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MANITOU SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) – Take a stroll …
… Back in time.
To a world the place enjoyable solely value a pocketful of change.
Where analog guidelines and digital drools!
Welcome to the Manitou Springs Penny Arcade, a blast from the previous with such “back in the day” vibes, even its identify is old skool! But whereas pennies could now not be getting manufactured, the Penny Arcade remains to be going sturdy — greater than 90 years later!
So what’s their secret?
“It’s just a taste of the past. It’s just fun. It’s inexpensive. It’s family friendly. It’s technology, but it’s not on the cell phone. It’s old-school technology,” present proprietor John Weiss informed 11 News final 12 months.
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You’ll usually hear the Penny Arcade earlier than you truly see it: the bells, the chimes, the bleeps, the bloops, the pows!
LISTEN: A montage of arcade sounds!
Then come the throwback white and crimson buildings, eight in all, boasting greater than 450 video games and kiddie rides.
“This arcade has been here almost 100 years, and it was in the same family for generations,” stated Carol White, the Penny Arcade’s meals and beverage director.
It received its begin as a gaming corridor in 1933 earlier than its founder, Jack Kerns, pivoted to an arcade mannequin after being knowledgeable by the Colorado lawyer basic that for-profit bingo video games had been unlawful. A lot of video games nonetheless in operation on the arcade date again to these early Depression-era days, with some showing even older than that!
“We do have those vintage games that actually still take a penny, still take a nickel, still take a dime,” stated worker Alex Manjarres. “So they’re very old games.”
Take a have a look at a few of these very outdated video games in motion!
Keeping these outdated video games playable within the twenty first century takes numerous specialised upkeep.
“Derby is amazing,” White stated of 1 the arcade’s hottest sights, a type of “skeeball meets horse racing” mashup. “And that game was built in England many decades ago. So when we need parts, we have to go back [overseas].
“We have outside mechanics that come in and we have a few mechanics on staff too,” she continued. “And that is their whole job, is to keep things running. You know, everything from coins jamming to making sure that all the games are operating.”
To even get employed in these aforementioned mechanic roles takes having a particular know-how about sustaining these older video games.
“It definitely takes some expertise,” White stated. “It’s interesting to me that there are people out there who can repair these things.”
Below: The well-known Derby recreation in motion!
But if peepshows, dancing clowns and knicker-clad English soccer gamers aren’t your pace, the arcade affords loads of extra trendy arcade fare, together with rooms filled with video video games! Many of these choices nonetheless include one thing gens z and Alpha is probably not all that aware of: a joystick!
“One of the things that brings me joy is seeing some of the parents showing their kids the games that they grew up playing,” Manjarres stated. “You’ll see parents talking to their kids, bringing them up to the game and saying, like, ‘Oh, this is how the game’s played.’ Some of the younger kids just don’t know how some of these old games actually worked.”
All preserving within the arcade’s self-proclaimed mission and vision statement: “To inspire joy, connection, and retro fun for all through the preservation of our historic penny arcade. … To be the most beloved destination for vintage arcade nostalgia on the planet, in the universe, and in the multiverse.”
A speedwalk via the Penny Arcade!
It could also be an oldie, but it surely’s most undoubtedly nonetheless a goodie; simply this month, the Manitou Springs Penny Arcade was named the highest U.S. arcade west of the Mississippi River and fifth finest in your entire nation by SIXT journey journal.
“Over 200 arcades across the country were analyzed by SIXT magazine,” White stated. “They looked at a lot of different things. For us, what they really talked about was the level of experience for visitors and that we are just a charming, old-fashioned arcade where you can find vintage games.”
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While the Penny Arcade nonetheless — very deliberately — has one foot firmly previously, it’s equally decided to evolve with the instances.
Manjarres was employed to handle the arcade’s latest providing: the snack bar!
“I like the opportunity to come here, start from scratch a snack bar, and offer not just the tourists but the locals high-quality fast food. Make sure that they can enjoy the arcade and enjoy good food while they’re here,” Manjarres stated.
Many of the snack bar’s objects have a decidedly twenty first century really feel: paninis, smoothies with recent fruit, regionally produced espresso, vegan and gluten-free choices. But, as with every little thing else Manitou Springs Penny Arcade, there’s historical past there.
“It is modern snack bar, but we do want to do the basically the old school vibe of having a snack bar … so we do have like the striped uniforms and the paper hats,” Manjarres defined.
Operating out of the very location the Penny Arcade beforehand had a snack bar, approach again when!
“The area is based on model of the snack bar the original arcade owners operated in the historic Skeeball building decades ago,” the Penny Arcade stated in a information launch saying the snack bar’s Aug. 9 grand opening.
Along with the snack bar, how does the Penny Arcade plan to maintain up with the instances, to proceed to enchantment to new, ever-more-techy generations, whereas concurrently sustaining its retro spirit?
“I think it takes focus,” White stated. “I think it takes paying attention to what people are doing, what they want to play, and making sure that it’s operational, that things work.”
In different phrases, identical to the video games it affords, not over-complicating issues. Because typically, even in our AI age, nothing beats laughing with your loved ones whereas attempting to shoot picket geese and win a number of tickets!
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QUICK FACTS ABOUT THE MANITOU SPRINGS ARCADE:
Located at 930 Manitou Ave.
Open seven days every week (apart from Christmas Day)
Started in 1933 and stays to this present day one of many largest west of the Mississippi.
Eight rooms with greater than 450 video games and kiddie rides.
Website: manitouspringsarcade.com/
Copyright 2026 KKTV. All rights reserved.
This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its authentic location you may go to the hyperlink bellow:
https://www.kktv.com/2026/08/16/manitou-springs-penny-arcade-walk-back-through-time-where-handful-change-equals-day-full-fun/
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