Bethany Beach was a pleasant surprise, but my real destination for the day was Rehoboth. I had also meant to hit Dewey Beach, but I couldn’t figure out where it was. As far as I can tell, the two towns are so close that they blur into each other. It’s fine; the arcades are all here, anyway.
Rehoboth feels like an expanded version of Bethany Beach. Instead of having a quaint, small beach town feel, Rehoboth is best described as a giant uptown shopping area. It still has its main street leading to the boardwalk, but the trinket shops and overpriced food places don’t end there. The entire town is one big tourist trap.
What’s most interesting about the town’s layout is that many narrow alleyways are tucked between the buildings. Take a look at the directory on the left. Every store on that listing is in this alley. The gift shop concentration is ridiculous.
I came across this giant chess set further down this alley, in a wider seating area. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I still get excited every time I see that Pokemon is still as popular as it is. The chess set is cool enough on its own, but Pikachu makes it feel much more friendly, doesn’t he?
I do wish they’d use Pokemon besides Pikachu sometimes. I’m personally fond of gen 4, but you never see any of those Pokemon featured anywhere.
Okay, these guys deserve a shout-out.
This is Yesterday’s Fun, a small toy story sitting next to the chess set. They’re the ones responsible for the Pokemon cut-outs. If you’re ever in town, give them a visit. They’re awesome.
Right on the edge of town is the city’s boardwalk. It’s nowhere near as ridiculously long as Ocean City’s, but it’s still pretty sizable. Those seagulls can tell there’s a storm on the horizon, so I’d better finish my business quickly.
First up, we have Beach Arcade North. If I remember right, it’s an offshoot of a different local arcade. It’s small, and there’s not much to say about it, but I’ll give it a quick walkthrough.
Arcades visited: 11
The first thing you notice upon entering Beach Arcade North is that the entrance is a hall of these pink and purple claw machines. They look like normal crane games on their own, but lining them up like this makes it look like some surreal neon tunnel. Big points for creativity here.
Look what a difference decoration can make. You see the Wizard of Oz coin pusher everywhere but hanging the prizes above it makes it look much more grandiose. This arcade’s games aren’t very interesting, but they know how to do a lot with a little.
Okay, I think this is my first time running into this game. So many beach arcades after this one also had it that they all blur together in my head. This game is exactly what it says: A giant Pac-man machine. Well, I guess it’s technically a big Pac-man and Galaga machine, but it doesn’t advertise the Galaga mode. This game’s success led to the giant Space Invaders machine. I think Space Invaders is more impressive overall.
You have no idea how badly I want that giant Turtwig plush. When I was young, I had a rather large collection of big Pokemon plush toys I won from arcades. Charizard, Blastoise, Pikachu, two Bulbasaur, Poliwhirl, and probably something else. I gave them all away to someone on the internet when I left home since they took up too much space in the car. While I’m ultimately loyal to Bulbasaur, Turtwig is a Pokemon with which I feel very closely associated. Maybe someday I’ll share that story.
And here we have even more Pokemon. Rehoboth feels full of them. Since I’ve rambled enough about Pokemon for now, and there are still a lot more of them coming up, how about I teach you the secret of winning at Key Master?
You see, Key Master is rigged. The machine only pays off once every 30-100 games. If enough games haven’t passed since the last win, the game will push the “key” up slightly after you let go of the button, making it always overshoot the hole. Keep a close watch on the key after you release the button. If it doesn’t stop moving immediately, it’s not ready for the payoff. If it is prepared for payoff, you can usually pull the prize within ten plays as long as you’re decent at lining it up. Enjoy your ten-dollar 3DS.
As with every boardwalk arcade, the prize selection is pretty unusual. I guess fantasy statues aren’t too farfetched, but I like how they’re off in their own display case. It makes them look like part of a high-end collection.
Here’s an old Power Tester I have nothing to say about. Yeah, I’m stretching for things to talk about. There’s not much else to say about this place. Here, have a better look at it:
The neon hall in the front leads to this tiny room. That’s the entire arcade. I can only ramble about such a small game room for so long. Let’s find a bigger one.
