Arcades,Histories,Photographs

ArcadesHistoriesPhotographs

great britain...

the countyof kent...

the unesco world heritage siteand university city of canterbury,

with its cathedral, founded in 597 ad...

home tocanterbury

christ churchuniversity...

and todr alan meades

hello andwelcome to

arcade tales 4...

Arcades,histories,

photographs.

YOU LOSEYOU LOSEYOU LOSE

LET ME JUSTBEAT RYU ANDI’LL BE rightWITH YOU...

or getBEATenby RYU.

ahhh... no... come on,

come on, come on!Ahhh...

no, no, no...

damn.

my name isAlan meades, I’m aplay researcher and

arcade talesis my project.

in this issue I want totalk about the george wilson

archive of arcade photography,and the reasoning behind

arcade tales... have youseen the otherArcade tales

comics?

beaten...by ryu?

but first,let’s think a little

about arcade historyand the background

to arcade tales...

when we think aboutarcades it’s normal to

focus on japanand amercia...

these werethe countries where

arcade machines were mostlyproduced, and as a result

arcades became visibleand sociallyimportant...

we’re now starting tosee researchers explorearcade and video game

histories...

but they tend to belimited to those american

perspectives.

but the american arcade experience was

the product of some veryspecific circumstances,and quite different to

elsewhere in theworld...

that’s fineof course, I’m all

for any discussion ofplay cultures...

in 1942, me, new york mayorfiorello la guardia took action

against the mob by banning pinballmachines from the city altogether.

los angeles and chicagothen did the same.

concerns validated when us surgeon general

c everett koop was reportedto have said...

america saw the mostpronounced expansion of

arcade video game visibility following their invention in the1970s. their sudden presence, inshops, malls and arcades, was

tainted by deep-runningnegative associations

and distrust...

during the 1920sprohibition era gangsters

installed coin-operated games,including pinballs in their illegalbars. they amassed huge numbersof pinball machines that remained

profitable long afterprohibition ended...

the public thenassociated gaming

with organised crimeand moral decline...

let’s dumpthis trash in the

river boys!

even though theyarrived after the pinball bans

had been lifted, concerned membersof the public, like mrs ronnie lamm,called for restrictions on videogames and arcades. the fears?moral decline, delinquency,

drug abuse, crime...

blipbloop

blipbloop

bloop

blipbloop

blip

blip

bloop

but it’s importantto phone home and remember

that even though the crashes werecatastrophic in north america, other

places such as the uk, hardlyeven noticed them at all.lots of which

ended up in in a certainlandfill in alamogordo,

new mexico.

america is home to manyof the individuals and companies

that created the video game industry.people such as ME, nolan bushnell,naturally I’m proud of what we all

achieved, and want to have itrecorded correctly.

this history isalso a product of specificcommercial contexts.

and it’s only naturalthat american histories turn

to the creators and the machinesthat they invented. those are reallyimportant stories... they’re just

not the only importantstories...

the home crash was theproduct of similar circumstance:

a glut of poor-quality games saton shelves and reduced consumerconfidence. games like pac-man

and e.t. for the atari 2600.

american historiesare also deeply scarred by

memory of the arcade crashof 1982 and the home videogame crash that followed

a year later...

the bottom line isthat because of expansion

there were too many arcades,too many video games, and

too few customers togenerate turnover...

The presence of youngerkids and adults made these spaces

Unpalatable to all but the mostPatient adolescent arcade goers.

and gradually the number ofarcades dwindled and with

it public concern.

these photographstend to consist of occasionalparty snaps, and even screen

grabs from films. they tapinto an undercurrent

of nostalgia.

so they diversified...

many became family entertainment centers

like nolan bushnell’s chuck e.cheese’s pizza time theatre...

in family entertainment centersvideo games were seen as part of the

Entertainment mix alongside soft-play areas, food courts and children’s parties.

many also often adopted a strict policyof no unaccompanied minors...

many felt the crashes marked thedeath of the video game craze,and for a few years afterwards

there was little appetite forcreating hardware or software...

