Fancy a trip back to the ‘80s or ‘90s? You don’t need a time machine to soak up the nostalgia.
Hometown Arcade has opened a location inside the Paragon Park Museum on Nantasket Avenue in Hull, giving visitors an opportunity to play classic arcade games from Skee-Ball to Space Invaders, as well as modern gaming consoles.
The partnership between the museum and arcade business is particularly fitting, given the history on Nantasket Beach.
Paragon Park entertained generations of locals and tourists alike from 1905 until its closure in 1985. The boardwalk along Nantasket Avenue continued to host other amusements like the Playground Penny Arcade and Fascination for years to follow.
The Paragon Boardwalk in 2018 was an attempt to revive the once lively area, but the site was sold last June and demolished to make way for a mixed-use development with 132 apartments.
“It definitely means a lot to fill that void that was there last summer,” Hometown Arcade owner Matt Snow said. “It certainly is not a giant theme park like Paragon Park was, but it still has that entertainment factor.”
The move is in response to discourse around town about the lack of an arcade in the area, said Cindy Lyons, director of operations at the museum. Over the winter, the board considered ways for families to have fun while boosting foot traffic to the museum. One board member suggested partnering with Hometown Arcade, after having visited the Norwood location.
With the crowds returning to enjoy Nantasket Beach, “we need to give them a reason to cross the street,” Lyons said.
How much do the games cost at the new arcade at Nantasket?
For a flat $12 fee, patrons can play as many games as they want with no time limit. They can even leave and come back the same day to continue playing.
Hometown Arcade has Massachusetts locations in Norwood and Northampton, as well as in Bloomfield, New Jersey.
There are about 20 games to choose from at the Hull location because of the museum’s space availability, making it roughly one-fifth the size of the Norwood location, by comparison. Museum artifacts and displays are still on site, including a model of Paragon’s Giant Coaster, with some having been relocated around the 1928 carousel to make room for the games.
And pinball enthusiasts can rejoice, as a handful of machines are set to be installed at 205 Nantasket Ave. in the coming weeks.
Snow said they were initially uncertain whether to include pinball machines to the lineup, but the demand was there. Soon, they will add four pinball machines to the space, which is the number required for tournaments. The New England Pinball League, based in Nashua, New Hampshire, bills itself as the largest such league in the world.
When is Hometown Arcade at Nantasket in Hull MA open?
For now, the Hull location, which officially opened Saturday, June 21, will only be open for this season.
It will share the same hours as the museum, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. From Labor Day to Halloween, the arcade will be open on weekends from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Hannah Morse covers growth and development for The Patriot Ledger. Contact her at hmorse@patriotledger.com.
