This was apparently popular and I actually missed a few, so I decided to do a second entry. Read the first one here.
I remember we had Golden Axe at K-Mart. They used to put them close to the exit so kids could rob their parents of quarters as they shopped. My mom would shop for hours, so you better believe I went straight to the game. I always chose that dwarf guy who actually had the golden axe, and who can forget playing on a landscape built on the back of a giant turtle or bird? I remember once when my mom finished before I did and then she had to wait in the car for a half hour. She complained, but at least she knew how it felt.
The movie theater we always went to, Loews in Erlanger, had some cool games as well. The theater was notorious in later years for being run down, and still having the same exact games. The one game I remember the most was Terminator 2: Judgement Day. It was cool because it had a machine gun for a controller, but it notoriously ate quarters, while at the same time being generous with extra plays. This made for some confusion, if I recall correctly, because some people slipped several quarters in at the same time, but you shared credits, so you never knew who was getting the extra plays or paying for them. I actually found this game this past year with a friend and we completely defeated it. Good times.
Big Lots had the Double Dragon game, years late, but it also had Double Dragon II, years late, and it also had Double Dragon III, years late. I played all three of them there, with my uncle who was three years older than me, and we beat each one, so they get a hats off for allowing me to beat a trilogy at the same location. Naturally, the games got more difficult, because consumerism was taking over and it was time to rob players of their quarters, but looking back, I still had a blast.