this began to change after thenintendo entertainment system wasreleased in 1985, with its seal of quality

assurance and platform controls...

these prevented oversupplyand maintained profitability...

and ushered in ashift towards thejuvenilization ofvideo game play.

and now many people fondly recalltheir arcade experiences, bothbefore and after the crashes...

due to their relative scarcitypeople CHERiSH photographs ofarcades, sharing and celebrating

them online in groups like...

flikr’sgrowing up inthe arcades

1979-89.

let’s not forget aboutthe concerned parents,

kids! American arcades hadit tough, regulation on one

side and falling profitson the other...

while nostalgic websitesof party snaps are great,stanford university

has a far more useful andinteresting resource...

the bay area arcadesphotographs by renowned

photographer ira nowinski.

while a lot of thecontent in nowinski’s photographsis familiar to someone from the uk,there’s something slightly foreign,

slightly out of of placeto it...

I’m thrilled to announcethat canterbury christ church university

has acquired the george wilson archiveof arcade photography. an archive in

many ways comparable to stanford’sira nowinski collection, but from

a british perspective.

this collection,acquired by the university in 2011,

is considered the largest and mostcoherent collection of arcade

photography in the world.it contains over

600 images, from californianarcades in 1981 and 1982 - a true

glimpse into the arcades before thecrash. nowinski’s photographs arean important social document,

and wonderful images intheir own right...

while this is all great,stanford university

has an even moreimportant resource...

the bay area arcadesphotographs by renowned

photographer ira nowinski

George Wilson’sArchive of arcade photography

invites us to change the focusof discussion of arcade history

from America...

and what abouta history of japanese

arcades, or those fromother countries? we

know so littleabout them.

I hope my versionof american arcadeHistory wasn’t toosimplified... it’s justa sketch after all...

ok, so... the UK is asmall country with a fairly large

population. in the mid 1800s during theindustrial revolution the populationshifted, concentrating around the major

cities, such as london, manchester,and birmingham. people worked in the

dirty cities and sought escape inthe great outdoors...

but importantly,nowhere in the UK is more

than 70 miles from the coast. as working city populations demandedplaces to relax and unwind away from

the smog and nose of the city,seaside holiday resorts

became popular.

nothingunusual there

then...

places such as margate,blackpool, eastbourne, skegness,

and herne bay became places for leisure,entertainment, and license. part of this

pleasure was the availability of coin-operated amusements

suddenly availableto the masses.

I’ll playas KEN, that’ll

do it!

blackpool

skegness

manchester

birmingham

london

herne bay

margate

eastbourne

to the UKand a history so much

more familiar to me.

while this is all great,stanford university

has an even moreimportant resource...

this was leisure on an industrialised Victorianscale, where technology was central to the

experience. one resort, ramsgate, built a trainstation directly on the edge of the sands...

hundreds of thousands ofholidaymakers stepped straightonto the promenade lined with

arcades and amusements.

as the transport infrastructureimproved and people became moreaccustomed to holidaying by thesea the resorts expanded and the

arcades became highlycompetitive and lucrative...

the arcades with the most compellingand advanced entertainments got the

largest crowds and the most income...

whether it was a peek atwhat the butler saw

on a mutoscope...

spinning a ball-bearing around anallwin gambling

machine...

playing apinball...

or a game ofms pac-man.

the arrival of video games wasjust part of the 150 year-old

story of technological amusements.new machines simply joined those

that had come before...

while some video game onlyarcades did appear the largestand most resilient arcades were

still those found by the sea.

and they adopted a seasonalarms-war, as each strove to

install the latest novelcoin-operated technologies.

the relationship between technologyand leisure isn’t unique to the UKof course, it is just that arcades

introduced video games more slowlythan in some places elsewhere...

and that video games thensat alongside other well

established practices andcultural peculiarities...

that are rarely, if at all discussed, such as the historic acceptance ofgambling, including penny falls,

and fruit machines...

the presence of low-stakes gamblingmachines is critical in understanding thesocial dynamics of the British arcade...

and links with attitudesof permissive license thatharks back to the summer

holiday. let’s make it clear...

in the British arcade itwas entirely normal forchildren to be seen using

gambling machines.

low-stakes gambling wasever present in the

arcade, it became part ofits social fabric...

and an unexpected jackpotmight radically alter the path

of a whole day or weekend.

