Only just caught up on this thread, and it brought back a lot of memories. For me, "when I was a kid" pretty much equates to late 70s and through the 80s. I was fortunate enough that my parents decided to relocate to sunny QLD from Victoria when I was about 8 years old. In the following years, we spent many holiday periods (mostly around Christmas) doing the long drive to Victoria and stopping at many caravan parks and motels on the way there and back. In those days, lots of parks and motels had a games room with at least a couple of pinnies. After a long day in the car, Dad would grab a couple of beers and take us to the games room to play pins .... such a great time.

Apart from that, I played a lot at a few locations around the Sunshine Coast where I grew up. An arcade in the basement at a place called Bayards Corner, as well as some arcades at Cotton Tree, Maroochydore and Mooloolaba. When I was at Uni in the late 80s, we used to smash Flash at the games room on campus, visit the takeaway on the main drag near the Story Bridge and pumps some coins in the arcades in Albert Street.  I loved the SS machines of the time and they still hold a special/sentimental place, although a few of those caravan parks did have some good ol' EMs.

Good thread ....