Funspot located in Laconia, New Hampshire and home to ACAM (American Classic Arcade Museum) aka the “worlds largest collection of classic arcade machines”.
The majority of their machines range from the early 70’s to no later than early 90’s. Mainly due to the curator explaining that around 1988 was the cut off point for arcades. By then we saw less shoot em’ up’s and more beat em’ up’s…it just didn’t have the classic arcade feel to it anymore”.
For those of you who may not be aware, currently FunSpot houses over 500 arcade machines ranging from pinball, coin up to MVS cabinets.
At any time there is at least 350 machines on the floor every day, with different ones being swapped out at random.
Personally myself, I head up to FunSpot as it’s only an hour drive for me once every six months or so. And each time I do, I always tend to notice new or different machines added.
ACAM never seems to skip out on the classics; you’ll find it ALL there.
Ranging from Sega, Capcom, Nintendo to some of the great Bally pinball machines of the 70’s and 80’s.
The objective of this post is to start an annual ACAM update that will consist of a 2 part series; this being the first for this year.
The next update will consist of interviews and behind the scenes pictures into the heart and soul of Funspot and why this legendary arcade receives the praise it does, as well as being host to one of the biggest and nationally renown arcade tournaments year round.
Funspot has experienced it all, from Guinness World Records, to cult hit movies like King Of Kong being filmed here. There is no short of magic that swirls through the air when you step foot into the dimly lit arcade as memorable music from the 70’s and 80’s goes through the great stereo system, and you pan around the room leaving you with the hardest question you’ll have to answer all night…”Where do I start?”.
So below I’ve taken some updated shots for everyone to enjoy and for those of you who may have not had the chance to experience the magic that is Funspot. Please feel free to sit back and enjoy!
This section will consist of just pictures, part 2 will have a full list of arcade games and more, which will be posted up in a few weeks!
Enjoy and please excuse the quality of the photos, it’s actually much darker in the arcade and it makes snapping photographs much more difficult!
Please also keep in mind that this is only a fraction of what Funspot has to offer. If you’re interested in planning a trip up to New Hampshire to check Funspot out for yourselve, be sure to visit their website at www.funspotnh.com for more details!
A mini museum within a museum!
The hard to find and uncensored arcade version of Chiller!
The first computer powered arcade machine, Computer Space!
This thing screams 1960’s all over it!
After Burner and Crazy Taxi with their sit down arcade machines are a thing to behold and a joy to play.
A very infamous NEO-GEO MVS cabinet, look closely!
Various retro related signed by important people in the industry
Pac-Man Fever!
Pure heaven.
Row after row of arcades!
One of the various entrances, this one leads from the lower floor.
One of my Top 5 favorite arcades, Hang On!
Fantastic arcade art hangs upon the dimly lit walls of Funspot.
Oddly enough, the dim glowing red light captures the warm inviting feeling that Funspot portrays in it’s classic gaming area.
For some odd reason, it just feels “right”.
Pin Ball machines from the 50’s to the 80’s!
There are tons of classic gaming ad’s and posters everywhere.
Another one of my Top 5 favorite arcades, I love the Vectrex style graphics!
Various magazine articles about Funspot are posted throughout the walls in the arcade.
The massive touch screen display that shows all their games, highscores and more….
I told you! This thing is HUGE and epic! It holds every current high score record, with the picture of each holder!
One of the original “bar” machines, look at that flashy wood finish!
Some of the best art on a cabinet to date!
Not many table top machines are in Funspot, but the ones that are…are great.
There it is! The extremely well done King Of Kong movie about the ongoing feud to be named, the King Of Kong.
ACAM holds it’s annual arcade tournament here of course, Guinness World Records normally attends as well.
One of the best Retro Gaming magazines, of course they did an article on Funspot!
This original and REAL old school arcade machine was recently featured in an episode of the History Channels “American Restoration”…I will say that the craftsmanship is unreal.
Some mock ad’s that would have been displayed originally.
This is a large version of the buyer ad for the “Shoot The Bear” arcade machine, some of the information on this is rather comical.
Such as “It’s legal! It’s fun!”
Below is a picture of the original Funspot in the late 50’s, you can’t see it here but this Shoot The Bear machine was originally there.
Sorry fighter fans, no Street Fighter here!
Driving fans rejoice, rows of connected racing arcade cabinets!
Well that’s it for today, short and brief plus to the point…isn’t that how pictures should really be anyways?!
Be sure to keep an eye out for Part 2 of our annual look at ACAM/Funspot as we dig deeper below the surface and provide even more content and insight into this amazing place!
