Bring your lunch and join us to learn about Arcadia: America's Playable Arcade Museum, located along historic Route 66, on Thursday, September 12, from 12:10 to 1:00 p.m.
Its founder, Bloomington-Normal native John Yates, will share the story of the arcade, why he chose to build an "arcade paradise" in McLean, IL, and what he has planned for his fourth arcade: Arcadia Unlimited.
Like most kids from his generation, John grew up loving arcades and arcade games. Any time his family went anywhere, there was a game or arcade nearby, he would run to it.
John purchased his first arcade game (a Sega Star Trek upright) from the local arcade (owned by Bally) when he was a senior in high school. As a trained electrical engineer, Yates loves plugging in a game for the first time—the less salvageable, the better—and figuring out how to get it to work.
So, bring your burning questions along with your lunch and get ready to learn more than you ever wanted to know about arcades!
The Museum's Lunch & Learn series is made possible with the support of our presenting sponsor, MCK Advisors. This series provides unique learning opportunities every second Thursday of the month over the lunch hour (12:10-12:50 p.m.) in person and live via youtube.com/mchistorymuseum. The next Lunch & Learn will be on October 10 with the Director of Miller Park Zoo, Jay Pratte. Also, please save the date for our November 7 and December 12 Lunch & Learns!