Arcade Britannia

The story of the British amusement arcade from the 1800s to the present. Amusement arcades are an important part of British culture, yet discussions of them tend to be based on American models. Alan Meades, who spent his childhood happily playing in British seaside arcades, presents the history of t...

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1. autor: Meades, Alan
Format: Online
Język:angielski
Wydane: The MIT Press 2022
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Dostęp online:ONIX_20221118_9780262372343_15
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author Meades, Alan
author_browse Meades, Alan
author_facet Meades, Alan
author_sort Meades, Alan
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description The story of the British amusement arcade from the 1800s to the present. Amusement arcades are an important part of British culture, yet discussions of them tend to be based on American models. Alan Meades, who spent his childhood happily playing in British seaside arcades, presents the history of the arcade from its origins in traveling fairs of the 1800s to the present. Drawing on firsthand accounts of industry members and archival sources, including rare photographs and trade publications, he tells the story of the first arcades, the people who made the machines, the rise of video games, and the legislative and economic challenges spurred by public fears of moral decline. Arcade Britannia highlights the differences between British and North American arcades, especially in terms of the complex relationship between gambling and amusements. He also underlines Britain's role in introducing coin-operated technologies into Europe, as well as the industry's close links to America and, especially, Japan. He shows how the British arcade is a product of centuries of public play, gambling, entrepreneurship, and mechanization. Examining the arcade's history through technological, social, cultural, biographic, and legislative perspectives, he describes a pendulum shift between control and liberalization, as well as the continued efforts of concerned moralists to limit and regulate public play. Finally, he recounts the impact on the industry of legislative challenges that included vicious taxation, questions of whether copyright law applied to video-game code, and the peculiar moment when every arcade game in Britain was considered a cinema.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-938942024-04-14T10:29:14Z Arcade Britannia Meades, Alan Amusement Arcade Amusements Britain British Seaside Video Game Videogame Gambling Showmen Traveling Showmen Traveling Fair Fairground Midway Bingo Fruit Machine Pin Table Allwin Crompton Coin Machine Amusement Caterer BACTA SEGA Copyright Space Invaders Atari Pong Ping Pong Defender Bell Fruit Alca Penny Falls Mafia Tax FOBT Gaming thema EDItEUR::U Computing and Information Technology::UD Digital Lifestyle and online world: consumer and user guides::UDX Computer games / online games: strategy guides thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHW Military history::NHWR Specific wars and campaigns::NHWR3 Civil wars thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHW Military history::NHWF Early modern warfare (including gunpowder warfare) thema EDItEUR::1 Place qualifiers::1D Europe::1DD Western Europe::1DDU United Kingdom, Great Britain thema EDItEUR::3 Time period qualifiers::3M c 1500 onwards to present day::3MG 17th century, c 1600 to c 1699::3MGQ Later 17th century c 1650 to c 1699::3MGQM-GB-J c 1639 to 1660 (Interregnum and the period of the British Civil Wars) thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBG Popular beliefs and controversial knowledge The story of the British amusement arcade from the 1800s to the present. Amusement arcades are an important part of British culture, yet discussions of them tend to be based on American models. Alan Meades, who spent his childhood happily playing in British seaside arcades, presents the history of the arcade from its origins in traveling fairs of the 1800s to the present. Drawing on firsthand accounts of industry members and archival sources, including rare photographs and trade publications, he tells the story of the first arcades, the people who made the machines, the rise of video games, and the legislative and economic challenges spurred by public fears of moral decline. Arcade Britannia highlights the differences between British and North American arcades, especially in terms of the complex relationship between gambling and amusements. He also underlines Britain's role in introducing coin-operated technologies into Europe, as well as the industry's close links to America and, especially, Japan. He shows how the British arcade is a product of centuries of public play, gambling, entrepreneurship, and mechanization. Examining the arcade's history through technological, social, cultural, biographic, and legislative perspectives, he describes a pendulum shift between control and liberalization, as well as the continued efforts of concerned moralists to limit and regulate public play. Finally, he recounts the impact on the industry of legislative challenges that included vicious taxation, questions of whether copyright law applied to video-game code, and the peculiar moment when every arcade game in Britain was considered a cinema. 