Reader Discussion: Do You Have Any Arcade Memories?

As gaming gets older and the players get younger, fewer have nostalgia for arcades. Do you have memories of video games' original platform?

I have a few memories of traveling to arcades and playing arcade cabinets. I recall my brother and I attending a friend's party and using all of our tokens on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cabinet. I also recall dropping about $20 worth of tokens into the Star Wars Trilogy arcade machine (I eventually beat it). I also dragged my college roommates to a Chuck E. Cheese's when I found out they had a Mario Kart arcade cabinet. Perhaps my favorite memory, however, is from a small convenience store near my house that my parents would send my brother and I too every Sunday to pick them up a newspaper. It had a Killer Instinct cabinet, and though I never got particularly good at the game, I played the hell out of it.

What about you? Do you have any arcade memories? Do you wish arcades would make a return in popularity? Or are you happy to contain all of your gaming in your home?