Inside the Funtown Pier: Flashback’s Retro Arcade

By Phil Stilton

SEASIDE PARK–One of the lesser known casualties of Hurricane Sandy was ‘Flashback’s', a retro arcade located  inside the Carousel Arcade on the Funtown Pier.   Owner Bobby Stewart  had assembled  a collection of classic arcade games and pinball machines in Flashback’s.   You could drop your quarters in games like Spy Hunter, Asteroids, Mr. Do, Punch Out, Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man.    It even had a sit down, cockpit version of Pole Position 2.

Flashback’s offered visitors and classic arcade game enthusiasts a trip back in time which wasn’t available anywhere else along the length of the boardwalk.   On hot summer days, you could always expect to add another few degrees on the thermometer inside Flashback’s as the heat generated by the old machines brought the place to a boil, cooled only by huge fans which tried to pull some of the heat out.

Sandy obliterated Flashback’s.  Most of the arcade cabinets had either been taken out to sea or buried under the sand.  Stewart and his staff salvaged what they could in the weeks after.

Mr. Stewart tells the Ocean Signal that he is actively pursuing the rebuilding of the classic arcade when the Carousel Arcade which housed them is rebuilt.   We’ll have a complete story on the arcade, the pier and Flashback’s in upcoming issues of the Ocean Signal.

Check out more photos of the Funtown Pier in our gallery.

A picture of Flashback’s taken just a few weeks before Hurricane Sandy. Photo by Erik Weber / Ocean Signal Media Group.

Entrance to Flashback’s retro arcade in Seaside Park. Photo by Erik Weber / Ocean Signal Media Group.

Classic pinball machines line the wall at Flashback’s retro arcade in Seaside Park. Photo by Erik Weber / Ocean Signal Media Group.

Junkyard, 1996 Williams pinball creation was the last machine standing in Flashback’s retro arcade in Seaside Park after Hurricane Sandy. Photo by Phil Stilton / Ocean Signal Media Group.

A partial entrance is all that remained of Flashback’s retro arcade in Seaside Park after Hurricane Sandy. Photo by Phil Stilton / Ocean Signal Media Group.

Within the debris of the Funtown Pier, after Hurricane Sandy, several of Flashback’s trademark pink walls and beams can be seen. Photo by Phil Stilton / Ocean Signal Media Group.

Posted by Ocean County News on Jan 27 2013. Filed under Headline News, Hurricane Sandy, In the News, Seaside Park. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.