Customer Reviews

Arcade One: Illustrated Historical Guide to Arcade Machines

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This book will be a revelation to modern arcade-goers. It looks back over a century, to an era long before Space Invaders or Mortal Kombat, to when arcade amusements were incredibly simple, barely interactive, and utterly charming. This is a book for collectors of truly antique arcade machines, so if you're looking for much on pinballs or video games, this isn't the title for you. But it does a great job of examing the machines the penny arcades were built on, like strength testers, fortune tellers, and peep shows. The author has turned up some fascinating material on the subject, like contemporary brochures and patent drawings, and the whole thing gives a sense of the flavor and feeling of a bygone period. Aimed more at serious collectors than casual browsers, this is a useful reference on a little-documented subject. Only the sometimes-grainy B&W photgraphy and the author's occasional bouts of social or political commentary detract slightly.