.

as a kid I would oftenponder whether to spend

my last money on a video gameor to gamble it in a fruitie.

if it ‘paid out’ I couldthen keep playing

for longer...

and as I wassurrounded by otherkids making the same

choices I soon learned themost reliable machinesfor return. we developed

a group knowledge...

and an uneasyculture of competition and

cooperation as we each stroveto maximise our winnings. we

were sometimes incompetition with

each other...

but alwaysin competition with

the arcade!

.

and who couldblame them! where’s

my sangria?

like their us counterpartsBritish arcades had their own

challenges to deal with...

as a result of their seaside location,when foreign package holidaysbecame affordable the old resortsquietened and arcade profits fell....

in addition the UK had a vibranthome computer scene with

the BBC micro and thesinclair zx spectrum...

these were promoted by the BBC and inschools for their educational potential...

but there were alsolots of video gamesavailable for them!

like themanic minerwho became

jet set willy!

these must havecompeted withthe arcade onsome level...

but the arcade was rarelywholly focused on video gamesand so was rather resilient...

tastes had changed before, and they’d change again.the arcade just continued to offer something

different, something unavailable elsewhere...

that money got spenton the costa brava!

BORING!

in addition to the machinesand the games, arcades were

liberal spaces for adolescentsto hang around (and smoke) in...

an experience pretty muchuncontested until the

rise of 16-bit computersand consoles like the

super Nintendoentertainment system...

and then the arcade video games nolonger felt quite so compelling.

they were free from thejudgemental gaze

of adults and parents...

but still under the detached protection of arcade workers who maintained order...

and the arcade didthis with aplomb!

perhaps bestexpressed in kids TV show

grange hill, and its storylineabout poor old zammo, whogot hooked on heroin after

getting involved with anarcade gang!

and the momentyour parents casuallyasked if a gang had everapproached you when

playing dig-dug...

of course not!instead for many people,

myself included, the arcadewas a pretty blissful placeto play new technology,

meet friends, andavoid adults.

the snes had agreat conversion ofstreet fighter 2.

I played itso much over

Christmas 1992that my thumb

bled.

people alsoregarded British

arcades with some disdain,but nowhere like the level

as their Americancounterparts...

YOU LOSEYOU LOSEYOU LOSE

they simplycontinued giving the public

something new, and although thenumber of arcades has reduced,

they still do that to this day.that’s pretty much the potted

history of the UKarcade...

they simplycontinued giving the public

something new, and although thenumber of arcades has reduced,

they still do that to this day.that’s pretty much the potted

history of the UKarcade...

who is collectingour history?

who is collectingour history?

up until now,pretty much

nobody.

up until now,pretty much

nobody.

sure, we’ve preserved themachines and the games, butwhat about the players?what about the workers?

what about their histories?

sure, we’ve preserved themachines and the games, butwhat about the players?what about the workers?

what about their histories?

shall I continue?shall I continue?

well, arcade tales is a projectto do precisely that...

well, arcade tales is a projectto do precisely that...

and that’snot right,is it... uh?

and that’snot right,is it... uh?

once the snes camealong arcades adapted,

they embraced dancing games,shooting games, largedriving cabs, and then

ticket redemptionmachines...

once the snes camealong arcades adapted,

they embraced dancing games,shooting games, largedriving cabs, and then

ticket redemptionmachines...

Hey! but hang on! this is turning into one of those

stories about machines and industry!What about a story, about the

players and their play!

Hey! but hang on! this is turning into one of those

stories about machines and industry!What about a story, about the

players and their play!

beaten by balrog?

