystiq.com/>

Funspot “About Us” 2013. <http://www.funspotnh.com/>

Funspot “Attractions” 2013. <http://www.funspotnh.com/>

Guinness World Records. “For the Record—Funspot—Largest Videogames Arcade.” 2010. <http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/>.

The History Of Video Arcade Games, Computer Games Timeline and Milestones 2013. <http://www.bmigaming.com/>

Roskopp. “Chiller: The Sickest Arcade Game of All Time?” Arcade.us 24 April 2009. <http://arcade.us/>

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