"Controversy Was Never Far Away"

"It’s shocking, of course, to realize that the 'golden age' of video game arcades lasted just a few, short years, but if we tie it onto the turbulent history of pinball, we’re looking at a much longer, institutional part of our culture which, in the 1980s, began to pass away. Like roller skating rinks and other public spaces 'for young people only,' our culture seems to have decided that kids are better off when they’re not alone with other kids, and worried parents have been victorious in their mission to rid us of these troublesome spaces for loitering, described by New York City in 1942 as a 'menace to the health, safety, and general welfare of the people.'"

Laura Jane at Verge depicts the "Life and Death of the American Arcade."

And Ben Fritz in the Los Angeles Times reports that Atari's U.S. division has declared bankruptcy.