Salem Willows Arcade

I mean it is small. I like to walk around and people watch. There is a lot of that. Mostly for young kids and families.

A nice small manageable size. A good way to spend two or three hours with bored teenagers. They even, wait for it, enjoyed it and each other! Food choices plentiful. Classic fair food.

Seems over the years they continue to update this arcade & everything around it. Now they have a little Bumper Cars thing for the kids, Its actually quite nice & fairly cheap. They always have the newest games & like any other arcade you spend $ 87 on games & win a pencil & Tootsie Roll!!!
A decent day away for the kids & you can easily spend a few hours!

A ton of fun for a great price for the arcade games. Reminds me of my childhood with some of the vintage games (pinball, Simpsons game). And I love that most games are just a quarter or two. Makes for a great time of fun and entertainment.

Look, the Willows park is a great place to spend an hour or two, but many of these reviews are inflated with nostalgia. I suspect this has cast a quite rosy tint on the recollections of this arcade, or possibly reviewers might have never had their expectations set at an appropriate level by other arcades. Not sure, but do I always have a dime for those monkeys.

Pretty much one of my favorite places to go in the summer. It doesn’t matter how old you are, playing air hockey, skee ball and bad fighting games with your friends in order to get tickets to buy candy is always a good time. It’s also really sweet that you can get fried dough, soda and all while looking at a scenic ocean view. There are some of the nastiest public restrooms I’ve ever seen though… oh well, can’t win em’ all.

Salem Willows has been a fun place to go, as far back as I can remember. I have even stopped by in the middle of the day just to play a couple of games of pin ball, to forget about life for a few minutes. A couple things have changed this year… no more quarters. they went to Tokens… YUCK…Plus their pinball machines are dwindling every year. They told me that they are expensive to fix and they only have one person that can work on the machines. I will still enjoy going to Salem Willows… just not quite as much

It’s a great arcade with a lot of options! Perfect rainy-​day stop, makes me feel like a kid again. =)
And pretty affordable games, esp compared to ones closer to Boston.

Solid arcade, bring your quarters, but don’t forget to bring some dimes for the Monkey Band!

This is a decent arcade. There are a good amount of cabinets. The selection isn’t very unique, but the games are good. They have cabinets like Pac-​Man, Ms Pac-​Man, Centipede, Galaxian, Galaga, Operation Wolf, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Simpsons, Tetris, and Afterburner. Most of the cabinets work, but the last two times I’ve been there they haven’t fixed Asteroids. I mean come on, it’s Asteroids. One great cabinet they have is the Global Arcade Classics. It has at least 50 games on there.

Based on everyone’s review, the trip was well worth it.
Ocean view, cheap nostalgic arcade fun = Success.
What made me smile the most was the lovable Musical Monkeys. 10 cents for over a minute of entertainment is priceless.
Babies, Children, Teens, Young Adults, and the Elderly were all present and were having a great time as I did. There is something for everyone, and it was a beautiful cool Sunday to visit this spot.

The arcade where I honed my pinball skills. But there is so much more than pinball here.
Want to know how hot your kiss is? Squeeze the handle and the machine tells you. Want your fortune read? Pick up the phone to hear Zoltan read it. Pac-​Man? Obviously. Plus a myriad of other arcade machines. Bring your quarters, kids.

I love the willows, I practically grew up there between school trips, family trips and just hanging with friends.
Although I’m older, I still find myself coming to the willows a handful of times a summer, if not to play a few arcade games then to get some cheap and yummy chop suey sandwiches, maybe some peanuts or ice cream? All delicious. The pier and the smell of the damp wood instantly makes me feel happy, calm and child-​like.
I feel like everyone from this area has been here and most likely has similar memories. If you’ve never been, its worth checking out it just won’t blow your mind as an awesome arcade, and it won’t have that emotional connection either :)

