Childhood memories of game-room heaven abound

VIRGINIA BEACH

I was hooked the moment I saw Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde.

Those were the names of four feverish ghosts that chased Pac-Man through a video-game maze inside Galaxy Game Room, which later became Lynnhaven Dive Center on Great Neck Road.

My dates are fuzzy, but I suspect the Galaxy opened in the late 1970s from the remnants of an office building that had a high-pitched roof.

The inside of the place smelled like fresh particleboard and television tubes. A wall of electronic sounds hit you as you walked in the door. Who could forget Pac-Man’s “waka-waka” chomping sound, or the sharp, wooden knock you’d hear when you won a free pinball game for a high score?

The hippie chick who managed Galaxy told me the game room kept kids off drugs and out of gangs. I spent a lot of time gobbling video ghosts instead of playing outside, but at least I got exercise riding my bike to get there and back.

While games like Asteroids and Space Invaders started my video-game cravings, it was Pac-Man – with his insatiable appetite for scattered pellets – that turned me into a hard-core Atari addict.

On Facebook recently, I came across Galaxy fan Jay Glaser, who grew up near Shore Drive.

“Every time I drive past the Lynnhaven Dive Center, it takes me back there a bit,” Glaser wrote. Black lights made the interior glow, along with any white on your clothing.

Music played in the background, “but low enough that you could still hear the warping of the spaceship in Defender or the wilting of Ms. Pac-Man when she encountered a ghost,” Glaser recalled.

I recently posted some Pac-Man memories on Facebook, and I found plenty of other people who remember playing at game rooms across Virginia Beach – including Annie Oakley’s on Shore Drive, Aladdin’s Castle in Lynnhaven Mall and Space Port in Pembroke Mall.

Here’s a sampling:

Kathleen Smith  I remember playing video games at Annie Oakley’s, which was next to Dairy Queen that was in the Farm Fresh shopping center near Lynnhaven Mall. I liked it better than Aladdin’s Castle at Lynnhaven Mall. I remember playing Galaga, Ms. Pac-Man, Q*bert, Dig Dug and numerous other games.

My parents would drop me off there while they did their shopping at Farm Fresh. Sometimes my Dad would give me one or two dollars, and let me go inside to play while he listened to radio in the car.

I would also play video games at Space Port in Pembroke Mall. I remember both Annie Oakley’s and Dairy Queen closing somewhere around 1984. Annie Oakley’s was the best of the game rooms in the area. My brother ended up getting a job there during the summers before it closed. I was so sad to see it gone when I drove by a few years after I graduated (1982). :(

Diana Reardon  Hey Kathleen! Were you ever a member of the Annie Oakley’s game club? I was and had a wonderful time at all the special events that they had for members only! John Kupfer I remember the movie theater at Pembroke Meadows Shopping Center added a game room. Before that there was Replay Games. All of those are now Domino’s Pizzas. At Pembroke Mall there was Space Port, and they added one later by the movies.

Kathleen Smith  @Diana – I don’t think I was a member of Annie Oakley’s game club. @John – I remember the little Replay places. There was one near my house off of Holland Road. The place did not impress me one bit (I preferred Annie Oakley’s and Space Port) and did not stay open for a whole year (it became a Domino’s shortly after).

I do remember Space Port, it stayed open well into the ’90s. I also remember the arcade by the movie theater, I think it was called Coney Island. I remember a lot of pinball machines there. I had fun playing the “Gilligan’s Island” and “Simpsons” pinball machines.

Marie Glazebrook Crow  I used to play in the arcade that was in the shopping center where Plaza Azteca (originally ... or at least was once, Roy Rogers) now sits, on the corner of Shore Drive and old Great Neck Road (before there was a new Great Neck Road). I liked Pac-Man – still a favorite to this day. The game room was small but I don’t remember the name of it. I grew up on Wake Forest Street, and we would walk or ride our bike up the bike trail to get there.

David Morris  I used to hit a small game room that they had in a building that was next to where the old SunTrust bank used to sit in Hilltop. I would always buy $5 worth of tokens and play for hours. The one game I liked playing was called Qix.

Sandi Burleson  (Re: Aladdin’s Castle) My friends and I use to pile into the photo booth and see how many people we could fit in it.

Pat Fitzgerald  (Re: Aladdin’s Castle) I spent many a quarter playing Galaga there. I should say “token.”