Maybe this one will be more interesting? The sign up top says Playland, but that’s not the arcade’s name anymore. We’ll get more into what happened to Playland later. For now, know that there are three of these places: Beach Arcade North, Beach Arcade Center, and Beach Arcade South. This one is the Center.
Arcades visited: 12
The second of the three beach arcades is thankfully bigger than the first. It’s not much bigger, mind you, but it’s something.
Sega has always been pretty mascot oriented. While Nintendo’s all-stars only get together once every few years to beat each other up, Sega takes every opportunity to do big crossovers. Characters like Alex the Kidd and Ulala would have faded from public memory if not for Sega’s hatred of letting its IPs die completely. Super Monkey Ball is a good example of that. It started as an arcade game, had a few years of relevancy thanks to being a Gamecube launch title, then faded from public consciousness until it finally joined the ranks of Sega’s other mostly forgotten mascots.
Super Monkey Ball Ticket Blitz was made in the last few years of the IP’s lifespan. It’s exactly what you’d expect from a ticket adaption of Super Monkey Ball: You get one play on a short course and win tickets based on your time. Instead of a traditional joystick like every other version of the game uses, aside from the weird touchscreen entries, you control your monkey with a rubber trackball the size of a basketball. It just makes the game hard to play. Humorously, this spin-off is far more common than the original arcade game.
Crazy Taxi also had an awkward ticket game adaptation in its later years. I know I’ve seen it before, but I can’t remember which arcade I saw it at. Somewhere in Iowa, I think…
I thought this game was Dave and Buster’s exclusive. I guess I was wrong.
That aside, I notice that many people seem to walk into my pictures, giving me funny looks. I’m not sure if it’s because taking pictures of arcade machines is a weird sight or if it’s simply because I look like hell. I was half-dead for most of my trip. A two-day bus trip without sleep followed by two days of walking takes it out of a guy.
Here’s one I don’t see often. This is H2Overdrive. If this game looks familiar, you can probably guess the story behind it from the Raw Thrills logo on the back. Once again, former Midway Games employees wanted to make a sequel to a game they had worked on but didn’t have the rights to. This time, it was Hydro Thunder. When I look at this machine, the thing that stands out most is how many parts it recycles from Fast and Furious: Supercars.
I should also clarify that Specular Entertainment and not Raw Thrills made this game. Specular Entertainment is another group of former Midway Games employees who got together and made their studio after their department was axed. Raw Thrills only provided the hardware and distribution. They’re a separate entity, but I usually attribute their games to Raw Thrills, for simplicity’s sake. Or rather “their game” since the only other thing of note they’ve made is that Batman game.
This is the deluxe version of The Ocean Hunter, released in 1998. It’s sorta-kinda-but-not-really a prequel to Sega’s later Let’s Go Island. It’s a standard rail shooter where you shoot off octopi and sharks instead of tigers, zombies, or dinosaurs. This is the kind of game you only find at crappier arcades that won’t let go of 20 year old machines. The only place I’ve ever seen it before was out in Omaha, but it was the less fancy version.
And honestly, I don’t think I ever bothered to play it in Omaha. I only remember it because it was right next to the DDR machine. I wonder if it’s still there.
Oh, Frightfearland again! At first glance, I’m sure most people would think this was somehow related to Carnevil. It’s a sequel to a slightly more obscure shooter called Panic Museum. The series is described as “the strangest House of the Dead clone ever conceived.” Instead of fighting zombies, all enemies are random things that have come to life and want you dead. The first game had a bizarre level where you enter the museum’s toy exhibit and fight off giant toy soldiers in a bright and colorful background while still pretending it’s a horror game. The sequel seemed to realize how ridiculous it was and mostly sticks to living clown statues. It would be much easier to take seriously if not for the cheesy quips every few minutes. For example, at one point, a bunch of evil clowns holding balloons pop up, prompting this exchange:
“I love balloons!”
