The third floor of Funspot houses the American Classic Arcade Museum. It's historic the buildings are fantastic.' American Classic Arcade Museum The American Classic Arcade Museum at Funspot Last year, we decided we wouldn't close it and we were going to keep it. Bob Lawton said, 'When we opened it in 1964, we were the only ones in the Lakes Region that had minigolf, but then several opened up. In 2009, the outdoor minigolf course was moved indoors to the third floor and is now open year-round. One attraction in the building, the American Classic Arcade Museum, has approximately 180 pre-1988 video games and pinball machines. įunspot was named 'World's Largest Arcade' by Guinness World Records in 2008. The bowling center, featuring both ten-pin and candlepin, was added to Funspot in 1988, and the bingo hall was added in 1996. It was transformed into another arcade, Stop N' Play, which is still open. By the mid-1990s these satellite locations had closed one at a time, with the location in Florida being the last to close. Funspot expanded over the years, opening satellite locations in Wolfeboro, Concord, Dover, and Amherst in New Hampshire, as well as South Portland, Maine, and Port Richey, Florida. In 1980, Funspot switched from quarters to tokens. When Storybook Forest closed, all of the attractions were removed with the exception of the red school house. There were also multiple fiberglass sculptures of story characters that are still seen throughout the children's areas of Funspot.

The buttons housed Robinson Crusoe's hut and cave. One of the main attractions in Storybook Forest was 'Gingerbread Man Pond', a pond created in the shape of a running gingerbread man, with two large buttons. This park was themed after children's nursery rhymes and fairy tales. Ī second theme park, Storybook Forest, was opened in 1976. Named 'Indian Village', it was described by the president of the American Indian Lore Association, Chief Red Dawn, in 1973 as, 'A village of life-size habitats - reconstructed from historical blueprints, representing major Indian cultural areas of North America.' Buildings ranged from a ' Nookta Whaling Shrine,' to a ' Mandan Earth lodge,' to ' Plains Indians Teepees.' Indian Village closed in 1983. In 1971, Funspot opened the first of two theme parks on its Route 3 campus. The school house from the former Storybook Forest theme park This was the first of several additions to Funspot. A small clubhouse was also built next to the course, and in 1965 it was expanded into a 4,000-square-foot (370 m 2) billiards room. This course came to be known as the 'Landmarks of New Hampshire' miniature golf course. The first attraction built was a miniature golf course and an adjacent building. In 1964, Funspot was created when Lawton bought 21 acres (8.5 ha) of land, the same land where Funspot now sits, and moved his entertainment venture there. A round of 9-hole mini-golf cost 35 cents. On the first day the center was open it made $36.60 from miniature golf admission and $5.60 from selling soft drinks.

It was opened by then 21-year-old Bob Lawton as an indoor miniature golf course and penny arcade with $750 USD borrowed from his grandmother. There are 300 games from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s on the floor at any one time in the American Classic Arcade Museum section of Funspot, with the remaining 100 being scattered throughout the arcade.įunspot is home to The American Classic Arcade Museum, a separate 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located on the arcade's third floor, which seeks to preserve the history of coin-operated arcade games.įunspot first opened as the Weirs Sports Center on June 27, 1952, in the top floor of Tarlson's Arcade building across from the Weirs Beach boardwalk. Originally called the Weirs Sports Center, and located across the street from the Weirs Beach boardwalk, Funspot moved in 1964 to its current home on Route 3. Founded in 1952 by Bob Lawton, Funspot includes over 600 video games (both retro and modern), pinball machines, and ticket redemption machines an indoor miniature golf course 20-lane ten-pin and candlepin bowling cash bingo a restaurant a tavern an ice cream stand kiddie rides and several other attractions on its grounds.įunspot was officially named the 'Largest Arcade in the World' by Guinness World Records at the 10th Annual International Classic Video Game and Pinball Tournament, held from May 29 through June 1, 2008. It is located in the village of Weirs Beach in Laconia, New Hampshire, United States. Funspot is an arcade which features one of the largest collections of early-1970s to late-2000s games in the world.

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