I'll give a short list.
EDIT - Let it be known that everywhere i went to play that everyone did no throws. It was an unwritten rule in NJ. Reading this thread now i see it being talked about, so figured i should edit my post and make a mention of that. I thought EVERYONE played no throws, not just NJ, till i found out after meeting
Shock that wasn't the case.
1)
SportsWorld - Paramus, NJ
This was during the MK4 days. Basically, Sportsworld had a coupon in the Saturday newspapers that were "Buy 5 dollars worth of tokens, get 5 dollars worth free". So i would buy one roll, and sell the other lol. I would end up making 60-100 dollars selling tokens and just playing MK4 there (no comp unfortunately). Till one day, i got kicked out of Sportsworld for selling those tokens lol. Still, was funny as hell. Playing MK4 and selling tokens. Damn the person who ratted me out
Made a good living there as a 14-15 year old kid
2)
Big Mouth -
Guttenberg, NJ
Destroyed all comp there. Was a guy who's tag was ACE in KI2. He taught me how to play, KI2, no joke. He is the one who showed me the TJ Combo breaker infinite which i swore to never show anyone. Eventually beat him till he stopped coming around. Played KI2 and UMK there. Big Mouth ended up getting closed down due to a gun shooting there.
3)
Fun and Games - Wayne, NJ - Willowbrook Mall - By far the best competition i ever played in NJ
First time i went there was for the MK4 Road Tour. I waited in line 3 hours to play 2 games, which i ended up losing. And it was vs this real big fat chick who didn't know how to play the game. Was a very sad day for me
Played MK4, Rival Schools and a few other games there. I would always go on Saturday nights, and the crime was very bad there. There were always cops there. It was a rough area to be playing as.
4)
TimeOut Arcade - Freehold, NJ - Freehold Raceway Mall - My home and most active Arcade i was at.
For those that don't know, i grew up in Marlboro, NJ my whole life, till about 16 years old when i moved up to Bergen County.
I went to TimeOut for many years, mainly became active there when MK3 dropped. I would always play my rival there, Eric. Eventually, me and him started to play together at arcades and would switch rounds on people. These were great times. I was always so nervous to talk to Eric, but he was the only person who knew the Human Smoke code, and one day i couldn't resist anymore and had to ask him how it was done, and from then on we became good friends.
He is responsible for me being here, and it is widely speculated that it is the same Eric responsible for
Shock being here as well. I played MK4 there and dominated all, including Eric. That is about the time the scene died. I would go to this arcade at 9 in the morning and hang out there everyday till 6 or 7. I would just wait and wait till comp would show up, usually every 2 or 3 hours. Most of the time Eric didn't show...
My good friend to this day, Jason Kucine (known as IndridCold in the MK community) went to TimeOut with me and used to watch me play MK4. He still tells me that he has never saw such determination before in his life. We went to high school together and refound each other later on in life because of yup, you guessed it, MK forums! (MKOnline.com) Jay came with me to CEO2011 (for those of you that were there).
5)
Strathmore Bowling Alley - Aberdeen, NJ - This was the closest place to Marlboro, NJ.
I went to Strathmore on Wednesdays usually to play UMK, this was another bad crowd to be around, especially at my age. It was hard to really play my game there because i was usually scared for my life. Dominated pretty well there, and went there often for challenges in school. I also liked the sticks there and they did a good job replacing them when needed.
6)
GrandSlam Batting Cages - Marlboro NJ - The birth of the MK arcade.
GrandSlam was the first place i went to that had a MK1 or MK2 machine, and the lines were huge. Usually 50 people. I may have gotten up to the machine once or twice. But the hype surrounding this place was amazing. Very similar to how it was at TimeOut.
7)
East Brunswick Mall - Didn't go very often.
I'm sure i saw James there smoking cigz once or twice lol. I would always see ashtrays on top of the sticks. Was a real hardcore place to play but just wasn't for me since i hardly went. It felt like a crowd of people that you had to be a regular there to really fit in. Hardly met any comp there either. Played UMK.
8)
Seaside Heights - Boardwalk - Seaside, NJ
Ah the good ol days of going to the boardwalk during the summer. The arcades there were huge and always had some serious comp there (not too serious). The sticks there usually sucked. But i spent most of my days playing Robot Smoke in MK3 vs people there. Had a lot of good memories there, and by far the most competition of all the places i mentioned.
9)
Kids Kingdom - Edgewater NJ
I always went there on the weekends or Spring Break, but after i moved from Marlboro, this became the only spot to hang out at because there was a poolhall there (21 Billiards). The place was always packed with Korean and Japanese people, which usually meant the competition was pretty high there. For the most part, i got beat in MvC2 and Tekken Tag, but dominated UMK and did well in Tekken 3. I used to get free tokens there, and THIS is the place that had Virtua Tennis, which is where i used to play people for money and became a VT player!
10)
Point Pleasant - Boardwalk, Point Pleasant NJ
Didn't go there much, and the machines (and everything) were pretty dirty. No comp there either. But still played to support the game.
there's plenty of others to mention, but this is all that comes to mind for now.
later
