So I did find out one family owns quite a few McDonalds in my state, but I'm unclear as to when they started. I guess the dad owned a few at first, and then a daughter got involved? I'm willing to bet the one I went to, is owned by them.
I asked on my facebook if anyone remembered the machines at a particular McDonalds since I'm thinking this was local, only one person said they did, but in a different city. I'm iffy on this person remembering, but the family does own a few McDonalds across the state.
I found in quite a few write ups that this family also seem to have made a big push for education locally within the McDonalds brand. With the way I'm remembering the game and with this info, that would mean the games are educational. I guess I need to find a way to contact them and see if they remember the machines, if the person on my Facebook is remembering right, then that means there were quite a few.
So I did find out one family owns quite a few McDonalds in my state, but I'm unclear as to when they started. I guess the dad owned a few at first, and then a daughter got involved? I'm willing to bet the one I went to, is owned by them.
I asked on my facebook if anyone remembered the machines at a particular McDonalds since I'm thinking this was local, only one person said they did, but in a different city. I'm iffy on this person remembering, but the family does own a few McDonalds across the state.
I found in quite a few write ups that this family also seem to have made a big push for education locally within the McDonalds brand. With the way I'm remembering the game and with this info, that would mean the games are educational. I guess I need to find a way to contact them and see if they remember the machines, if the person on my Facebook is remembering right, then that means there were quite a few.
Any update?
I couldn't find a way to contact the family that I thought it was. I should try looking again, especially since I have confirmation from my sister that there were low quality arcade cabinets at that McDonalds.
So it occurred to me that I should ask Muppet History on twitter if they had ever heard of a Sesame Street arcade cabinet. I think that's why this search hasn't been so fruitful because I'm probably looking for the wrong thing. Although someone in this forum also confirmed they had seen one too, so I don't know if it was unofficial, or if there are no online records of it for some reason. At any rate, Muppet History will probably know if such a thing exists. Considering the games were bad according to my sister, I kinda think these were a bunch of bootlegs.
Honestly it probably wouldn't hurt to ask arcade cabinet aficionados if they know of any "bad edutainment possibly table top arcade games that were in some McDonalds" either. There's one person I follow on tumblr who might know?
So it occurred to me that I should ask Muppet History on twitter if they had ever heard of a Sesame Street arcade cabinet. I think that's why this search hasn't been so fruitful because I'm probably looking for the wrong thing. Although someone in this forum also confirmed they had seen one too, so I don't know if it was unofficial, or if there are no online records of it for some reason. At any rate, Muppet History will probably know if such a thing exists. Considering the games were bad according to my sister, I kinda think these were a bunch of bootlegs.
Honestly it probably wouldn't hurt to ask arcade cabinet aficionados if they know of any "bad edutainment possibly table top arcade games that were in some McDonalds" either. There's one person I follow on tumblr who might know?
So an update to that. I messaged Muppet History and no word back, but I don't think they check their DMs. But I did message that arcade cabinet person about it on tumblr, and they had never heard of it and also couldn't find anything. They asked if I wanted them to put the question out to the community and I said yes. So hopefully someone knows about it.
A few things: 1) I had altered my search to just be about edutainment arcade cabinets and that hasn't helped the search. 2) If I look up McDonalds arcade cabinets all that comes up is the N64 ones which I know for sure couldn't be it. 3) Someone else in this forum verified they had a Sesame Street arcade cabinet at their McDonalds that was replaced with a hockey table but didn't elaborate any further. 4) Not a dream or a false memory because my sister verified that these cabinets existed. Except she wasn't sure if there was a Sesame Street one, but made it obvious they were super kiddie. 5) Could have been a local thing? There is a family who owns a bunch of McDonalds in my state, might have owned the one I went to at the time, and they seem to put a big focus on education. 6) These could have been bootlegs since there seems to be such little info on them.
I guess now I wait to see what the arcade community says. I can't believe my first post on here is this wild tbh.
They had Sesame Street arcade cabinets in a McDonalds in my town for years. They got rid of them because they rarely ever worked properly. They replaced them with an air hockey table.
Them not working properly pushes my bootleg theory I think.
So a few people responded to the tumblr post and knew what I was talking about, one person even brought up an old touch screen one where you could color in Ronald and friends and I'm pretty sure I remember that too? Like that sounds super familiar.
But a few people suggested it could be computers, or the CD-I (which I did find in my search) dressed up as arcade cabinets. I'd like to share the responses as there are more details, but I have no idea how to post images through mobile. I gotta make a link? Is this like photobucket?
Edit: Okay now I'm 100% certain it was a CD-I console dressed as a cabinet. And the circus game I was thinking of was probably this one: youtu.be/U4fhphtR6P8
I guess there also could have been a Sesame Street one and I got them mixed up? I did find a CD-I cabinet and it had a Sesame Street game in it. I would actually like to know more about these cabinets.
I know its not Sesame Street but it is evidence of an arcade cabinet in McDonalds.
-Vandal
Well I would definitely think it has been the closest to what I've described. I'm going to send this my sister's way and to the arcade cabinet tumblr, as there was one person attempting to describe what it looked like, and I'm going to assume it's this. Great find! Finally visual proof!
Just to clarify, is the Fun Zone that fancy McDonalds arcade, or is it just a generic name for their arcade section in a play place? I ask because I obviously never went to the big McDonald's arcade, but had arcade like machines at my local McDonalds.
My sister says she does not remember it looking like that, but we also didn't have a driving one so that could be why shes thrown off. I still gotta ask the arcade people
So it's kinda weird and obscure and I think that's why this search for proof took as long as it did. My memory of it was from when I was pretty little so I only remember so much, also a lot of people will confuse it with the nintendo kiosks that were put up in the 2000s (N64/Gamecube), and that has made the search harder because these obviously predate that era, but weren't significant enough for it to be universally remembered. For a long time I wasn't even sure if I had fabricated a memory or not, but having my sister confirm it, along with others knowing what I'm talking about it has proven that not to be the case.
But what does make this even harder, is that I am leaning towards these not being arcade cabinets in the traditional sense, but PCs or possibly the Philip's CD-I dressed up as one. Obviously enough McDonalds across the US have done this that a handful of people can attest to their existence, but it weirdly lacks any records. That picture has honestly been the best lead in this case, because everything else has been testimony. I don't think McDonalds had these machines for long, I think they were bad, and if I had to guess it was some quickly put together scheme to compete with Charles Entertainment Cheese.
The only reason why I think I remember is because the game I played made me feel sad, and it always stood out as that weird "sad Sesame Street game about an elephant" inside my memory. Although I'm pretty sure it wasn't sad, just probably "off" due to it's overall cheapness/bootleg(?) quality.
From the other pictures shared with this one thy had some Game Cube Kiosks and an air hockey table. It seems to be some type of concept they were doing. I believe the post said this was in Grand Rapids, MI.