“If you ask nicely, he might give you one.”
The second bit of dialog is delivered like an action movie quip, but the actor in the first line’s voice is so soft that every line he says sounds about as threatening as Levar Burton on Reading Rainbow.
Moving right along to the next arcade. This is the third and final member of the trio: Beach Arcade South. As you can see, it’s easily the biggest of the three. It’s even got an entire mini-golf course up top.
Arcades visited: 13
As far as I can tell, these three arcades all used to be a single entity known as Playland. History on beach arcades is sparse, so I’m afraid I can’t tell you when or why they split as they did. This is the one that seems to consider itself the original location, even though I’m pretty sure that’s not the same building.
It’s still pretty easy to see that this is the one with the most effort put into it. It’s very well-lit and modern, especially after how dim Beach Arcade Center was. Normally I wouldn’t say I’m that interested in modern ticket arcades, but it’s a nice change of scenery.
Pokemon again. If you grab one of those Pokeballs, you win a “Pokemon Go Drone.” It took me a while to figure out what Pokemon Go had to do with drones, but then I remembered in the early days of Pokemon go, people would attach their phones to drones and fly them around for egg distance. I guess it makes sense if nothing else. Speaking of Pokemon Go…
Introducing the one and only Pokemon Go arcade machine. TPCI refused to create a Pokemon Go arcade game, but that didn’t stop Beach Arcade South. In a stroke of brilliance, they put a Pokemon Go sign on an unrelated machine to create their own. Innovation comes in the strangest of places.
I tried many times to get a picture of this machine to show how tiny it was, but there was nothing I could scale it to other than the prize case in the background. It’s only two or three feet high. I wanted to give this one a play, but I had no idea how to do it without looking completely ridiculous.
This is also the first time I’ve gotten a good enough shot of the Walking Dead to show the cool door on the back. They’re not actual doors; it’s just supposed to look like Zombies breaking out of a closed door.
Really though, I’m just posting this photo because I haven’t complained about Big Bass Wheel in a while. I’m afraid people might forget how ever-present it is.
This is, by far, one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen being given out as arcade prizes. They’re not as overtly weird as the kitchen appliances, but they’re odd for a completely different reason. Baseball cards aren’t exactly relevant these days. Weirdly, they’d not only have them as prizes but dedicate an entire rotating display case to them. I’m amazed that they haven’t been replaced with Pokemon cards, given how much this arcade loves them.
But this arcade is no stranger to weird ticket prizes. Who will save thousands of tickets to buy a desk organizer, jewelry tree, or mail sorter? Kids won’t. Teenagers won’t. Adults won’t. Nobody will. The only conceivable reason I can come up with is if a kid suddenly remembers that he forgot to get his dad a Father’s Day present and has more tickets than money lying around.
Seriously, what the hell?
The last thing of interest is a goddamn curtain. I’ve seen this machine thirty or forty times, yet this is the only time I’ve seen this curtain. I don’t think this arcade’s fancy enough to make a custom curtain, so it must be some optional add-on. Weird.
Now for our fourth and final stop for the day, Funland.
Funland is a small, mostly-indoor amusement park, one of Rehoboth’s main boardwalk attractions.
As you can see, this place has quite a history behind it. The plaque summarizes it far better than I can. Isn’t it amazing to think about how these places have managed to withstand the test of time?
It also has a bunch of arcade games in the back. I guess it counts?
Arcades visited: 14
The real focus is the carnival-style games. I recognize a lot of these from the top floor of Circus Circus. Come to think of it; I haven’t been to an amusement park in a while. They still have these kinds of games at smaller ones.
I wonder if I know anyone who wants to take a road trip down to Des Moines. They have a nice crappy theme park down there.
Oh god, I didn’t think I’d ever manage to grab a picture of one of these. This is the original version of Pounder. I’ve mentioned that quite a few arcade ticket games started as amusement park attractions like this. This is a great example of it. If you don’t remember the arcade version of Pounder, which you probably don’t since it was so long ago, I run into another one in a couple of days.
