Have any plans today? Then keep scrolling, because Laura June’s extensive piece on the rise and fall of the arcade will have you wading through a swamp of nostalgia so vast that it may take days to reach the other side. If you’re too young to remember the glory days of arcades, you’ll probably be frightened and confused by the tales of dark rooms, greasy tokens and giant bleeping boxes overseen by sweaty men with aprons full of change. The most disturbing revelation: that Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari and creator of arcade smash Pong, also owns Chuck E. Cheese.
For Amusement Only: The Life and Death of the American Arcade
