( PHOTOGRAPH BY ALEX GAGNE )
Snapshot : Spring Lake Arcade
John Bateman was fifteen when he fixed up his first arcade game , an old bowling machine that had belonged to his father ’ s coworker . The Smithfield native grew up visiting Hampton Beach in New Hampshire with his parents , where the boardwalk arcades gave him an early taste for coin-operated games . “ We ’ d rent a house up there or stay in a hotel for a week , and that was our summer vacation ,” he says . In 1989 , he turned his tinkering into a business and purchased the Spring Lake Arcade in Burrillville from George Stearns . Stearns ’ father-in-law , Edmund Reed , founded the beachfront arcade in the 1930s when the lake was a popular destination for local city dwellers . Visitors could take a trolley from Woonsocket to Glendale and walk a mile to the beach for a day of sunbathing , novelty games and dancing at the shore dinner hall . “ Back in the thirties and even the forties , when you played Skee-Ball , there was actually an attendant who would walk up the row of Skee-Ball machines and if you got a high score , he gave you a ticket ,” Bateman says . Today , visitors to the town-owned beach can try their hand at the original penny games or sample the newer additions , including a row of antique pinball machines . Bateman says he often gets questions about the games ’ values . “ It was a piece of Spring Lake and a piece of many people ’ s childhood that was important ,” he says . “ Having a handful of change and being able to stretch that dollar — you just can ’ t do that today .” Except at Spring Lake , where the penny arcade lives on for a new generation . — LAUREN CLEM
160 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l AUGUST 2023