Here’s that horse racing game I was talking about yesterday—the one where you roll the balls into the holes. Your horse moves forward every time you get a ball into a hole, with harder-to-hit colors making your horse cross a greater distance. That arcade game they had at Electric Quarters is an adaptation of this. Sometimes if you get a bored enough host, they’ll commentate the game like a horse race.
Whack-a-mole is a stereotypical game you always see in arcades on TV, but it’s a carnival game rather than an arcade game. There have been arcade adaptions over the years, but they’re not a staple of arcades like they want you to think.
By the way, did you know that the same guy behind Rock-afire Explosion invented Whack-a-Mole? True story.
A few game booths were on the boardwalk instead of inside. Similar games were out in Ocean City, but they were closed due to the weather.
Here are a few more pictures of the arcade machines in the back. I’ve nothing to say about them, but I feel compelled to include the images because this is an arcade blog.
The prize shelf is fairly normal. Wait, is this place also offering baseball cards for prizes?
That reminds me, I’m not entirely sure what the relationship between Funland and the Beach Arcades is. Funland might have owned them when they were called Playland, but someone else bought them up when the name changed. Again, the history of these arcades is hard to come by, so that I could be completely wrong.
Oh my god. I could have gotten this by hitting a single jackpot on Big Bass Wheel. I wonder what the average payoff rate on Big Bass Wheel is…
Funland’s souvenir shop. I’m not usually a fan of these kinds of things, but the fact that they have merchandise of their tickets was enough to push me into buying something. I’ll show what I got at the end of the post.
With that, I was done with arcades for the day. All I had left to do was grab something to eat, then catch a bus to my shitty motel. I saw these Pokemon in a jewelry store window and went in to buy that Togepi. It turned out they were randomly packaged and expensive. Oh well.
I had passed this place on my way into town, so I figured it would be as good a place as any to eat. I don’t eat much when I travel. All I had to eat all day was some fries and the two slices of Pizza I got here. That might also factor into why I was half-dead for most of my trip.
Grotto Pizza boldly claims that it’s the best pizza in all of Delaware. I’ll be the judge of that.
…it totally lives up to that claim.
At first glance, it looks like a shitty pizza with blotches of sauce all over it. It isn’t until you bite into it that you understand what’s happening. You see, the sauce and cheese are completely separate from each other. There’s no cheese on top of the sauce, and there’s no sauce under the cheese! It sounds strange, but it makes the sauce and cheese taste far stronger than when mashed together. This is the best pizza I’ve ever eaten in my life. Photos don’t do it justice at all. If you’re ever in Delaware, track this place down.
Before I leave, there’s one last place I want to point out. This is The Ice Cream Store, a rather infamous ice cream parlor in Rehoboth. Their claim to fame is having over a hundred ice cream flavors. They range from normal things like Vanilla to more bizarre flavors like “Better than Sex,” “Boogers,” “Netflix and Chill,” “Kitchen Sink,” and “All Nighter.” There’s a list on their website.
Pikachu pops up one last time before leaving Rehoboth. If the titles of these blog posts weren’t already confusing enough, this one would be something like “Exciting East Coast Arcade Adventure Day 2: Gotta Catch Em All (Rehoboth Beach part 2)”. Sadly, my bus was pulling up, so I could not taste the Pikachu ice cream. God, Yellow African Vanilla Ice Cream sounds so good…
Here’s my motel room for the night. Except it isn’t crappy at all. It’s clean.
It’s even got a sitting room. What the heck? This isn’t how things are supposed to be.
Even the bathroom is twice as big as my home bathroom. I don’t know how to feel about this.
Anyway, I made it through the second day of my trip alive. It’s not the best blog post I’ve ever done, but it’s hard to find much to say about these tiny beach arcades. Most of them have the same handful of games over and over. Don’t worry; tomorrow is the last of them for the most part.
The next one is the blog post I’ve been dreading since I started writing about my trip. If you thought Ocean City had a lot of arcades, wait until you see this next place.
