The Place, Retro Arcade

02/21/2026

June 19th, 2016. Kansas City Royals game with Walter Day and Joel West.

02/21/2026

February 2015, I had just bought a brand new enclosed trailer to take to Iowa to pick up some arcades, it was supposed to be a round trip, there and back, but Mother Nature had other plans, lol, I didn’t even bring a heavy coat or warm clothes, I was picking up some games in Des Moines, but I don’t even remember which games now, it was about an 8.5hr drive, I went from there to Waterloo, Iowa, met some friends, had dinner at a Mexican restaurant, and instead of going home, Walter Day asked me to come stay with him, so I went 2 hours north to Waterloo, and 2 hours back down to Fairfield, Iowa, lol. It was about 2:00am in the morning and I was less than an hour from Fairfield and saw a sign for a detour, black ice, so I took the detour and still hit black ice, my suburban and trailer were sliding all over, I tried to steer out of it, trailer jack knifed hit the side of the suburban, I ended up doing a 180 and landing in a culvert, I remember thinking the trailer was going to either come off of the tongue or it was going to flip, but it didn’t. Once I came to a stop in the culvert I sat there for a few, processing what just happened and got out to check my games, I immediately fell in the snow, it was probably about a foot deep, I opened the trailer, everything was still strapped tightly, I get back in the car, tried to pull out and was stuck. I was literal in the middle of nowhere Iowa, had no warm clothes, I looked at the rearview and it was -14, I took a picture of it lol, and on top of that my cell service was sketchy, I saw a farmhouse a few hundred yards away, there were lights on, I ran to it, knocked on the door, I heard people, but no one answered, so I went back to the car. I just kept rocking it back and forth, in 4 wheel low, it felt like for an hour, you could smell everything burning, but eventually I slowly creeped up out of the culvert and was back on my way to Walter’s, I got there, he let me sleep on the floor in his office with a pillow and a blanket and minimal heat, I woke up the next day with the worst sore throat of my life, went outside to the next morning to asses the damage, Suburban had some dents, trailer had some dents and a fender was gone, I left that morning, got back to Cincinnati, had my mechanic look at the trailer, he said it was totaled, axel was bent. I had my brother in law make me this sticker for the Suburban which is still there today! Always an adventure!!! 😂😂

02/20/2026

It was 2015, me, Walter Day and Joel West (rip) decided to go to a Cubs game at Wrigley field, I believe it was against the Nationals. So we get there, get our tickets and go inside, Walter needed to use the restroom, I went to buy a hoodie because it was chilly, I’m not sure where Joel went, anyway I come back out, see Joel, but no Walter in sight. We went to our seats, no Walter, and he didn’t have a phone on him.. Joel had a walking boot on, so he couldn’t walk for long periods, but he had on a tshirt with Walters face plastered on it, so we are asking everyone “Have you seen this man”, no one had. I spent the ENTIRE game walking every square inch of that ballpark, did not sit down and watch the game one time, until the top of the 9th, when I found him about 20 or so rows straight behind home plate, and our original seats where way up in the nose bleeds. He was just sitting there watching, not a care in the world 😂, what a crazy day! 🤪 Btw Cubs lost.

For those of you who don’t know Walter, great guy, funny, quirky, one of a kind! He was the owner and operator of Twin Galaxies Arcade in Ottumwa, Iowa, eventually he started Twin Galaxies score keeping for arcade games and its still around today, under different ownership. He also founded the US international video game team and is credited as the father of E Sports as we know it today, but some question that. He has also been in a few documentaries, a couple being King of Kong and Chasing Ghosts (which is the documentary that got me into the whole scene at the time.)
Joel West was a gamer, he was also in Chasing Ghosts, and held world records on games like Berzerk and Rally X.

Here are a few photos from that comical day..

02/20/2026

More reminiscing! In 2015 I was extremely honored, and that is an understatement, to be asked by Mr Tim Mcvey if I would be the one to induct him into The International Video Game Hall of Fame, I was honored, but also nervous, I wanted to do Tim justice, and the ceremony was the next day at the beautiful Bridge View Center in Ottumwa, Iowa. For those of you who don’t know, or you may have seen my yearly dedications to Tim’s momentous feat, what was it? Tim was the first person to ever score 1 billion points on a video/arcade game 🤯, on an arcade game called Nibbler, at The Twin Galaxies Arcade in Ottumwa, Iowa, owned by Walter Day, on January 28th 1984, which also happens to be forever known as Tim Mcvey Day in Ottumwa. This achievement was so incredible that not only will he be inducted the hall of fame, has his own day, Tim also has his own documentary, called Man vs Snake, which is honestly my favorite arcade related documentary, and I mean that, sincerely. I was also very honored to attend the premier of the documentary in Ottumwa. Now back to the induction ceremony..I was a nervous wreck that night! I stayed up trying to write a speech, which I don’t think I’d done before, and I had to read it on a stage in front of a lot of people, which id neve done before, but it all worked out, I think there is a video of the ceremony out there, but I don’t have it.
Now on to Tim the man.. Tim is one of the most stand up guys you’ll ever meet, strong in his beliefs and convictions, and truly does not give 2 f*cks what other people think, and I admire that, he is also very kind. I was lucky enough to go to his house for a cookout and watched the master play Nibbler! I am the lucky one to have gotten to meet Tim, become friends with Tim, induct Tim and after all this time, arcade friends have come and gone, but I still got Tim! 😃

