thegreathopper
Active member
Bought my first Neo Geo MVS games from the one armed tech who looked after Quazar.
Used to love the crystal rooms, downstairs Neo games.
Used to love the crystal rooms, downstairs Neo games.
Bristol’s Lost Arcades
- Thread starter Stokers
- Start date
thegreathopper
Active member
Was DMC on the Paragon top of Milsom st? That’s where they used to sell modded usa SNES consoles for £100.
Yes - that's the one.
I purchased a second hand US model with the Scart lead drilled in the side, much superior to the native 50hz ones.
Occasionally would see some staff from SuperPlay in there, I believe they also advertised the shop in the magazine.
Crystal rooms was cool, but could only sneak in because they were really strict on the no under 16's, perhaps because of the gambling sections where as the other arcades were not.
Yes I remember the tech.
A lot of the machines they owned were all moth balled in the upper floors of Quasar building for a decade which is now converted into student accommodation I believe.
around 2013 somebody from the area called me one stormy night saying they were all out in the street, but then gone in the early hours in a truck.
I was looking to see if I could purchase / get a 'raid' going, thinking about all the Candy cabinets. No doubt the owners would know where to sell them on, I do wonder who's got them.
Copperband
User
- Credits
- 56CR
Excellent write up Charlie, really captures the essence of the scene at that time. I frequented Mad Harry’s around 5 years before you and remember it with more Jamma Cabs, particularly Electrocoin goliaths. Like you said in your write up, by the mid 90’s, a lot of the Jamma games had been replicated pretty well on the SF and MD and moving to more dedicated cabs made sense for the arcade punters of that time.
Something that arcades had then which is often missed now is the social element / game watching. We did this to learn how to play the games better and make our money last longer. Nowadays, the advent of everything on free play means that has been sadly.
Looking forward to the next instalment.
Something that arcades had then which is often missed now is the social element / game watching. We did this to learn how to play the games better and make our money last longer. Nowadays, the advent of everything on free play means that has been sadly.
Looking forward to the next instalment.
I can remember one of the early 1980's arcades in Bournemouth called "Pineapple rock", near the Lansdown on Old Christchurch road. The usual early machines were there, Invaders, Asteroids, Breakout, Space war, Cosmic guerrillas, Video Pinball.. When people got bored of Invaders they swapped the roms to "lunar rescue". I recently found a bunch of hand written Pet 6502 asm I started for my own version of the 2nd phase of that game, with the rocket going up through the Meteors!
Watching other players we a big part of the arcade scene which also helped you game.
I remember the feeling of doing really well in a game and when your credit ended you'd turn around and see a large group of people watching you.
My mate and me used to imagine a vertical gauge above your head that filled and we referred to it as the "Poseomitter".
Hi everyone. I just finished up another blog post on Bristol's arcade scene. In part 3 I'm looking back the fighting game Mecca that was the Golden Nugget in Stokes Croft.
coinopchronicles.wordpress.com
What a beauty she was.. 😭
Game Over: Bristol’s Lost Arcades – Part 3
We’re back again, and this time we’re looking at another of Bristol’s lost arcades: Golden Nugget Amusements in Stokes Croft. Some quick history: rather than being an official par…
coinopchronicles.wordpress.com
What a beauty she was.. 😭
Last edited:
Now you have your very own Duet(s) mate.
Hey, I commented on your previous article about the Spielothek - I finally joined this place so I can say thank you for bringing back some memories!
I definitely went to the Golden Nugget a few times. I remember me and my friend avoided it for a few years because it looked so dodgy from the outside (as is Stokes Croft) - but I only remember Street Fighter EX2 and Tekken 3 in there as the standout games. So I'd estimate 1997/98?
I don't think I went there enough to remember the other games, but I really liked the place once I felt brave enough to go in!
I definitely went to the Golden Nugget a few times. I remember me and my friend avoided it for a few years because it looked so dodgy from the outside (as is Stokes Croft) - but I only remember Street Fighter EX2 and Tekken 3 in there as the standout games. So I'd estimate 1997/98?
I don't think I went there enough to remember the other games, but I really liked the place once I felt brave enough to go in!
Thanks for the feedback - and the comments.
An earlier version of this post had much more detail on Stokes Croft and how dodgy it was back in the 90s. Although the area was always pretty bad, I felt like the Golden Nugget was a safe haven of sorts. Other than the occasional oddball, there was no trouble in there whatsoever.
I forgot they had Tekken 3 actually, I spent hours and hours playing Tekken Tag against all and sundry..
Last edited:
Yeah you're right, it was absolutely fine inside. I think they had gambling machines closer to the door when I went, which is why I didn't realise it had games in there too.
What's next to cover? I feel like you've got the main arcades, after that it's things like the Arena One bowling centre? I'll look forward to it anyway!