Video Arcades in Winnipeg in the 1970s and 1980s

In 1972, Atari and Magnavox came out with video games to use at home. For Atari, they came up with versions for bars and arcades. The first Pong I encountered was the Spaghetti Factory location on Princess. There was a sit down Pong in the restaurant waiting area. It was the first time I played it. It was a simple coin operated single or two player game. I recall it about 1975. By 1977, Atari systems were being bought all over the work but competition was afoot. There were now several console player companies out there , including Nintendo, and the games were becoming more sophisticated.

Game systems were flying off the shelves. My family didn't buy an Atari bought but others did but many found they were obsolete. Meanwhile, the pinball industry was updating their machines and bringing arcade machines into shops as well.  Bowling alleys were adding arcades and pinball to reach younger crowds. It was an exciting time. 

South Portage Avenue remained a vibrant shopping experiences through the 1970s and 1980s. Eaton's and the Bay were full and the various movie theatres brought people downtown on evenings and weekends. It wasn't all good though. Retail on the northside of Portage increasingly was closing or burning. A few sections burned down and then...nothing. Just another broken tooth on Portage. There were some bright spots to be sure. The Free Press offices on Carlton. Retail and bars including Stage West Dinner Theatre on Kennedy. For a time in Winnipeg Hydro and Winnipeg Library had branched right on Portage. However, the Mall Hotel and bus station routinely brought some of the roughest characters in town to the area.

By the early 1980s, south Portage was strong on retail while the north side suffered. An adult movie theatre in the middle of it seemed to be the exclamation point on the difference between one side of the street.

However, this brought opportunities for businesses like arcades to get what once was prime spots for affordable rent. There were a number of arcades that opened as a result. It probably came as no surprise when a pinball and video arcade opened in the 1980s at Portage and Carlton featuring a pirate and called Long John's Silvers. Other places with Las Vegas-like names opened as well inside some of the news stores like Solar News and Dominion News. Circus Circus was inside Solar News.

For young people, the arcades were connected to coming downtown to see movies and go to music stores. While some neighbourhoods had nearby movie theatres, the biggest screens and choices were downtown. In the 1970s through till the 1990s there was a good number of music stores because they too found it affordable to rent space downtown. Long John Silvers, Dynamite, Circus Circus, KK Amusements, ATS, Magic Land at Langside, Circus on Donald, Saratoga Lanes at Donald, Dr. Q's, Mother's Records - Games on the Avenue sprang up so that by 1985, it was an entertainment mecca.

So much was happening everywhere all at once. Video rental stores were opening everywhere as well so that the city by the 1980s had 250 stores. The gaming systems for homes were updating all the time but they were not as exciting as what was in the arcades. No cell phones at the time and no Internet meant that young people had to meet to see each other. And while malls exploded in the 1980s, movies, music and arcades and a still resilient retail trade all existed in downtown Winnipeg and the streets were busy.

In Winnipeg, some suburbs only got their malls by 1977-1979 or so such as Forest Park Mall, St. Vital, Kildonan and Unicity. Arcades started to come to even to the smallest malls such as Forest Park Mall in Charleswood where Magic Mike's was. It must have gone up after the 1977 construction. As mentioned, Eaton Centre 

Grant Park Mall had Pirate's Den till 1989 when it closed due to renovations. KK Amusements was in Eaton Place after 1979. ATS was in Winnipeg Square after 1979 as well. Kildonan Mall had a few arcades with Phantom Amusements being one of them. Across from Kildonan was Syd's Carousel. Garden City Mall had Excalibur. Laser Solutions was at Polo Park. There was a Playland (Grand Marais) in the mall where Best Buy was. Also on Pembina was 

It is likely I have forgotten one of the places in the city. I left out Rucker's and Chuck-E-Cheese. There has been a recent resurgence of retro game places which is great but young people are more likely to go to places that are interactive gaming or tournaments. The heyday of multiple arcades downtown is not likely to come back but we are seeing some retro places go up. And that is okay by me.