What exactly was it like? This was obviously long before the internet (outside of the military and some colleges), and during a time where console games were dogshit, but arcade games had endless classics release all the time.

To those who grew up during this time, what was it like? How often did you go to arcades, instead of playing on your Atari 2600, Intellivision, Colecovision, or whatever computer you had? How exactly did you know which games were worth playing, other than word of mouth? Did you just play arcade video games, or did you also play pinball?

We have only heard of second-hand accounts, or simply played decades-old arcade machines that have seen better days (for those that aren't remade for modern day).