Just a warning. Brace yourself if you going to look at this collection, everyone of the cabinets seems to be in amazing condition. It’s almost to much for me!
The Washington Post has a neat little article on Peter Hirschberg, a Linden, VA guy who has made a hobby out of restoring old arcade games. Hirschberg recently completed building his own personal arcade, dubbed “Luna City Arcade,” filled with 65 restored arcade classics. It’s a private collection, but Hirschberg seems happy to show it off within reason:
For Hirschberg, the arcade is a labor of love, not a business. There are change machines on either end of the arcade that freely spit out quarters at the touch of a button — Hirschberg doesn’t ask his guests to spend their own money to play. The arcade is illuminated with blacklights, all the better to light up the space-themed carpet. To complete the scene, his personal soundtrack of 1980-era rock tunes by Foreigner and Journey play on the stereo.
A complete list of his arcade games and other stuff can be found at his website.
Pete is the epitome of a kid who never grew up; but at the same time has an adult career that pays some great scratch that allows him to continue to live out his childhood. It’s been years since he and I talked (we were both on the Retrocade team), but I’m happy to see that he hasn’t changed a bit, and that he could take it to an even higher level. I gotta get down there sometime!
It’s every 35-40 year old classic gamer’s dream to own an arcade, and only a few of us crazy ones (like me and you business wise, and Pete, at home) actually do it. Although mine failed, I still fulfilled a dream that I had since I was a child. I hope yours is successful. Good luck!!