Show your arcade game token collection thread...

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Here's my own personal collection of arcade tokens from various arcades & other business establishments over the years (even includes a single Japanese 100 yen coin for size comparision as well):

http://img269.imageshack.us/i/img1378di.jpg/ (presented in med res)

http://img851.imageshack.us/f/img1379.jpg/ (presented in high res)

The arcade tokens of Tilt! & Regency Game Palace are from arcades that have long since closed their doors in the Modesto, CA area. Goes to show that they did, indeed, exist at one time. The Golfland token is from the defunct Golfland arcade based out of Stockton, CA.

It's sad to learn that more and more American arcades are resorting to using those debit card systems in lieu of using quarters or tokens -- sign of the times that the remaining arcades across the USA are changing. Considering that I'm from the old-school arcade gamer era of the early 1980s, there's a certain charm about collecting various arcade game tokens from other places. Some the miscelleanous arcade tokens that you see, I've never set foot inside the actual arcade & don't know if they still exist today. But one thing is certain, they did exist at one time, perhaps in another era/decade.

It's been said that back in 1982, there were 22,000 arcades spread across the USA. Nowdays, that number is less than a 1,000 and shrinking daily. Makes me wonder if the glory days of the American arcades in their prime of the early 1980s will ever return? The truth is, a resounding no...but the fond memories live on. Was it a fad? You betcha, it was a fad.

There was the fine art of "jamming" that came into play in the early 1980s for the arcade scene -- where you would place a token (or quarter) on the cabinet's marquee to denote you're next in line if another player was currently playing (or a more polite way of "reserving your turn"). It was common to see lines of quarters (or tokens) at various arcades back in the early '80s, this was most obvious with the latest/newest arcade games being brought in on a weekly basis. Eventually, jamming became a lost art in the 1990s as some teens thought that it was cool to steal your quarters/tokens if lined up (this happened to me more than once at various arcades in the '90s). The Golden Rule of "Jamming" was: Never touch somebody else's quarters/tokens if lined up or else!

The various casino resorts arcade tokens are from the Reno, NV area & Boomtown, NV are included for posterity.

The promotional arcade tokens featuring the California Extreme logo with the cool Space Invaders motif are cool tokens worth owning -- CAX staff used to hand them out to interested CAX attendees over the years. They don't do so anymore.

Please feel free to share your own personal arcade game token collection...

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[antron]

not my picture but I picked up two just like these from Disney's California Adventure park in LA:

[undamned]

That's way cool, PCFX! Sure makes me wish I'd held onto one of each token from every arcade I've been to! Then again, when you are a kid, THAT'S 25 CENTS!!!
-ud

[MR_Soren]

I wish I could contribute, but most of the arcades where I live closed about 20 years ago and all of the local arcades just ran on quarters.

Cool images though! Reminds me of how much I miss the old days.

[drunkninja24]

Cool, the only arcade tokens I have are from Arcade Infinity (RIP) when I went there 2 years ago.

[xris]

Behold the super low quality of the camera on my cell phone!

The arcade specific tokens I have, nothing special, mostly ones with Pac-Man on them. The one in the top left is really cool, it's a skull and cross bones that say "Crack Kills! Say no to drugs!"
One from the MGM Grand in Vegas with a lion on it.

The one with the boobies is really from a coin operated porno video booth! It's huge!

A pile of random tokens, mardi gras plastic coins, foreign currency, flattened pennies from vacation spots, and some wheat pennies. There's also a full set of those zodiac coins with sexual positions on the back in there!
I actually have a decent coin collection, and allot of paper money as well, and allot of war time occupation currency from several countries. I mostly just collect US currency, with a focus of getting one of each coin they have made for circulation.

[Vyxx]

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hell yea canadian toonie