Aladdin's Castle arcade locations

Talk about a blast from the past.

The moment I saw this picture on Reddit, I was immediately taken back to the 80s and the mall.

Get our free mobile app

Now maybe I'm misremembering but it was either the Harlem and Irving Plaza (The HIP) or Brickyard that had an Aladdin's Castle.

I remember walking by that place when I was a kid daydreaming about how many quarters (or tokens) it would take to play each game at least once.

Whether it be Pac-Man, Double Dragon, Operation Wolf, or Dragon's Lair I knew I wanted to play any and all of those games at Aladdin's Castle.

Then the Nintendo Entertainment System came out and everyone at home had access to an arcade game style experience without having to leave the house.

Getty Images

So my dream of hanging out at an arcade started to fade away. Of course, there was still plenty of reason to get out to arcades back when I was a kid. Meet girls, play randoms one on one in games like Street Fighter, and just play hooky from being the oldest son.

More and more video game machines started to come out and by the late 80s and early 90s, Aladdin's Castle arcades started to go away.

So the massive flood of nostalgia came back when I noticed that apparently, there's only one Aladdin's Castle left in America, and it just so happens to be in Quincy, Illinois.

In case you're wondering, a trip to Quincy to check out the last remaining Aladdin's Castle arcade is about four hours from Rockford.

Is that too far to drive for a little bit of nostalgia? Depends on what games they got.