Musée Mécanique
On my second day in San Francisco, I headed down near Fisherman’s Wharf. I had an appointment to do a GoCar tour, but I arrived a little early so I decided to wander around for a bit. I wasn’t terribly interested in the massive crowds of tourists by the wharf, but once I spotted the Musée Mécanique, I was very glad I had wandered in that direction.
Musee Mecanique
Coin Operated Antique Arcade
I used to be obsessed with video games and arcades. I guess you could say I still am, but my interests remain focused on the old-timey style of games. While I do enjoy playing some of the simpler games on Wii, I find that video games these days are too damn stressful. I’m always getting lost, shot at, and forced to figure out complicated secret levels. My real life is stressful enough, I don’t need that kind of pressure in the virtual world too! I digress. The point is, I’m all about Super Nintendo and anything that came before it, so the idea of popping a coin into a pinball machine or a whack-a-mole was very appealing.
Games! For a Quarter!
I think the best part about this antique arcade was that the prices were almost as old as the machines themselves. I kind of expected this place to really take advantage of the hipster movement and charge trendy kids $5 to play an old-timey racing game. However, most of the games cost a mere 25 cents. Truly magical.
Pleasant little time warp
The arcade was mostly old games, but there were also some museum-style displays of old fairgrounds and carnival rides. I didn’t have much time to explore, so I bee-lined for anything I could spend some change on. When I happened upon the dusty looking whack-a-mole I almost squealed with delight. I beat the shit out of those pesky little moles with such fervor that I noticed a couple of people stopped and stared at me. It was a bit creepy, yes, but I like to think that they were simply marveling at my mad whack-a-mole skills. I also played a driving game that involved a steering wheel that actually moved a tiny driver inside the machine. Imagine that! no screens, just a little dude spinning around and crashing into stuff (because, as it turns out, I’m pretty terrible at driving games). I was tempted to challenge the arm wrestling machine on my way out but, alas, I was out of time.
How to Find It
Musée Mécanique is located at Pier 45 Shed A in Fisherman’s Wharf.
Bring a sack full of quarters and have fun!
