Heaven in His '80s Arcade

Luna City exists because Hirschberg had a dream when he was a kid that he would grow up to manage a video arcade. The classic mall arcade died out a decade or two ago, but the dream didn't. The average machine costs about $500, though that figure would be higher if he didn't do a lot of the restoration work himself.

By the way, please don't show up on Hirschberg's doorstep with a hankering for some Zaxxon, as this is a private collection and not open to the public. But, if you have a similar longing for the golden age of the arcade, look him up at his Web site, http://www.peterhirschberg.com, and drop him a line.

Last time I visited, Hirschberg's collection was shoehorned into a couple of basement rooms with 800 square feet of floor space. The new two-floor arcade building has 2,400 square feet to work with. It's the size of a house.

The original plan for the arcade was an even bigger building that would have a separate room for his pinball collection and a home entertainment theater. He'd also toyed with the idea of getting some space in a local mall to meticulously rebuild the same arcade he remembered from his childhood.

At the grand opening party for the new arcade, some guests showed they still have the skills. My friend Luke, listening to a private soundtrack of Rush tunes on his iPod, managed to get high scores that knocked Hirschberg off the number-one slot in Joust and Star Wars, among others.

Hirschberg still has a few more projects he wants to complete in the new arcade, though he's feeling a bit broke at the moment. He wants to build shelves to show of some game-related items in his collection. He wants to upgrade the stereo.

Fortunately, his wife, Julie, likes having an arcade, and it doesn't sound like she's anywhere near losing her patience with her husband's pet project. "It's just cool to have an arcade," she said. "When I was a kid, I'd go to the arcade every day -- it was the thing to do in the '80s."

As I talked to Hirschberg about his new arcade, in the dining area of his home next door, his kids took a break from playing Pong and swung back to the house to dig up some game controllers. They were tired of the '80s. They wanted to play some Wii.