Located in the heart of downtown Springfield, 1984 is an all-you-can-play arcade with retro games and pinball.
“We consider ourselves kind of an ‘80s museum,” said owner Jason Durham.
The arcade has between 70 and 80 games, including classics like BurgerTime, DigDug, 1942 and Q-Bert.
Although the arcade focuses on ‘80s games, a few ‘70s and ‘90s games like Smash TV and Asteroids are available.
Since it’s a single admission price to play the games, all of them can be started by pressing a blue button on the side of the machine.
High scores are tracked in-house on two TVs, one upstairs and one downstairs. The staff can also keep track of the high score or whether it can be found on the 1984 app.
Customers who beat a high score will be posted to the high score board, a brag button and a pass for free admission for a future visit.
More impressive than a high score is the Legend Score, the highest score ever at the arcade. Beating a Legend Score means getting a legend brag button and either 10 admission passes or a T-shirt.
“We’ve had four world records set here,” Durham said. Those world records included Donkey Kong Junior and 1942.
Alongside video games are also a number of pinball machines. The pinball machines rotate through the arcade every three months and include a multitude of titles: KISS, Ghostbusters, Godzilla, The Addams Family and more.
The machines are not part of the free-play admission and cost quarters to operate.
Most machines cost 50 cents each, but some are just 25 cents. 1984 schedules a multitude of pinball tournaments through several pinball organizations each year.
There is a small snack bar located inside that serves chips, pizza, candy and a variety of drinks.
