Arcade Games

Just last year, psychologists were raising their fists over the increase of violence in video arcade games. Now, doctors who are trying to reduce teen-age smoking are outraged about signs advertising Marlboro cigarettes and Budweiser beer appearing in children's video arcade games. One game, Super Monaco GP - one of the most popular arcade games at the 49th Street Galleria at Franklin Mills Mall - includes buildings in which all of the windows have been replaced by the Marlboro logo.

The sharp, jingling sound of coins clatters down the hallway, enticing visitors around the corner, where they are greeted by a dizzying twinkling of lights. Looking and sounding like Atlantic City, but with some key differences - video arcade games instead of slot machines, and pool tables in place of craps tables - Maple Shade's brand new youth recreation center has become an instant hit. The center, on the second floor of the new municipal building, has been open just three weeks, but already more than 600 youngsters have signed up for the free photo ID card it takes to get in. "You need to give the kids something to do, to keep them busy," said Howard Gwynne, the township's recreation director.

As the November opening approaches for South Jersey's first Chuck E. Cheese restaurant in Deptford, one wonders how Al Belmont of Turnersville can run a competing restaurant named Captain Good Times. Because the times may turn sour very soon. Belmont, 45, who owns and operates the Captain Good Times Party Center in Turnersville's Whitman Plaza, said his business might be ruined when the corporate-backed and very popular Chuck E. Cheese Pizza Time Theater moved into the Deptford Court shopping center - a 10-minute drive away.

The Malvern Borough Council has approved a two-year contract with the borough police department. The approval was granted with a 6-0 vote at a council meeting Tuesday. Councilman L. Clifford Lewis was absent. The contract, effective Jan. 1, contains an annual salary increase of 6 percent for full-time officers. The average salary of borough officers is $30,480; it will be $32,310 next year and $34,250 in 1992. Also at the meeting, the council voted 6-0 in favor of a motion to amend a borough ordinance concerning electronic amusement devices or arcade games.

The firm that owns Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theater, a nationwide chain of family entertainment centers, has promised to change the way it awards arcade prizes to comply with New Jersey gambling laws. Officials from ShowBiz Pizza Time Inc., the Dallas-based firm that hopes to open a Chuck E. Cheese in Deptford, made the decision recently after the state attorney general and the Amusement Games Control Commission advised that it would be illegal to award redeemable coupons based on the player's performance on arcade games.

Jaime is a friendly, intelligent 12-year-old with a great sense of humor. He is already thinking about his future, and his goal is to be a firefighter. In the meantime, Jaime is involved in a variety of pastimes. An athletic youngster, he enjoys being active and playing football and kickball. When he is indoors, Jaime can frequently be found testing his skills at video games. He gets along well with adults and his peers and is easily engaged in conversation, especially when the topic is sports or video games.

Todd Tuckey never imagined that after two decades of selling commercial-size arcade games for home use, his TNT Amusements would still be going strong, especially with the proliferation of home-computer games. But thanks to nostalgia and the strong economy, things have rarely been better. Plenty of people have been coming into his Southampton showroom and plunking down between $300 and $4,000 for a standard game, or up to $10,000 for a used race-car simulator, such as Daytona U.S.A.

If you're waiting for something with a name like Gulf War or Saddam Slayer to reach the home video-game market or the video arcade any time soon, don't hold your breath. The top four manufacturers of video and arcade games - Nintendo, Sega, Atari and NEC - say they have no plans to capitalize on the war in the Persian Gulf by introducing Desert Storm games. "I don't think it's in good taste, personally," says Ken Wirt, vice president of home entertainment for NEC Technologies Inc. "Besides, it takes anywhere from nine to 12 months to develop a good video game.

The hope that someone will love him shines in Ladel's eyes. He wants to come home from school and show his mom and dad the spelling papers marked 100. He wants to hear their praise because he hasn't gotten less than a 96 in spelling since school started. He'll show them how he takes off his good clothes and hangs them up, puts on play clothes. And any jobs that are lined up, he'll do right away, no complaints. Ladel, 12, who has an average IQ and is in good health, lives in a residential center with 20 other boys.

In hell, we are told, searing pain assaults each of our human senses. Panic and chaos engulf us. The screams, the din are unimaginable. And it is all presided over by an evil beast. A giant rat, perhaps? In short, it is exactly like a visit to Chuck E. Cheese. Chuck E. Cheese is so popular that it has inspired copycats like Sahara Sam's, WOW and Discovery Zone. That says something about the stubborn urge of parents to bridge the cultural gulf between themselves and young children.

