Whenever I hear about cool little hole-in-the-wall places, even if they’re halfway across the country, I always make a mental note of it. With my job, you never know where I’ll end up. So a year or two ago when I heard an online acquaintance of mine (DreamTR) had opened a retro arcade in the middle of Nashville, I filed that information away.
(Did I mention earlier this week that I took a road trip from Oklahoma City to Durham, North Carolina? Did you know I-40 goes through Nashville on its way from Oklahoma City to North Carolina?)
Game Galaxy is the type of arcade that people are constantly claiming doesn’t exist anymore. Many people feel arcades have been ruined by ticket redemption games. Game Galaxy has no ticket redemption games. There’s no air hockey, no skee-ball, no pool tables, and no giant stuffed animals hanging from the ceiling enticing kids to pump pockets full of quarters into ticket dispensers. Instead, Game Galaxy looks like pretty much every arcade I ever attended in the 80s, down to the lack of lighting and the awesome selection of games.
That’s Spy Hunter, Karate Champ, Donkey Kong Jr., Popeye, Duck Hunt, Arkanoid, and Castlevania side-by-side. This isn’t the “retro” area — the whole damn place is the “retro” area. In the short amount of time I was there I played TRON, Double Dragon, Excitebike, Congo Bongo, Burgertime, and Bubble Bobble — all for a quarter each. There’s an entire fighting side to the arcade as well, and I saw multiple Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, King of Fighters and Tekken machines lined up, among others. (For a complete list of the arcade’s inventory, click here.)
Jason, one of the arcade’s co-owners, was kind enough to give me a quick tour and even took me to their game storage area where I got to see another 70 or so cabinets, machines like Tempest, Tutankhamen, Time Crisis III, Food Fight, all on standby. Both the arcade area and the storage area have rows of pinball machines. The storage area alone has Bride of Pinbot, Earthshaker, The Black Knight 2000, and Guns n’ Roses. I didn’t get a good look at all the pinball tables out on the main floor, but I’m pretty sure I saw Pinbot, High Speed, Fun House, and maybe a dozen others.
In the center of Game Galaxy (past the multiple red tent Nintendo cabinets) is the console area. Consoles can be played for a paltry sum. Game Galaxy also buys and sells game consoles and games. It’s the only game store in the mall, and does solid business on its own (bringing in more than the arcade games, occasionally).
Game Galaxy is located in the Hickory Hollow Mall in Antioch, TN (just minutes from I-40). If you’re even in the neck of the woods, I highly encourage you to stop by and bring a roll of quarters with you.
Link: GameGalaxyArcade.com
Wow. That really looks like the place to be! Awesome!
I remember spending all day in a place like this with a pocket full of quarters. My games were Defender, Joust, Galaga, Donkey Kong, Centipede. So..Is this the same place that is the official top-arcade-score keeper? The name sounds familiar.
Sounds like a veritable oasis. Now I need an excuse to go to Nashville…
>”Did you know I-40 goes through Nashville on its way from Oklahoma City to North Carolina?”
Yes I did. Runs through Albuquerque too (hint). And although I’ve never traversed the entire length of I-40, I have driven onto it at both points of its terminus: Barstow, CA and Wilmington, NC.
@Clint: I’m pretty sure Game Galaxy has every game you mentioned. The other arcade you’re thinking of is probably Funspot, which I visited back in 2008.
@Zeno: If you find yourself in that area I would definitely hit it, although the 1984 Arcade in Missouri is much closer. Both places are awesome.