02/20/2026

Way back in 2014 I had an epiphany! I wanted to recreate a Life magazine photo from November 1982, featuring some of the greatest gamers of that era, so I reached out to a friend, who happened to be the organizer of that original photo, Mr Walter Day, he was able to track down some of the original people from that photo, and it was on. I happened to own all of the same titles that were in the original photo, except one…. Tutankham, which, if you’re an arcade collector you know, they don’t come up often. Well right after we decided to do this, one popped up in Columbus, Ohio, I went right up there and bought it, broken for $65, I got it back to my arcade and fixed it the same night. Next I borrowed an enclosed trailer from a friend, loaded up the games and we were off to Ottumwa, Iowa! Whilst driving through Illinois, I received a speeding ticket in our 15 passenger van, with a trailer full of arcade games and the van full of kids, in a construction zone that ended up costing me $1000! 😆
All in all it was an amazing experience, the town of Ottumwa, Iowa was kind enough to close the street down for us for the recreation, we had original people as well as a lot of new era gamers and my family, the photo (taken by William Mcevoy)is now in the 2017 (I think) Guinness Book of World Records Gamers Edition, after, we headed back home with all the games, except Centipede, which is actually my favorite arcade game, I donated that to a silent auction for a fundraiser, but I eventually found another Centipede, and another…I’ve had a few, lol. Sorry for the long winded story, me and Kim were looking through old photos reminiscing and I started thinking about that, I have so many stories 🤣, but what an adventure that was! As my mom always said to me “Never a Dull Moment”!

Oh yeah, there’s an Easter Egg, just like Adventure on Atari! If you look in the newer photos , vs the older photo you’ll notice a difference! The original photo has a Ms Pac Man, the new photos have a Pac Man, somewhat cleverly disguised as Ms Pac man, like a cross dresser pac man 🤔, I had to take it because my Ms Pac Man was broke down at the time and I was in a pinch. 🤷🏻‍♂️😂

Here is the original photo, the 2014 photo and one with me, Kim and the kids.

08/03/2025

I can’t believe I almost forgot! 🤦🏻‍♂️
Paul Niemeyer, the original artist for Mortal Kombat hand painted me this insanely cool Mortal Kombat dragon, which I’m gonna frame for our basement. 🤗

08/03/2025

I haven’t done a lot of arcade related things in quite a while, but this weekend we made the trek to Chicago, to the world famous Galloping Ghost Arcade to visit my good friend Doc Mack, if you are ever in the area, it’s a must see, Doc currently has 1049 different arcade titles on the floor 🤯!! They also have Galloping Ghost pinball a few doors down, with over 40 amazing pinballs! Next we made our way to the quaint town of West Dundee IL, to visit another incredible arcade, owned by another good friend, Scott Lambert at Underground Retrocade, which boasts over 200 arcades! When I closed my arcade in 2016, Scott purchased quite a few of my games, so it’s always nice to be reunited with a few of my old machines, his arcade definitely makes you feel like you’re back in the 80s! Both of these men are truly class acts, and their arcades are well worth the visit if you’re ever out that way. Also while we were out there we were able to meet up and have dinner with Q*bert creator Jeffrey Lee, and his lovely wife. I consider myself extremely blessed to have so many incredible friends in the arcade industry. ♥️
As a side night, we also made a pit stop in Gary Indiana to see the childhood home of The King of Pop, Michael Jackson.

Sorry I didn’t take too many photos

04/18/2025

That time Jeffery Lee, creator of Qbert, visited the arcade.

This video is a promo to an upcoming episode of Arcade Hollywood

04/04/2025

Who remembers this game?! This is one of the few machines that I still own, and it still works!

03/31/2025

I also picked up this game a few weeks ago in Cleveland. My best friend Ray passed away a couple years ago, and his family gave me his Stunt Cycle arcade (1976), it’s very special to me, not only because it was his, but also Ray holds the world record on it, and it was set on this machine. His record can never be broken, only duplicated, but he was the first to submit it as a WR. The machine works, but I would like to restore it in his honor and keep it my small personal collection at home.

03/29/2025

Not arcade related, but we did a thing today! We decided to renew our wedding vows, again! This time at Hillbilly Hotdogs in West Virginia. I would marry her again everyday, if I could!
(We also renewed them in Vegas, right after the arcade closed)