/vr/ - Retro Games

>>9153124
>The machines were not scratched and scuffed when arcades were in their prime.
They absolutely were. The area around the controls were always covered in burn marks since people chains smoked as they played and laid their lit cigarettes above the buttons. People also routinely carved their initials in them (the same 3 letters they use for entering high scores, often words like ASS or FUK, or drug references that teens thought were hilarious like LSD or POT). You routinely saw these in high score lists and also carved on the side of the cabinet or down low around the coin door.

Crowds of teenagers gathered around the machines in their heyday and graffiti was inevitable, especially if the arcade operator couldn't see. My own tekken 2 cabinet has "LSD" carved in the side of it.