OK, so let’s take a look at

the uk...

to the south-eastcoast, sixty miles

from london...

about ten miles westalong the coast frommy home town is thewonderful seaside

resort of herne bay.

herne bay is a victorian resort built along a promenadespanning its long shingle beach. this is known as the front...

the front is full of shops, restaurants, andamusements, including a number of arcades.

some of the arcades, such as cain’s amusementshave been owned by the same families for decades.

shaun vincentgrew up in herne bay

and has fond memoriesof the front...

slightly pinball obsessed, I metshaun as he completed his degree inphotography. shaun’s final projectwas about pinball collectors...

he knew all aboutarcade tales!

herne bay

broadstairs

shaun is good friends withscott turner, the generalmanager of cain’s arcade...

one day shaun and scott were talkingabout arcades and photography...

george wilson, hadbeen photographing

herne bay for decades...

and that’s what shaun did...

using his camera to documentthe place, events, and people.

and when shaun sawthe photographs

he was amazed. theywere showing things

you so rarely see.

you know shaun,you should really

talk with george, he’salways taking photos

of herne bay

I did take a few,let me dig some outfor you to take a

look at.

and heused to work

in the arcade backin the 1980s!

that’s reallyinteresting george.

I was wondering though,did you ever take any

photographs inthe arcades?

dr karen shepherdson, director ofthe south east archive of seasidephotography (SEAS) also agreed...

and SEAS paid for shaun toscan, review, and organise,

george’s photographs.

shaun returned to seegeorge and collecteda stack of negativesand contact sheets...

I was amazed too!

at this stagewe had no idea what

other images george’sarchive would

contain.

these remindme of nowinski’sawesome work!

when shaunwas finished we

were thrilled bywhat we saw...

when shaunwas finished we

were thrilled bywhat we saw...

on the left,an image from stanford

university’s ira nowinskibay area arcades

collection...

on the left,an image from stanford

university’s ira nowinskibay area arcades

collection...

and on the right,one of george wilson’s

uk herne bay arcadephotographs.

and on the right,one of george wilson’s

uk herne bay arcadephotographs.

there were over 480photographs from herne bay

arcades a few from elsewhere inthe uk, taken in 1981 to 1983.

there were over 480photographs from herne bay

arcades a few from elsewhere inthe uk, taken in 1981 to 1983.

shaun, do yourealise how important

these images are?

shaun, do yourealise how important

these images are?

yes alan, yesI think I do!yes alan, yesI think I do!

but no suprise, george isa serious photographer...

he had studied atnewport collegeof art under the

tutelage of magnumphotographerdavid hurn...

founder of the school ofdocumentary photography,one of the finest photography

programmes in the world.

when george finished his studieshe moved to canterbury with his

wife, but herne bay called...

we didn’t have anymoney, neither of us had a job,

I was walking down the seafrontone day and I saw an advert

for bingo callers atCain’s arcade.

I hated Canterbury,it was so dead at night, likea ghost town. so we decided

to move to Herne Bay...

george applied for the joband Met with David Cain...

andthat’s how it

started!

I was justpractising really,

practising to begood, haha!

yes,I’ll giveyou a go.

the thing is... you do atwo year course in photography,

you think you're a photographer but you're not.You're rubbish. you've got no idea really, have you? I used to work in the arcade, I wasn’t supposed to

be taking photographs, so I used to take mycamera down sneakily, and take a

few photographs. That’sit really.

I think photography isat its best when it’s recording,

you know, when it’s a record of something.I don’t like art photography, I think photographydoes one thing really well, recording an event.

And that’s what I did really, I didn’t think thatthe photographs would be used or have

any future, it was just what Idid at the time.

I think it would beimpossible to make this

work now because they’d justthrow you out. But they couldn’t

throw me out ‘cos I used towork there, that’s the

advantage, HAHA!

what wouldyou see?

prompting us tothink of the differencesand similarities between

play cultures.

when we look at themthey offer a different yet

complementary perspective toira nowinski’s work...

we’re indebted to georgefor making his photographs available.

