Video Paradise - San Jose, California - 1982 / 1983During the years 1982 and 1983 this very popular arcade existed in San Jose, California, both on Del Mar Avenue and later moving to downtown. Over time the following video games were in the arcade (including the dates). Those without ending dates were in the arcade until it closed.
The arcade started with one game, Tempest, which collected just 25 cents on the first day. At first the arcade operated days and evenings but eventually was open 24-hours a day. Click HERE to see photos of the arcade in July, 1982. At the time the arcade had 9 games. Ultimately it expanded to at least 20 games. We added six more photos on April 10, 2011. We also had an Atari 800 computer (seen in the photos referenced above). Games available to play were: Pac-Man, Missile Command, Star Raiders and Space Invaders. The 1983 Twin Galaxies "Video Game Masters Tournament" was held at Video Paradise at the downtown location. We have two photos of the competitors and more information about the competition HERE. The two highest scores on Pole Position were made on the Video Paradise games. See HERE for a news photo of Les Lagier, taken on the weekend he set the ultimate high score. Mike Klug has the second highest score, just slightly behind Les' score. These two scores have weathered the decades and it is unlikely these scores will ever be matched or beaten. From the time we added Pole Position to the arcade until the arcade closed, Pole Position was the most played game every single week, no exceptions. Our wonderful employees helped make the arcade a great success: Del Mar Avenue Downtown To publicize both arcade locations we printed flyers to advertise them. HERE are the flyers. During a little over a year we had four power outages at the Del Mar Avenue location. They weren't during bad weather, the power just went out! San Jose was (obviously) not a place of reliable electricity. HERE is a list of the Twin Galaxies International Scoreboard high scores made at Video Paradise as of June 11, 1983. It was supplied by Walter Day of the Scoreboard at that time. On that page is a link to the entire 218-game Twin Galaxies International Scoreboard as of June 17, 1983. We are looking for photographs and other recollections of the Del Mar location. If you have anything to add, please let us know by sending an email to us HERE.
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