A Visit To Super Bear Arcade At Big Bear Lake
 

Automatically generated comment thread for A Visit To Super Bear Arcade At Big Bear Lake.

Skeeball = win. I went home with many a flimsy Chinese finger trap and plastic spider ring as a result of my mad Skeeball skills.

Also... I must have that Dracula.

they've got that "not sure if there's enough neon here" game and the "skiing tokens" game at my local laser tag/arcade place, but unfortunately the oldest arcade game they've got is Gunblade NY (1996), which also gets points by being the only game they have that only needs 1 token to play. I hope someone knifed the people who made graffiti on GORF >:

It seems that the only arcade machines near me are either in the local movie theater or Mr Gatti's. The last time I saw an arcade in a mall, I didn't really have time to peruse, but it seemed to only cater to otaku and their insatiable bloodlust to destroy other pasty whities in DDR and derivative games. Otherwise there are hardly any cabinet games that aren't driving, guns or non-car vehicle games. And joint cabinets of Mrs. Pacman and Galaga cost 50 cents (at my college).

What's funny is that the Mr. Gatti's closed shop on one side of the street and opened on the other side with a bigger overall store, bigger game room, but most of the same damn games it had nearly 15 years ago when I first went to the particular Gatti's location, but hardly any new or additional games except a DDR knock-off with some sort of USB thumb drive capability. Not sure what the game was called and I'm probably not going to Gatti's anytime soon.

That place looked ace. I'd be there all day if I went. I used to play the pinnies (pinball) Top Speed, Adams Family (good call, great set up)and my favourite - Dr Who. Hands down the best pinball game ever made. EVER!

There's actually a spiffy arcade in a mall near me called "Sparkles". It's tucked away behind a store, but I swear that the neon lighting in that place would cause an epileptics head to explode

Wow what a glorious place. I can't read the one pin but im pretty sure it says "women want me, Fish fear me". some good stuff. I think I'm going to devote the rest of my summer to finding a place like that on the east coast.

I'm sure a little internet research at work and then use my vacation time, I can actually make it my job for like 5 weeks. I need to play tron, I'm also going to replace all of the handlebar grips on Paperboy.

Those games are all played with your hands. THEY'RE FOR BABIES.

I don't normally gush about an article, but this was a freaking awsome article. Not only does that arcade have both great Tron games, it has Berzerk! All it needs is Wizard of Wor, Wrestlefest, and Crime Fighters and it would be my dream arcade.

That said, this article also made me feel a little sad, because I remember a time when arcades with the beautiful selection that this one has were all over the place, and now they are not. Even the chain arcades that were part of a package of things, like Chuck-E-Cheese or Putt Putt were awsome then. The "arcades" these days, (Dave and Busters, Gameworks, and the others of similar vein) just do not compare.

I think I'm going to cry. That place to me would be like heaven.

But on a lamer note, I have played Target: Terror. Imagine Area 51 minus the aliens...and more terrorists. Plus it takes like, five minutes to load a stage.

By the way, the "cyclops werewolf" was a LION LIGER cyclops werewolf!

I found a place like this in Clearwater Florida called "The Arcade Museum" or something like that. There, you paid a flat per-hour fee and could play unlimited all day long. Of course, the ticket machines cost extra.

They have a sit down version of road blasters here at the Lawton Airport, and, I kid you not, it is the only arcade item at the Lawton Airport.

That arcade is amazing. I haven't had that much fun in an arcade since I figured out exactly when to let a quarter go and win the jackpot in the Sonic the Hedgehog ticket game.

RoG, Please take me to the top of Bear moutain to reach the Nirvana that is Super Bear Arcade. "Drag five of my friends"? Hell, I'll go for free and help pay for the gas. Serously...I live in Riverside, CA and could really use some of that good ol' time feeling that comes from playing a full cabinet of X-Men (I call dibs on Nightcrawler). Really nice place. On a other note, any place can be registered as a potential historical landmark in the US if it is older than 50 yrs and is of historical value. THis place appears to be both. So if you have the energy (and I don't). You can register the place with the National Historic Landmarks program.

Inside the Vatican looked rather thin for a VHS box.

"including one of my all-time favorites
The Addams Family pinball machine"

That is also one of my favourites, together with "twilight zone", "pinbot", "Circus Voltaire" and "Elvira and the party monsters" 8)

Good article btw.

The guy who stocks our snack machine at work started stocking it with Pizzaria's pizza chips, I love them in, fact I'm eating them right now. The bag alone gives you a nice pizzeria feeling.

I've went to Big Bear with my parents for the 4th of July every year since I was about 10. I still try to make it every 4th now that my parents have moved there permanently. About ten years ago, there used to be another arcade just around the corner from Super Bear. It was poorly lit, with wooden floors (bare plywood, no fancy hardwood), and the attendant sat in a cage giving you quarters for your cash (and making no attempt to hide his contempt for the customers). They had one or two pool tables, but no skee-ball. When I was younger, that one felt more 'grown-up' than the brightly lit Sugar Bear, so I usually spent more money there, but always tried to visit both.

I didn't make it to the Super Bear on my trip this year, but maybe when I visit for Thanksgiving I should check it out again.

"I've went"??? Yeah, my English are good.

You know, I have yet to come across an arcade that DOESN'T have those stupid games where you shoot quarters, or drop them or other such nonsense.

Oh, and Creepy-critters:
That's my mall. Yep, I live damn well near right beside the place. Another thing you've got to know about Sparkles is that it has this fabled Addams Family pinball game inside! ROCK ON NOVA SCOTIA!

