Aladdin's Castle

Aladdin's Castle was a series of arcade locations, first conceptualized in 1969 by Jules Millman. The arcade chain was sold to Bally Manufacturing in 1974, and was acquired by Namco Operations (later known as Namco USA) in 1992; the arcade was given loose Pac-Man theming under both companies' ownership.
Following the closure of Namco USA in 2021, the last remaining Aladdin's Castle location was stripped of its original branding, and now operates under a different name ("At the Pier Arcade").
== History ==
Aladdin's Castle was conceptualized by Jules Millman, working under a company titled American Amusements. Millman felt that amusement centers at the time were located in sketchy areas - leading to them holding a bad reputation - and wanted to open arcades in more welcoming environments (such as shopping malls). Millman's arcade was reportedly called "Carousel Time" initially, with its first location being opened in 1969. After opening several further locations, Millman sold the franchise to Bally Manufacturing (later known as Bally Midway) in 1974, who renamed the chain to Aladdin's Castle.
Aladdin's Castle was very successful under Bally's ownership, reportedly holding over 450 locations by 1982. Upon the success of Pac-Man in the early 1980s, Bally Midway would utilize the Pac-Man brand within Aladdin's Castle locations; such as having Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man mascot costumes appear at special events. Ultimately, however, the franchise was negatively affected by the video game crash of 1983, resulting in approximately 200 locations closing in the years following.
In December of 1992, Namco Operations purchased the Aladdin's Castle company from Bally Midway, including both its arcade locations and branding. In 1994, the two companies would be merged to form Namco Cybertainment.https://mcurrent.name/atarihistory/namco_operations.html Under Namco's ownership, Aladdin's Castle locations would feature Pac-Man-themed tokens, tickets, and arcade prizes; giant Pac-Man statues were also a common fixture.
By the 2010s, the majority of Aladdin's Castle locations had closed down, likely due to financial struggles. The last remaining U.S. location was held in the Quincy Town Center mall in Quincy, Illinois.https://979kickfm.com/once-popular-chains-lone-remaining-location-is-in-quincy/ In 2021, following the closure of Namco USA, the sole remaining location was acquired by CTM Group; it remains in operation under the name "At the Pier Arcade", with all Aladdin's Castle and Pac-Man branding removed.
== Trivia ==
*The Pac-Man mascot costumes used in Bally Midway-era Aladdin's Castle promotions appear to be the same ones used during the 1982 and 1983 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parades.
*Some early copies of Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures came with coupons for Aladdin's Castle and Cyberstation arcade locations.
== Gallery ==
=== Bally Midway era ===
Aladdins-castle-grand-opening-midway-1.jpg|Grand opening of an Aladdin's Castle in the 1980s
Aladdins-castle-grand-opening-midway-2.jpg|Grand opening of an Aladdin's Castle in the 1980s
Aladdins-castle-cake-midway.jpg|An Aladdin's Castle decorative cake featuring Pac-Man
Merch-US-1980s-aladdins-castle-stickers-pacman-0.jpg|An Aladdin's Castle Pac-Man sticker
Merch-US-1980s-aladdins-castle-stickers-baby-pacman-0.jpg|An Aladdin's Castle Baby Pac-Man sticker
=== Namco era ===
Aladdins-castle-pacman-statue.jpg|A Pac-Man statue seen at an Aladdin's Castle (Quincy, IL)
== References ==
== Sources ==
*"Arcade Origins" (The Golden Age Arcade Historian)
*"Jules Millman in Hall of Fame" (RePlay Magazine)
Category:Real-World locations and events
Category:Arcade locations
Category:Powered by Pac-Man