I’ve mentioned Station Break, the long-vanished video arcade in the bowels of Penn Station, a few times here before. I remember several ill-considered expeditions to same with my friend Jeremy back in the early 80’s wherein we’d waste our collective weight in dubiously-earned quarters playing mind-numbing rounds of "Berzerk," "Tempest," "Joust," "Dig-Dug," "Defender" and several other favorites of the day. Places like Station Break just don't exist anymore, or not in New York City, at least.
At one point a couple of years back, I stumbled upon an article about someone designing a virtual Station Break, and that seemed like a cool link to build a post around, but I never got around to it and lost the link and blah blah blah.
Back in August, meanwhile, I penned a post about Penn Station, which prompted a reader named Fossil to post the below video of the very thing I’d original seen the article about. It’s a bit clunky, but the guy really did a nice job. Watching this video accurately captures the experience of walking around Station Break … albeit without all the noise, smell and glares from one’s fellow shifty patrons.
Cheers to Fossil for sending it my way.
Wow, what a time warp. I rode in from Queens to blow my allowance at the Manhattan arcades many times. Total educational experience for an 11 year old. Do you remember the other arcade in Penn Station called Space Station? It didn't last as long as Station Break, but it was even cooler, with lights in the floor and stuff that made it look like it was a sci-fi movie set. It was on the same level, if you made a right out of Station Break and walked towards the A-C-E platforms.
Posted by: arem | November 13, 2012 at 11:33 AM
Wtf? No Paperboy?
Posted by: Makeout | November 13, 2012 at 12:42 PM
More than happy to help you out. Full disclosure: while I'm not the one who posted the YouTube video, I am the one who created the 3D model of the arcade used to make the video. It was based on a set of slides made by the company that owned all of the Station Break arcades, and which were rescued from a dumpster and posted on Flickr. Using them as reference, along with my memories of Station Break and the surrounding LIRR Concourse (as a frequent visitor from Long Island in the early 80's), I was able to constuct the model seen in the video. It's primarily a front end for arcade-game emulators, but it also serves as an interactive virtual museum-piece for nostalgic New Yorkers. The original artical was in XBOX Magazine, and can be viewed here:
http://www.oxmonline.com/back-womb
I also enjoyed playing bubble-hockey down the hall at the Space Station arcade, which was infamous for having Space Invaders machines, hanging upside-down while still plugged in, dispayed in its windows.
And no, sorry. No Paperboy.
Posted by: Fossil | November 16, 2012 at 12:35 AM
Ha! Nice work, Fossil. I *do* remember the upside-down Space Invaders machines.
Posted by: Alex in NYC | November 16, 2012 at 07:37 AM
Ah, the bubble hockey machine! I saw a guy get knocked out there because he was "announcing" someone else's hockey game like he was Marv Albert at top volume and annoying everyone around him. He warned to stop and didn't, so somebody shut him up the hard way. Scared the crap out of me!
Posted by: arem | November 16, 2012 at 10:16 AM