Funspot!
The Funspot is located in Weirs Beach, New Hampshire. It's a building on a twisty road on a large large near some mountains in the middle of N.H.. Not exactly the kind of place that looks like a mecca. Then again, video games don't take up a lot of space.
Funspot is supposedly the second largest arcade (Don't know the first) in the country, claiming 500 games. If you're counting only classics, it may be the largest. This is the place where a guy scored a perfect game of Pac Man earlier this year. I played Pac Man there, did I just play the holy machine? :) The lower level of the building is like any kid entertainment oriented establishment. Some bowling alleys, lots of ticket spewing machines, some little rides. Upstairs though, the whole place is filled with classic games. The numbers are staggering in this day and age. If I had to estimate, I'd say there were around 200-300 games up there.
I have been to Videotopia three times. Once in Washington D.C., once in Dallas, and once in Waterloo. Compared to Videotopia, Funspot had probably 50% more games, and the games at Funspot were in general better working condition. I only came across 1 bad joystick on all the games I played. This is taking nothing away from Videotopia, which is great, and probably the only other place with that amount of mostly working games. Funspot also had a better selection of games I like, so for me personally it was more appealing. The point of this is to say that if you've been to a well know thing like Videotopia and loved it, you should definatly find a way to Funspot also!
The games all took 1 token except for a few newer ones. Tokens were a good deal, getting something like 55 for $10 instead of the usual 40. After I got tokens, I spend 7 straight hours playing games. You finish one, and there are just so many more to play again that it's a non stop marathon. I must admit that the day went by very fast. In all, I think I went through around 80 tokens. Since I was there in November, the resort area was rather deserted, and I didn't have to wait to play anything. If one was being played, I had a hundred others I wanted to play to choos from anyways. :)
Funspot is also the site of the annual Twin Galaxies score competition, run by fellow eastern Iowan Walter Day. A couple banners proclaim this and the dates around June 5th, 2000. I found this REALLY cool, because virtually all places shove thier old classics into dark corners, but this one puts them on the marquee.
Unlike Videotopia, Funspot does not have the ultra-classics such as Pong and Spacewar. There were some rather old (Seawolf is the only I can recall) games that were none working lined against one wall. I was told by a contributor of this site that they had been recently purchased and they were planning to fix them. The rarest/oldest working classic (My opinion) I saw was Firetruck.
The coolest games to me there are the ones I like that I can't find anywhere. A perfect Star Wars cockpit. A good Pac Man and Pac Man Plus. A Burgertime and Gyruss. A few cockpit Turbos and Spy Hunter. Dual Paperboys. Mappy, Marble Madness, Track & Field, Budweiser Tapper, Mario Bros., Tron, and Zookeeper. Even an ultra rare Joust cocktail. A complete list, updated with my recent visit to the best I can remember, is here.
Funspot also maintains a list here.
What was I surprised that was not there? Xevious, Tempest, Crystal Castles, and any other Pac Man series. That's not much, is it?
The conclusion of this story is to go to Funspot if you are ever in the area. It is only about 80 miles from Boston, and well worth the drive just for that. Hours are plentiful, and it's open year-round on the weekends for sure.
Here is a page with pics of funspot's games. Warning, you will drool!
Go back to the Classic Arcade Game Location List
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