(Thanks to Kevin Williams of 
for the tip on the pictures)
It’s been a little while since we’ve come across some photos archiving the arcade culture of the early 80s, one of the more recent stories came from last year with a published collection on Flickr showing such times. Now the Stanford University Library in California has some arcade history to look up as a part of their continued efforts to collect data on video game history, thanks to a collection of 650 photographs of various Bay Area Arcades in 1981-82 by photographer Ira Nowinski. Not much has been published digitally so far – some black & white shots from some different arcade settings but even with a small percentage of the 650 to view online, the pictures offer a great window into the past. One I find particularly interesting is an arcade that had a substantial cocktail cabinet area. There are a few more that you can check out at the source article at EDGE Magazine.
On the subject of Arcade History, there is a new blog covering just that very subject. Keith Smith is researching arcade history for a new book and is sharing that research on his blog. There are some very interesting things to see on there, from some pinball machines that used monitors to unique prototypes. Check it out at http://allincolorforaquarter.blogspot.com/
