While the arcade industry has slumped somewhat since the dizzying successes it enjoyed during its peak in the 1980s and 90s, it is still a global business that continues to capture the imaginations of audiences thanks to its eye-catching entertainment innovations.
Arcade machines themselves are an intriguing example of a technology that is a lot older that many people might think, so here is a look at how the hardware involved in land-based arcade equipment has evolved over the centuries.
Early examples
While arcade games may be entirely digital in the 21st century, looking back to their origins in the 19th century reveals an era when purely mechanical machines were necessarily the norm.
It was not until the development of coin-operated vending machines that the technology emerged to allow equivalent arcade games to hit the market, initially appearing at fairs and holiday resorts in the US and Europe in the late 1800s.
By the beginning of the 20th century, penny arcades had gained traction, costing just a penny to play and often simply requiring that the user was a passive participant in the experience rather than taking an active role in ‘playing’, such as mutoscope.
Changing tastes
The 1920s brought about the dawn of the cinematic age, at which point the older penny arcades were rendered obsolete. This forced arcade owners to push for innovations that actively involved people, while still remaining comparatively simple from a mechanical perspective.
Balls played a big part in this revolution, with baffle ball and skeeball gaining traction in the US, while in Japan, pachinko machines hit big with audiences. The enduring appeal of these is clear since a pachinko parlor is one of Japan’s trademarks to this day.
This also introduced the element of gambling alongside arcade machine experiences, which would eventually bring some in line with slot machines regarding the gameplay and prizes offered.
Pinball domination
The 1930s saw the emergence of early pinball machines, which adopted the ball theme from other popular arcade games but chose a tabletop-style layout rather than a vertical orientation.
As with the other ball-based games, there were concerns that these were purely forms of gambling, and so bans were introduced in many parts of the world.
This did not stop their popularity from exploding, and the eventual introduction of player-controlled paddles helped to remove the gambling stigma from pinball games, instead repositioning them as more reliant on player skill.
The electro-mechanical era
From the 1940s onwards, the modern arcade era can be said to have begun with the introduction of the first electromechanical machines, which combined mechanical and electrical components to focus on skill-based play.
The games themselves were still played out entirely in the physical realm since the technology for television-focused interactivity was not yet in place.
It was not until the 1960s that Japanese developers Sega and Namco pushed the envelope further with the release of light gun arcade games, adding a new element to the traditional experience, which helped to overcome the stagnation that the industry had suffered up until that point.
The video game arcade revival
Arcade gaming as we know it today is arguably associated directly with the release of Pong as an arcade cabinet back in 1972. Developer Atari managed to create a critical mass of momentum behind video game arcade experiences that it had not found with a couple of earlier efforts just one year prior.
By the late 1970s, iconic classics like Space Invaders became global phenomena. Pac-Man’s arrival in 1980 would set off a full decade of insane growth for this once relatively niche industry.
The 1990s arrived, and while the rise of home console ownership was starting to impact the popularity of arcades, there was still room for behemoths like Mortal Kombat to emerge.
Indeed, at this point, arcade machines were far more graphically capable than their living room counterparts, meaning that kids still had a reason to go to the arcade even if they owned the game at home.
The decline to specialist concern
Despite blossoming at several points in the past 150 years, arcade machines have returned to being a niche amusement experience, surviving far better in the East than in Western nations.
This means that even as the technology behind the machines has migrated to be predominantly digital, there are still legions of fans who are happy to pay to play older mechanical games, helping preserve them for future generations.
