Old school players - Where did you play?

I remember playing it in the arcades of Russia with my friends, MK2/MK3 that is loved Dominating randomers with Scorpion/Kabal/Reptile =D but one of my mates played as Stryker haha hated it so much cos he was too damn good. First time I played MK1 though was on a Russian makeshift/pirate version of the NES called 'Dendi' haha those were the days

i had friend that his uncle have always have got to the united states so he bringed a MK1 Arcade 1993 so i played and LOVED IT so he had a ideia to open a store of video games for snes but there has also arcades he bringed a lot of arcades in 1995 he bringed MK2 arcade and in 1997 he bringed the UMK3 Arcade to bad he died im 1998 in Car Acident so the place has closed ,man the place has were i most hangout with my friends

I used to play at the local Family Fun Center in Greeley Colorado. When I started going there it was a 2 dollar cover charge with all machines but pinball set to free play. They also had about 8 pool tables. I spent too many weekends from friday to sunday at close there to count. They slowly raised the cover and it topped out at $4 per day before they eventually went to quarters pay to play and died shortly after MK4 hit. Good times, we had a steady flow of pretty good players revolving in and out all day. We would have small local pick up tourneys on days when enough people were around. Usually like 3 or 4 dollars a head and top 3 got a little bit of cash.

I used to play at a cheap arcade in Durand, MI and the laudromat had MK2. At first I was sort of scared of MK but then I kinda started liking it. One day my brothers kept teasing me about it and then I beat one of them out of pure luck. After that I had more than just Gaunlet and Russin' Attack to play(the place was heavy in Midway for some reason).

I used to play at Fun Fever and Nickelcade in Salt Lake City, UT. I also played a ton of MKII and MK3 on SNES Xband.

I started with MK4 in the arcade, but I also played UMK3 over there too.

I played at a local bowling alley in columbus. I was always the youngest there so I didn't win too much but those were some of my favorite gamming memories.

Pretty much was an arcade in a mall by me at the time, when the first MK came out. Than a restaurant not too far from me at the time had it, so would go there every so often to play and order food. Than when it came out on consoles, got it when my grandfather took us on a trip to Virginia and had a lay over in Washington D.C. Got the SNES version and Gameboy one, than later on Genesis.

As for MK2, same thing as mall, and a pizza place by here had it so would go there to play it here and there.

Now sadly, no arcades around. Dave and Busters and thats about all I know of.

I kind of had to jump around to different places as a kid so this might be long. I was 9 or 10 when the first MK was new in arcades so I'm having fun thinking back to that time.

The first place was the arcade called the Gold Mine in the Sandusky Mall. My parents would go to the mall every two weeks or so and I was allowed to go off on my own mostly. I'd play MK there but a lot of my MK experience was at home on the Sega Genesis. I do vividly remember walking into the arcade one day to play MK and noticing a crowd of people around that area. When I got closer I saw that everyone was gathered around MKII. My mind was completely blown. It was a complete surprise that it even existed. I watched people play for a while and I remember seeing a guy do Johnny Cage's Friendship and I couldn't believe how awesome the game was. I don't even think I got a chance to play that time because there was such a crowd (all people older than me) around the game. I do remember going to the book store in the mall and getting some gaming magazine with an article about it and the moves/fatalities. I couldn't get to the mall often enough to play MKII. My parents wouldn't take me just to play since the mall was about 30 minutes away. Then at one point the arcade in the mall was closed for remodeling. It had been a very 80's style arcade with no real lighting other than the games themselves. The remodel seemed to take forever, but luckily a movie theater in the same town as the mall had an MKII cabinet by that time. My parents would drop me off while they saw a movie and I'd play the whole time. Still, I only got to play once a week at most.

At some point a video store about 10 minutes away got an MKII game. So I got to go there more often. I've never been a pro tournament level player or anything, but I could always beat most people who randomly came up to play so it was always fun to surprise older kids and adults who thought I was just a kid messing around. I do remember one instance (at the movie theater I mentioned before) when these 2 brothers came into the arcade. One was older than me and one younger. The older one came up and put some quarters in to play me, fully expecting to destroy me. I even remember I was Sub-Zero, not sure who he was. He was getting mad that I was using block when he attacked. So mad that his brother kept hitting my hand off the block button and when I pushed him back a little they sort of backed me into the side of the arcade machine as if they were going to fight me in real life for beating them in the game. They ended up just sort of trying to act intimidating then leaving.

So anyway, by the time Mortal Kombat 3 came out, the arcade in the mall had been remodeled. It was now a brightly lit space with glass windows so you could see in from the mall itself. I was disappointed because half the time there was glare on the screens. I'd play MK3 there, and at a local comic book shop. Once I walked into the comic shop and this kid was playing MK3, I think as Smoke. He had a few people watching him and he was killing the computer opponent, and being a real show off about it. I remember he actually said after one match, "See how I always beat them with so much time left on the clock". Having watched a few matches I felt like I'd have a chance against him. It turns out I destroyed him. I've never been much of a trash-talker, but I was sure to point out to his buddies how I beat him with even more time left on the clock. Again, I'm not a great player, but these little stories still stand out in my mind when I think back. The other MK3 machine I frequented was in the little entrance way of a department store called Harts.

When UMK3 came out it seemed like nowhere around me got the upgrade. I found one eventually at a sports card store. It was kind of far away and I never really got to play it much. Then there was MK4, which I played at the little arcade that was in the newly built Super K-Mart in town. By that point I was playing console games at home mostly, but MK always brought me back to the arcade until 4 was available at home.

Well there you have it. A not so brief history of where I played MK. Ever since true arcades pretty much died off, it's always fun to come across the occasional MK game in random places.

I was in school in Florida at the time, so I played at various places around Gainesville and Orlando.

However, my hometown was in Alabama, so that's where I would go on breaks from school and the first place I played the game.

Opponents in Florida were cheap and not cool. My favorite place to play by far was the Putt Putt in Hoover, Alabama. So long as you went after 10pm or so and preferably during the week, the crowd was awesome. That's because it automatically weeded out obnoxious kids and people who weren't serious about games, because the only people who were there were pretty much people who were old enough to drive themselves, but not old enough to drink yet. So you basically had a very cool crowd of 16-20 year olds to play with. In a small town with not much to do, it was kind of a hang out joint where you could score booze in the parking lot if you knew the right people.

That crowd is how I learned how to play with honor....always share secret moves with people who ask, throw the second round if you are much better than your opponent, teach your opponent how they could have countered that move you just did, if your opponent doesn't know how to counter a certain move, don't use it over and over against them, make sure to select a variety of fighters instead of constantly using the one you are best with, and just basic respect for everyone in the community.

Local bowling alley with a great collection of arcades. I still remember the day they closed the place down...