What’s a boardwalk without an arcade?
Asbury Park is home to a prized gem of an arcade that overlooks the beach, a slice of my kinda heaven in New Jersey. The Silverball Museum Arcade [1000 Ocean Ave, Asbury Park, NJ 07712] is blinking bright and a little noisy, I couldn’t wait to get in on the action.
There is free parking in the lot across the street and you pay by the half hour, hour, or grab a pass for the entire day. Tuesday night is 50s night where the music is just right, and those who are over 50 get 20%. They say, ‘keep on rockin!’ Other nights pick a song on the old school jukebox to set the mood.
Now that the tunes are thumping, get bumping! There are around 200 machines to choose from ranging from the 1930s to today.
I loved trying out some of the retro machines and comparing them to the feel of the newer ones. Aladdin and Doctor Who were two favorites.
The arcade holds some very rare machines, be sure to try them out.
I love that there is a history blurbage on each machine, it gives you a closer connection to the game. Even though there were a lot of people inside it was never a problem to get on a machine and have enough space. All of the machines are in great condition, you may get a peek inside one that is being worked on.
There are other arcade games such as skeeball and pacman to play as well.
We had just eaten, but if you get hungry you don’t even need to leave the premises! The Silverball Café had some yummy beach boardwalky looking snacks like New Jersey’s tomato pie, Nathan’s hot dogs, Jumbo soft pretzels, and funnel cakes to choose from.
After an hour of fun it was really getting late, and we still had to drive back to New York. We took a quick frolic on the beach at night, unbelievable warm in December and hit the road. I know we’ll be back to Asbury Park soon (summer…beach), we had too much fun not to return. Until next time, Silverball!