Ground Kontrol

I recently went with a friend to Ground Kontrol, a well-loved retro Portland arcade. The place was full of Gen X and Gen Y people, and a lot of familiar classic arcade games like Tetris, Donkey Kong, Tron, Pac-Man, Centipede, and others. I noticed a few priceless Gen X images around and I decided I would have to snap a few shots to share...

This image will forever be ingrained in the visual memories of  Gen Xers.   

Mappy?  I don't remember this one.  

Very cool under-lit tables bring ambiance to the restaurant/bar area.  

Friendly, bearded people drinking unpretentious beer, a prominently displayed

 recycling center, and a menu with gluten free options on it..what could be more Portland than this?  

Fiber optic lighting, and restrooms that have to-the-pixel Pac-Man/Ms. Pac-Man tile mosaics on the bathroom floor, and a fun overall ambiance....

In addition to regular video games, there are also a lot of pin ball machines on the upper level.  Here are some images from an a seriously old-school early 70s game:

As Gen Xers lived a nomadic existence in their growing up years, an arcade was a place that they could go that would more or less be the same from one town to another. Video games and pinball machines have truly become part of the landscape of our collective experience.

Thanks for reading, and may you have the kind of week where you unexpectedly get 1000 bonus points 

all at once....

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(c) 2012 photography and writing by Chloe - all rights reserved