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Just as quickly, a growing number of companies - mostly in the US and Japan - began producing new games, paving the way for what would come to be known as the “golden age” of arcades. In 1971, a space combat video game called “Computer Space” became the first commercially sold, coin-operated arcade game released in the country, setting the foundation for a new industry that would revolutionize not just the arcade, but gaming culture and the very notion of American youth.Īlmost overnight, arcades became go-to hangouts and strip mall staples. But it was during the 1970s that the arcade as we know it today sealed its place in our collective culture thanks to a new type of attraction: the video game. The development of electro-mechanical games (EM games), like Sega’s “Periscope” (1966) and Chicago Coin’s “Speedway” (1969), helped redefine arcade games as ones of skill, not chance.

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Three years later, New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia implemented a series of Prohibition-style raids on illegal pinball parlors and a city-wide ban that remained in effect until 1976 (California’s was overturned in 1974). officials outlawed the devices and proceeded to confiscate and destroy them. Gamers pictured in the arcade at Dave & Buster's in Hollywood.

By the end of that decade, however, pinball machines were being banned across the country because they were deemed to be games of chance and considered a form of gambling. In the 1930s, the introduction of the pinball saw it eclipse other games, captivating audiences like never before. A mix of dreamy atmospheres and loneliness, too.”Īrcades emerged in the US in the early 1900s - though back then they were called amusement arcades, or penny arcades, with coin-operated games like strength-testers, slot machines and racing games providing much of the entertainment. I found the variety a never-ending source of inspiration. (But I also encountered) kids’ arcades and chill spaces right by the beach. “There would be spots in the deserts, where only serious gamers would go, and venues that doubled up as bars and had more of a relaxed weekend vibe. “Each parlor had a very different vibe, which I found interesting,” he said. Tetris: The Soviet ‘mind game’ that took over the world “I’ve long been fascinated with those spaces, and I thought capturing them on camera would help me dig deeper into their world in a way that would feel timeless.” Shot largely in 2019, though not published until now because of the pandemic, Bohbot’s new book “Back to the Arcade” brings together almost 150 of his photographs from Los Angeles and southern California - a project intended to “document arcade culture and the escapism it provides,” Bohbot explained. “That’s the power of the arcade,” Bohbot said in a phone interview. One minute you’re in the 1980s, the next in the present day. Elsewhere, classic pinball machines stand alongside shiny, ultra-modern consoles mid-game action shots follow images of eerily empty arcades.

In one, a dark, cavernous venue is lit up by the screens of retro games like “Terminator 2” and “ Pac-man.” Another shows futuristic beams of neon light shooting past players in VR headsets as they fight off unseen enemies. Flipping through Franck Bohbot’s photos of Californian arcades is like stepping into a time machine.