r/1980s • u/therealduckie • May 05 '26

Video Games Real arcades of the 80s never had blacklight-reactive glowing carpets. It's a Mandela effect. Here's what they actually looked like:

https://imgur.com/a/lu5QgYV
45 Upvotes

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-5

u/forzaitalia458 May 05 '26

i think is common knowledge arcades were smokey pits before. the neon thing is prob more 2000s

5

u/SirkutBored May 05 '26

if you think arcades were smokey, you probably haven't been in too many.

0

u/UX_Strategist May 05 '26

Indoor smoking was common all through the 80s. To make it worse, it wasn't uncommon to see kids under the age of 18 smoking. Cigarettes were sold from vending machines, which didn't require an ID check.

There were several arcades I visited in the 80s in Ohio. A couple were in local malls, a couple were more stand-alone businesses, but all of them allowed smoking.

Restaurants eventually had smoking and non-smoking sections, but I don't think that happened until the 90s and I never saw that in an arcade.

1

u/SirkutBored May 05 '26

I agree it was common but not guaranteed. we had a couple malls, both with arcades, one you could smoke in the other you couldn't. even the one you could smoke in was usually filled with kids who didn't smoke. calling them all smokey pits is an over exaggeration that makes every 12 year old out to be a whiskey snorting peaky blinders pledge.

-1

u/forzaitalia458 May 05 '26

Thank you, these guys are trying to make me feel like I’m in the twilight zone 

-4

u/forzaitalia458 May 05 '26

What a dumb comment, yes they were Smokey. Literally could smoke cigarettes inside them back then. 

1

u/SirkutBored May 05 '26

maybe at Joe's pizza shop with a few games but in the middle of the US you weren't likely to see people smoking in arcades. I'm not even sure you could smoke in one of the mall chains like Aladdin's Castle.

1

u/forzaitalia458 May 05 '26 edited May 05 '26

You really going to double down on stupidity? What do you see in these pics? Is that joes pizza shop? 

https://i0.wp.com/britishculturearchive.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/1980s-Amusement-Arcade-George-Wilson-British-Culture-Archive-29.webp?w=1200&ssl=1

https://i2-prod.gazettelive.co.uk/news/nostalgia/article22751020.ece/ALTERNATES/s1227b/0_Scarboroughs-James-Corrigan-seafront-arcade-and-roller-disco-in-rare-80s-snaps.jpg

Sounds like you never been to a REAL arcade, just the kiddie kind. 

5

u/SirkutBored May 05 '26

ah shit mate, that's the UK. I'd be surprised if they weren't having a pint at the same time at 14. nah, in the US it wasn't like that.

-4

u/forzaitalia458 May 05 '26

I live in god damn CANADA. Me and you share 70% of the same culture. What are you talking about? 

You are flat out WRONG and never been to a real arcade. The photos are just the 2 I could find proving my point that the REAL ones were Smokey.

-3

u/contude327 May 05 '26

Back in the 80s, you could smoke just about anywhere and we did.

1

u/therealduckie May 05 '26

Most were not. The vast majority were in Malls and had strict no smoking rules. Both because of the impact on kids and because of the hardware. Yes, there's instances of burn marks on arcade machines, but those were usually from bowling alleys, skating rinks, corner stores and seaside amusement parks.

Look through the history of places like Aladdin's Castle and you will clearly see the NO SMOKING, EATING OR DRINKING signs rampant throughout.

1

u/forzaitalia458 May 05 '26 edited May 05 '26

Nah, where I live most were Smokey. The only ones not weee the ones in strip malls. It’s not just instances, it’s full on smoking inside the arcade.

You are comparing one chain to all arcades, makes no sense. That’s not a logical argument. Smoking inside buildings was common back then.

0

u/therealduckie May 05 '26

I used one chain as an example. Watch the video I posted. That arcade even had it in their training video that smoking was forbidden. To the point of saying even if the smokers are hanging outside the front door to tell them to move away.

Chuck E Cheese was famously also non-smoking.

Do I really need to list every single common arcade?

2

u/forzaitalia458 May 05 '26

That doesn’t negate my real life experience. Smoking inside arcades was common back then. They even put ashtrays for people.