Not all bears are as friendly as the one in the title art. :(

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/07/...3741215967487/

When will humanity learn that it's wrong to imprison wild animals... inside a country as crappy as Ukraine? WHEN!?

What, is Super Bear, like, the lost member of the Legion of Super Pets that somehow didn't get folded up in the first Crisis? =3

Heck, dibs on Dazzler for the X-Men game. I was bouncing up and down excited the first time I actually made it all the way through the game and got my name to the top score. I insisted my father check and see if I was still there when he went up to the mall next, but I think they powered down the machines at night, which, of course, put all the scores to default. I know I did it, though, and that made my day *laughs*

The only games missing were Punch Out and Superman. But maybe they were left out on purpose, because if they put them in, the level of awesomeness in the place would be so huge that it would explode and leave a huge crater on Earth visible by the naked eye from outer space

Great article RoG!!! You brought back some memories. I remember seeing the Discs of Tron game at a mall one time but i never had a chance to play it. Back in 2003 there was a video game exhibit that came to San Antonio called Videotopia. It was about the history of video games and at the end of the exhibit was an arcade that had a plethora of cabinet games old and new. I finally got to play Discs of Tron there and enjoyed every minute of it. Keep up the good work, looking forward to the halloween season!!!

You shoudl've gone to MAGIC MOUNTAIN

there is a place pretty similar to this in the northern chicago suburbs called nickel city... added bonus: everything costs a nickel... or 2 nickels... or some amount of nickels.

oh arcades... how fun you are.

Shit, I don't think there are ANY publicly playable arcade games within at least 25-30 miles from me. All the good places closed years ago.

Rog found Eden!

There aren't enough arcades in Houston. The arcade I live closest to is a Tilt at Memorial City Mall. A sheer majority of the games are ones that give out tickets, and the only games that I ever play there are MvC2 and Soul Calibur II.

excellent. it's nice to see SNK's Super Spy existing in an MVS Cab nowadays. i even have the music from the soundtrack in my iPod.

I've actually been to this arcade twice, one last summer and once just this last winter. To me it just seemed... run down. Lots of the games were either shut off or had broken screens/controls. Tron was one of these :(

I did have some fun with Skeeball, and Hercules Pinball, even though since it was a regular sized ball getting falls was a lot easier. The Air hockey was messed up too :-/

-RoG-, you should write some kind of text on video games. As a young historian from generation Y, I am a little too young to have experienced these arcade games growing up. I really think in 10-20 years time people will look back on the beginnings of video games and want to understand their growth from the perspective of someone who lived through it. I love reading your articles on video games, its like a mini-history lesson on the subject.

Wow, that's actually pretty awesome. All the arcades in my city have been shut down (to my knowledge) but a 20 minute drive can get me to one. And it has the mammoth X-Men machine too. :)

This comic store I go to used to have that X-Men machine, but it's gone now cause they needed the extra space :( Nice article.

I'm only through page three of this, and I've already got a massive hard-on due to seeing such classic gaming cabinets. Please -RoG- don't let me get flaccid here...

OH MY GOD, I JUST BUST A VIDEO GAME NUT!!!!

Dude, that arcade rocks! I wish the one I used to frequent in my youthful days didn't close (it's now a sports bar - ugh!).

*cues up Forever MAME*

The thing that makes me want to cry the most is the thought that probably 90% of these games were available in my boring small-town mall arcade when I was a kid...I will never forget going there and having my dad literally get these little metal stools that they had for little kids to stand on so I could play the games. TRON, the Discs of TRON cabinet, the air hockey table, 4-player TMNT, so much pinball...

Man, you never realize what you had until it's gone. As sucky as that mall was...actually, it wasn't sucky. It was awesome. I'd trade all the GAPs and Bed Bath and Beyond's and Targets to get just one day at the Susquehanna Valley Mall in 1984.

Man that place looks great. I hate to revisit the arcades of my youth to find the classics games replaced with penny slot/shelf machines and grab a toy thingies. But it's always great when you find somewhere that managed to keep hold of some of the old classics in good condition, they're only going to get more rare from now so you gotta pump the coins in when you get a chance

Great Article! Seeing that disks of Tron Cab was outrageous fortune- Almost worth the drive just to catch that!

Would've been cool if they also had Baby Pac-Man...the one where it's half actual pac man game and half pinball. I saw a Discs of Tron cabinet ONE TIME in my life, and that was at some water park a long (15+ years) time ago...I never played it though...Street Fighter 2 had JUST come out and had a far stronger hold on me. what the hell did it play like?

Damn thats awesome, usually people are too fucking stupid to keep their old machines in working order and open to the public, cheers to super bear, I wanna go!

Old machines are what retro dreams are made of. That and 8-Bit pixels.

I havePlay Doh cologne, and I love it. The boyfriend doesn't find it as delightful as I do.

I tried the Crayon and regretted it. It smells like dust and wax, they got that part right...but not like crayon.

I cannot believe I've not seen this article until now, god damn I wish I had a decent arcade even remotely close to where I live.

I just came across this article myself, brings back alot of memories. There was an arcade next town over called Hangar 18 that had alot of the current (at the time) games... I even remember a tabletop Crystal Castles game there. I got to play Hercules at an arcade/video store nearby years ago that also had Darkstalkers and the X-Men arcade game (it's now a cowboy gear outfitters place, after having been a pawn shop, also). The only arcade near me now is a Tilt that has pretty much the same stuff that was listed above, plus a bunch of light gun games like House of the Dead and CarnEvil.

When I die I want to be flown over to the U.S. and buried there. I call Colossus on 6 player X Men.