SEASIDE HEIGHTS, N.J. - Luckily, Prince Harry did not ask for a bucket of Curley's Fries. "There's no power," confided Katie Burke, an employee of a still-not-quite-operational Casino Pier, the centerpiece of a town hard hit by Hurricane Sandy. Undaunted, Burke and the rest of the commoners of Seaside Heights and nearby Mantoloking welcomed the third in line to the British throne Tuesday in his quest to see firsthand towns damaged by Sandy. Gov. Christie, dressed in a striking lime-green button-down shirt that went nicely with the stylish redheaded royal heartthrob, dressed in a white shirt, served as the royal tour guide.

Jaime is a friendly, intelligent 12-year-old with a great sense of humor. He is already thinking about his future, and his goal is to be a firefighter. In the meantime, Jaime is involved in a variety of pastimes. An athletic youngster, he enjoys being active and playing football and kickball. When he is indoors, Jaime can frequently be found testing his skills at video games. He gets along well with adults and his peers and is easily engaged in conversation, especially when the topic is sports or video games.

You've heard of dinner and a movie. How about together, in a theater? Movie Tavern, a Texas company, won approval last week for a liquor license for its first East Coast location, in the Providence Town Center at Routes 422 and 29 near Collegeville. In June, says marketing director Traci Hoey , movies will play on eight screens (each with 100 to 200 tabletop-equipped seats), and waiters will take orders from patrons. Menu will be comparable to Chili's, though Hoey says grub leans toward non-messy items that can be safely eaten in the dark.

President Bush is playing Whack-a-Mole with scientific reports that he doesn't like: Uncomfortable facts about global warming pop up in an environmental report card. Whack! Yellowstone National Park staffers tell a world treasures watchdog that the park is in trouble. Whack! The Environmental Protection Agency discovers a senator's clean air bill is more effective than the President's. Whack! But the moles are popping up faster than the Bush team can beat them back.

Terror suspect trying to quiz al Qaeda aide Federal prosecutors said yesterday that allowing suspected terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui to interview an al Qaeda operative held by the United States would cause immediate and irreparable damage to the nation. The government argued its case before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at a key hearing that could determine the fate of the trial. If the court rules against the government, the Department of Justice could withdraw the charges rather than produce Ramzi Binalshibh, captured in Pakistan last year.

Sometime in the not-too-distant future a grandfather and his grandchildren will emerge from their gaming pods, take off their virtual-reality helmets, and discuss why "Pop-pop" continues to make mincemeat of the youngsters' gaming skills. The conversation will go something like this: "Pop, how come you are so good? These types of games weren't even thought about when you were my age. " "Sonny, these games are too easy. When I was your age we didn't have these fancy gadgets.

Home game rooms have become such a recent trend that it isn't uncommon for neighbors to consult each other about which games to buy. After all, life would get pretty boring if everyone on the same block had the same ones. Two Washington Township families who live across the street from each other did just that, and they don't regret it. Even though both families spent somewhere in the neighborhood of $10,000 to $15,000, their game rooms are strikingly different. Ed and Jackie Lord's family room is complete with a built-in bar, cherry-wood pool table, three arcade games, a Black Rose pinball machine, a video-poker game, soccer foosball, a magnetic dartboard and a poker table that turns into a board-game table.

Todd Tuckey never imagined that after two decades of selling commercial-size arcade games for home use, his TNT Amusements would still be going strong, especially with the proliferation of home-computer games. But thanks to nostalgia and the strong economy, things have rarely been better. Plenty of people have been coming into his Southampton showroom and plunking down between $300 and $4,000 for a standard game, or up to $10,000 for a used race-car simulator, such as Daytona U.S.A.

When it came out in 1991, the G20 was intended to be the first rung on the Infiniti ladder. More precisely, it was aimed at up-and-coming yuppies with 93-octane aspirations and 87-octane wallets. The entertaining compact sports sedan served that purpose until 1996 when Infiniti figured it had an apt replacement in the larger I30 - and kicked the G20 down the stairs. "When we came out with the I30 in 1995, we thought that would be our entry-level sedan," explained Infiniti spokesman Gerry Spahn.

When Bernard Margolis arrived last week for the American Library Association's conference at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, he brought along plenty of cash. And by the time Margolis left for home Wednesday, he had dropped it all over Center City. For instance, he spent $92.24 at Hibberd's Books at 13th and Walnut streets, $14.85 at the China Castle in Chinatown, $133.75 on a silver heart and chain at Tiffany & Co. at Ninth and Pine streets and $100 for bronze bookends and a bronze medal from a South Street antique shop.