2022-11-18T11:05:25Z 2022-11-18T11:05:25Z 2022 book ONIX_20221118_9780262372343_15 9780262372343 9780262544702 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/93894 eng Game Histories image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/12420.001.0001 The MIT Press The MIT Press 10.7551/mitpress/12420.001.0001 10.7551/mitpress/12420.001.0001 ae0cf962-f685-4933-93d1-916defa5123d 9780262372343 9780262544702 The MIT Press 336 Cambridge open access
spellingShingle Amusement Arcade
Amusements
Britain
British
Seaside
Video Game
Videogame
Gambling
Showmen
Traveling Showmen
Traveling Fair
Fairground
Midway
Bingo
Fruit Machine
Pin Table
Allwin
Crompton
Coin Machine
Amusement Caterer
BACTA
SEGA
Copyright
Space Invaders
Atari
Pong
Ping Pong
Defender
Bell Fruit
Alca
Penny Falls
Mafia
Tax
FOBT
Gaming
thema EDItEUR::U Computing and Information Technology::UD Digital Lifestyle and online world: consumer and user guides::UDX Computer games / online games: strategy guides
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHW Military history::NHWR Specific wars and campaigns::NHWR3 Civil wars
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHW Military history::NHWF Early modern warfare (including gunpowder warfare)
thema EDItEUR::1 Place qualifiers::1D Europe::1DD Western Europe::1DDU United Kingdom, Great Britain
thema EDItEUR::3 Time period qualifiers::3M c 1500 onwards to present day::3MG 17th century, c 1600 to c 1699::3MGQ Later 17th century c 1650 to c 1699::3MGQM-GB-J c 1639 to 1660 (Interregnum and the period of the British Civil Wars)
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBG Popular beliefs and controversial knowledge
Meades, Alan
Arcade Britannia
title Arcade Britannia
title_full Arcade Britannia
title_fullStr Arcade Britannia
title_full_unstemmed Arcade Britannia
title_short Arcade Britannia
title_sort arcade britannia
topic Amusement Arcade
Amusements
Britain
British
Seaside
Video Game
Videogame
Gambling
Showmen
Traveling Showmen
Traveling Fair
Fairground
Midway
Bingo
Fruit Machine
Pin Table
Allwin
Crompton
Coin Machine
Amusement Caterer
BACTA
SEGA
Copyright
Space Invaders
Atari
Pong
Ping Pong
Defender
Bell Fruit
Alca
Penny Falls
Mafia
Tax
FOBT
Gaming
thema EDItEUR::U Computing and Information Technology::UD Digital Lifestyle and online world: consumer and user guides::UDX Computer games / online games: strategy guides
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHW Military history::NHWR Specific wars and campaigns::NHWR3 Civil wars
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHW Military history::NHWF Early modern warfare (including gunpowder warfare)
thema EDItEUR::1 Place qualifiers::1D Europe::1DD Western Europe::1DDU United Kingdom, Great Britain
thema EDItEUR::3 Time period qualifiers::3M c 1500 onwards to present day::3MG 17th century, c 1600 to c 1699::3MGQ Later 17th century c 1650 to c 1699::3MGQM-GB-J c 1639 to 1660 (Interregnum and the period of the British Civil Wars)
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBG Popular beliefs and controversial knowledge
topic_facet Amusement Arcade
Amusements
Britain
British
Seaside
Video Game
Videogame
Gambling
Showmen
Traveling Showmen
Traveling Fair
Fairground
Midway
Bingo
Fruit Machine
Pin Table
Allwin
Crompton
Coin Machine
Amusement Caterer
BACTA
SEGA
Copyright
Space Invaders
Atari
Pong
Ping Pong
Defender
Bell Fruit
Alca
Penny Falls
Mafia
Tax
FOBT
Gaming
thema EDItEUR::U Computing and Information Technology::UD Digital Lifestyle and online world: consumer and user guides::UDX Computer games / online games: strategy guides
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHW Military history::NHWR Specific wars and campaigns::NHWR3 Civil wars
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHW Military history::NHWF Early modern warfare (including gunpowder warfare)
thema EDItEUR::1 Place qualifiers::1D Europe::1DD Western Europe::1DDU United Kingdom, Great Britain
thema EDItEUR::3 Time period qualifiers::3M c 1500 onwards to present day::3MG 17th century, c 1600 to c 1699::3MGQ Later 17th century c 1650 to c 1699::3MGQM-GB-J c 1639 to 1660 (Interregnum and the period of the British Civil Wars)
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBG Popular beliefs and controversial knowledge
url ONIX_20221118_9780262372343_15
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