It’s the one thing I miss about home. The atmosphere just reminds me of the old days.
Food:
1. The popcorn is great!
2. Cappy’s is good especially their fried dough. I like it with butter and sugar.
3. Salem Lowe is great especially their chicken fingers and tender steak sandwiches.
The arcade is awesome and always filled with great prizes. I love the games especially the old fashion ones that cost a dime or penny

I have been going to Salem Willows once a summer with my brother since we were kids. Our grandmother and mother used to take us and it was something to really look forward to, especially with a big bag of change. If you are going, there are a few things you should not miss… in both the food and game genres:
FOOD:
1) Buttered popcorn at EW Hobbs — the best ever! (I also like to get their flavored popcorn bars… fun!)
2) A Chop-​Suey Sandwich at Salem Lowe Chinese food. Not for everyone, but like no other. Wrapped in paper and costs about $ 2. Really hits the spot. Get it with an orange soda and an egg roll and you’re good to go.
3) Optional: EW Hobbs taffy and icecream. Yum.
GAMES:
1) The Musical Monkeys. 10 cents
2) Old fashioned baseball, old-​fashioned air basketball
3) The Love Machine — 1 cent. Squeeze the handle.
4) Make yourself a cool imprinted medal
5) Take a picture at the photo booth.
Finally, go for a walk by the beach and around the path. It’s a lovely view of the waterfront and boats. Sit on a bench with your food and enjoy the Willows!

a well kept arcade with many vintage games and pinball as well as newer games.
I think they are also the only place in the world for the Musical Monkeys machine… a perennial favorite of many generations.
Hell, the ‘test your strength’ machine is still only 1c
what better way to rid yourself of those ridiculous pieces of currency.
lots of games still only 25c too
8 player Daytona USA for 50c
Air hockey and many ticket redemption games as well.
Just remember… if you REALLY want that GIANT prize on the wall… google it first and see how many tickets it’s gonna cost you vs how much to just ‘buy it now’ from the chinese toy company in the first place.
you can get a 100 pack of chinese finger cuffs for like 89c online… ;)

Growing up near Salem we went here for most outings as kids and loved every second of it! Filled with classic pinball, skeeball, and every kind of game under the same! They have since changed the layout a bit because of the crowds and parking is no longer free.
It’s a great place to go to enjoy some classic video and arcade games but don’t go during an event and not expect a crowd. The place is always mobbed on hot summer days. And try to park away from the arcade and avoid the meters.
Still a great destination! Just be aware of when you go!

What a fun place for a date! Of course its filled with teeny boppers like it sholdl be and obviously the classy north shore peeps, but it is a cute little place in Salem to go to. The games int he arcades are pretty cheap, usually a quarter to play, and of course skee ball rocks my world.
So ok, the only disturbing thing was the price of the prizes… so you have to pay 60 tickets for ONE tiny warhead candy. 60?! Thats like $ 5 worth of games.
If you get hungry there are tons of food choices on the small strip. mm and ice cream.

There is nothing better on a warm summer night than to take 20 bucks and go and play skee ball until the late hours of night. The fact that the machines at the Willows cost next to nothing and there are a ton of pinball machines, air hockey, and other games there also is an added bonus!
A great place for a cheap, fun date. Parking can sometimes be tight, but I’ve never really had a problem finding a space.

The Salem Willows Arcade is one of two arcades that line the strip of amusements and food of Salem Willows. This arcade is just that — an arcade. Go in expecting to find video games, pin ball, dirty floors and people, and no A/​C. Of course, if this is what you’re looking for, then it’s perfect.
Personally, I love how kitchy it all is. Most of the games are throwbacks to the 80’s. Some of the games even date back to the 40’s and 50’s. How fun is it to find out if you’re a good kisser or how much you weigh (for 10 cents!)? It’s very fun. :o)
Overall, a good arcade for kids and friends. There is this one motorcycle game that you can race against three of your closest friends. It’s from the early 90’s, but really fun. You even get to sit on the motorcycles!