Folkestone A Look Back

Why Folkestone? I hear you cry and WTF aren't you reviewing retro games? to which i reply STFU. The reason Folkestone is here s because it is not only a fond childhood memory but was also pretty damn instrumental in shaping my view of both arcade and later console games. So theres your answer so neeeer.

It was naturally my parents who would have first introduced me to this small seaside town which at one point had its own ferry as well as hovercraft port a small harbour that still exists today and the only seaside town to have a small sandy beach (all other places along the coast being crappy pebble beaches). Of course the real reason i liked Folkestone (as was the reason for many kids that age) was that it had a small amusement park and a crapload of arcade venues.

From memory i can remember it having eight separate arcades to piss away my pocket money and later child maintenance in. From geting of the train it was a short ten minute walk past the aquarium shop down past the saga building straight on past the bus depot without stopping till you got to the top of the road of remembrance on a hot sunny sunday that overlooked a bustling market surrounding 2 massive round buildings containing the best of what arcade games had to offer back then. and to cap it all of a small funfair right next door.

Of course it was fuck the funair and the market those 2 rotundas were the reason that were ultimately going to empty my pockets of all the shrapnel that weighed me down.

So down the path i go (it was knackering on the way back) across the main road past the stalls and the people looking for a bargain past the smell of burgers popcorn and candyfloss ignoring the 90s crappy techno music or the sounds of screaming as the waltzers rumbled away to my left and right up to the door of the large white spaceship (ok rotunda)

I was greeted by the sounds familiar to anyone who has ever stepped into an arcade.Like leaving the outside as a passing memory to have your senses oversaturated by the alarms ringing as penny fall machines were being obviously assaulted by kids with empty pockets desperate to grab a few extra credits for another play on their favourite game. The sound of thunk thunk thunk in rapid succession as the wheels of fruit machines fell into place or the rarer sound afterwards of chunk chunk chunk as the same machines puked up their shrapnel. electronic noises trying to emulate the 90s techno music or short blasts of music to signify you just put a coin in the slot and a sense of feeling lost in a maze of flashing lights and noise as you decided where to start first. Which lucky machine would be the first to be fed by my silver treats of florins and shillings (ok 5p and 10p but it said florin and shilling on them in those days and the queen still looked good enough to do)

We all had that one machine we gravitated towards first. I would always go to the same spot hoping it hadn't been replaced by a shitty pinball machine or worse a crappy test your strength meter where popeye would wrench a childs arm off for the small price of 10p.

Fortunately there it was Shinobi a bit battered cigarette stubs still clear to see in the ash tray (fuck yeah games machines of old had ash trays for us kids to smoke while we played) but there it stood a ninja with shifty eyes on the screen asking me to insert my coins this one really did go chink as you put your coins in (and theres me thinking ninjas were japanese not chinese) one pound coin straight in would last me a good 2 hours so it was money well wasted.

I would of course stroll around looking for new games as well as paying the odd 20p here and there as I moved around. A bit of Road Blasters here a bit of New Zealand story there Chase HQ' Rolling Thunder feeling my pockets get lighter with every game actually too bloody light ...right wheres the 10p games i need to extend my time ahhhhhh yup Rastan saviour of the poor gamer there you are. A few blasts on the deliberately unresponsive controls of Rastan later and ...shit....fuck 50p left godammit ..over to the change machine it was to turn that 50p  into 25 2 pence pieces last roll of the dice last chance to find something before i go home ok the fall machines it is lets see if i cant win some more credits. FUUUUUCK what a rip i won 25p and it cost me 50p screw it pile it in 14p won all in 8p won screw it all in 2p win craaaaaaaap last coin i need to look at every machine make sure my 2p has a chance of dropping more coins. See if i can get that 100 point token right in the centre. It must be possible thees other 2 pence pieces behind it (i was too naive at the time to think they weren't deliberately placed there to give the impression it was possible). And bye bye 2p and bye bye day out.

It was time to go home. I walked towards the doors flung them open to god knows where (always disorientation when leaving an arcade it takes 30 seconds to find your bearings) and of back to the train station vowing to come back with more money so you could stay longer next time.

Folkestone is unsurprisingly still here although what used to lure me here as a kid has now long gone. The only arcade remaining directly across the street from the wetherspoons pub. the Funfair and rotunda now given way to nothing more than an empty concrete lot. Surprisingly i now live in Folkestone but its for reasons more important than the lure of an arcade machine.