The fact is that images of britisharcades are so rarely seen...

especially with such acoherent voice and dedicationto documentary photography. so, let’s take a visit

to the british seaside arcadesof the early 1980s. as seen by

george wilson!

in july 2016 georgedeposited his photographsinto the SEAS archive...

so that they couldbe made available as partof the photographic

record of britishseaside culture.

imagine You’ve justleaned your BMX up against the wall,

walked past the teenage mods sittingoutside on their scooters, strolled

past the double bubble gummachine and into herne bay’s

fair ground arcade...

tomorrow’s worldthis really did representa point where tomorrow’s

world of technologywas suddenly available

to the masses...and a point where

analogue and digitalgames sat - often uneasily -

besides one another...

we see the presence ofgambling machines...

we see arcade workers,managers and operators- custodians of the arcade -

let’s not underestimatetheir influence on

the arcade...

and we see kids justhanging around the

arcades, watchingother people play andhelping the managers

with various tasks.

we can interrogate these images to learnabout the uk arcades in the early 1980s...

we see the centrality of gambling within the arcade - and the spectatorshipof gambling (and other play). we see groups and gangs of children and

adolescents, note the crowd in the back at the change booth.

arcades were often spaces foradolescent posturing,*

there’d be lots of smoking...

hard glances,threatening stares,and pecking orders

to be observed...

these were quite relative,and often dependent on age...

there’d be ownershipof space. leaning on

machines and loitering...

and not to mention nudges,tricks and cheats to getmoney out of machines...

it was a space youcould grow up in.

*growing up with an older sisterwho also hung around the arcades,

I know that girls did all thisjust as much as the boys.

they were places to go to, to watch and be seen, even long after you’d run out of money.

they were about the games, about technology, about the excitement of a fruit machine jackpot.

...or a place to have a cup of tea, spend time with friends and win big on the bingo.

Oh it’d be impossible [to make this body of work now]... because they’d just throw you out. But they couldn’t throw me out ‘cos Iused to work there, that’s the advantage (laughs).

george is much morecircumspect aboutthe significance ofarcades than I am...

so the arcades were never only about thegames, never really about the prizes, they were

about the people that spent time in them...

who owned and worked in them...

who valued them as spaces for play...

it was always the peoplethat mattered most...

and it is those people’s storiesthat still need to be told tocapture a history of the arcade.

Look at the tat!All the rubbish they used

to play the bingo for, all the cuddly toys,and food, and knick-knacks, and odd items!

They’d play for a whole afternoon thengo and pick up a tin of corned beef.

it was Ludicrous really.

I don’t think arcadeswere particularly important at all really.

I think they were just a haven for young people.Young people used to go in there, they used to meet,

have a cup of tea, coffee, and play the machines. And of course the holiday visitors, what few visitors

we used to have to Herne Bay in those days, usedto go and play in there as well. But thebiggest part about the arcade was the

bingo, that was the lifebloodof the arcade.

so, there wehave it, we’ve had a glimpse

into the british arcades of theearly 1980s. it’s just a taster

though, there are many morephotographs in george’s

collection...

and the reasons thatI’m doing arcade tales

as a project.

I hope that youcan see that arcades are

far more important thanthe games they contain.

and I think we canall understand

that...

no matter wherewe come from.

that even in thebleak cold of a britishwinter arcades remained

a beacon - places not justabout games and playbut for people andfor community...

so, do please get in touch on:

alan.meades@canterbury.ac.uk

we’ve heard a bitabout the similarities and

differences between the waysthat arcades were perceived

in different countries...

I hope you’ve found thisissue of arcade tales interesting,

if you have please do get in touch. We’rekeen to connect with people from around

the world to continue to explore thesocial history of the arcade...

www.arcadetales.com

we believe that it’stime to develop an international

arcade research network, somethingI hope to be able to tell youabout in a future edition of

arcade tales!

and remember...these are your tales,

your arcades,our history!

huge thanks to georgewilson, ira nowinski &

stanford university foruse of bay area arcades

photographs P7.

thanks to the awesomeshaun vincent

and scott turner.

supported byseas photography, cccurke funding, and schoolof media, art, and design.

art: john howard.art, colour, text: alan meadescomic copyright © 2017 Alan Meades, photographs p20-28 copyright © 2017 george wilson.www.arcadetales.com www.canterbury.ac.uk