Something about seeing arcade games in another language/culture just seems way too foreign. Almost alien.

When I was a kid, my father and my uncle had a side business buying arcade games and putting them in laundry mats, pizza parlors etc (yes, back then we called them pizza parlors).

When the games were either without a home, broken or simply out-dated, they would end up in either our basement or my uncles. Here are some of the games that I grew up with having in our basement at one time or another:

Mach 3:

Dragons Lair:

Charlies Angels

Pac Man:

and my personal favorite...

Asteroids:

We had a number of these games, a pool table and a ping pong table at one point. -This makes my upbringing sound way more privileged than it was, keep in mind that my dad was making less money when these things were in our house and more when they were in a retail location.

One time I got in trouble because a neighborhood boy's mom called my parents all upset because she felt I had swindled him out of his allowance. I decided to start charging a $5 admission to my basement to play the games. -All access pass, with complimentary soft-drinks. I made over $20 that day as a 12 year old. -That was a lot of money back then. -My dad pretended to be upset with me, but really.... I could tell her was proud.

Anyways, thanks for the walk down memory lane that your soviet arcade machines sparked.