| 2017-01-10 | Tim Stone |
Update to my 2002 post: Crab Towne is still up and running and has a ton of games.
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| 2016-10-31 | Steve N. | Just visited Crabtowne for the first time in many years. Its still going strong. The have remodeled since I was last there and the place looks pretty good. While a good number of the games were in need of some attention, all but one of their nearly 100 pins and games seemed to be up and operational. Stop in and give the owners a reason to keep these classics running. |
| 2014-08-04 | Gabriel | Still going strong. Some machines are in need of repair, mostly the pinball games. I was told this was because the technician was on vacation and would be back soon. Quite a few great games, The food is good. The staff was very friendly and ready to dish out quarters and some great food. I had a lot of fun and will go back soon! |
| 2014-08-04 | Gabriel | Still going strong. Some machines are in need of repair, mostly the pinball games. I was told this was because the technician was on vacation and would be back soon. It was a lot of fun, a lot of great games, The food is good. The staff was very friendly and ready to dish out quarters and some great food. I had a lot of fun and will go back soon! |
| 2012-10-03 | Christopher L. | All the games I played, mostly pinball, were in good shape. The only disappointment was that Twilight was not working. Had a blast playing Bad Cats, The Addams Family, Popeye, and others. Absolutely worth the trip. |
| 2010-08-08 | tagryn | Visited in late July 2010. This is still a pretty incredible collection of machines in one place, but remember that in most cases the games are 25-30 years old and have the expected wear-and-tear. Games that were out of service were Battlezone, Assault, and Gorf, and I don't recall seeing After Burner there anymore. Change machine was turned off, may have been out of order. |
| 2010-08-08 | tagryn | Visited in late July 2010. This is still a pretty incredible collection of machines in one place, but remember that in most cases the games are 25-30 years old and have the expected wear on them. Games that were out of service were Battlezone, Assault, and Gorf, and I don't recall seeing After Burner there anymore. Change machine was turned off, may have been out of order. |
| 2010-02-22 | Richard | The games were in good shape(which is pretty amazing when you consider that this stuff is well over 20 years old). Every Pinball machine I played worked really well and you could tell that the person that works on them does a good job.
The food was decent and the beer was cheap so I will be back! I highly recommend crab towne for anyone that is a fan of pinball or old school arcade games.
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| 2010-02-10 | NSC Gameboy | I've been coming here for years and I love the retro feel, which was lost doing the last few years. For anyone who wants to go back and revisit a time where games had reason than bring yourself to Crab Towne. |
| 2010-02-10 | NSC Gameboy | I've been coming here for years and I love the retro feel, which was lost doing the last few years. For anyone who wants to go back and revisit a time where games had reason than bring yourself to Crab Towne. |
| 2009-12-25 | Drunky Kong | I was there on Christmas Eve 2009. Awesome time. Almost every game was working. This place deserves major credit for keeping the arcade open! It's definitely worth the trip. Playing the real dedicated machines is much better than playing multicade versions of the classics (better action on the joysticks, analog sound, etc.) The proprietors were very friendly. Customers were friendly too. Yes its a working class kind of place but that's a good thing. I don't know where some of these mean spirited comments are coming from. I highly recommend making the effort to get there. I know I'll be back! |
| 2009-10-25 | LISA | I LOVE THE PLACE. THE FAMILY IS VERY FRIENDLY AND LAID BACK. THEY QUICKLY SERVE YOU AND GET YOUR KENO IN. FOOD IS GOOD, THEY HAVE ALL TYPES OF FOOD FROM CHEESESTEAKS TO FRIED SHRIMP, HUSH PUPPIES AND CHICKEN WINGS NOT TO MENTION GREAT SHRIMP AND CRABS. I WOULD MOST CERTAINLY RECOMMEND THIS PLACE. |
| 2009-09-24 | Don | An awesome place. I saw Tom from Electronics Unlimited hard at work repairing a Pinball machine. A great guy. There are a lot of machines there so he can't service them all at once. Help him out by adding to the repair list. This place is a rare gem. Arm Wrestling (definately a cousin of Punch Out) was a very neat game. Bring plenty of quarters. If you don't bring them, the waitresses are more than ready to make change for you. |
| 2009-08-25 | fluff | crabtown is the best.i take my family there at least twice a month.the food isn't great but i hade worse too.i go for the pinballs.sure, some are a little dirty, and you might lose a quarter here and there but were else are you going to play 20+ pins at any location.if you like pins,this place is for you.after you hit the pins,there is a ton of arcades as well.take your kids there and show them what an arcade was like back in the day. |
| 2009-06-10 | Chris | I went there and almost peed, the boxes are amazing, and they have a huge pinball selection, too.
The Simpsons kicked my butt. |
| 2009-06-01 | DavidSKi | heres a video of the place youtube.com/watch?v=aOfTIFjoTxI
This place would be perfect if it had a Burgertime! |
| 2008-12-12 | Dave | For anyone trying to find Crabtowne USA, here's a Google Maps link.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&daddr=1510+Crain+Hwy+S,+Glen+Burnie,+MD+21061&hl=en&geocode=CSTnlSqyVwsUFYByVQIdwEht-yGac17zNRCO-w%3B&mra=pe&mrcr=0&sll=39.151509,-76.678497&sspn=0.090788,0.154495&ie=UTF8&ll=39.145835,-76.631787&spn=0,359.998793&t=h&z=20&layer=c&cbll=39.145877,-76.631407&panoid=nBq-18qt2nefQ42vL9eRLw&cbp=12,245.38220478527168,,0,-4.152314879849927 |
| 2008-11-29 | Rob | I just had to leave my on-the-market house for a showing, so I went over to Crab Towne USA (a couple miles away) with a few quarters. I am happy to report that Gorf, Karate Champ, and Punch-Out all worked fine (although I wish I had something to blame my loss to Piston Hurricane on). The controls for Kung-Fu Master were a little unresponsive, but it was still fun. |
| 2008-10-15 | John | Don't complain there arcades are on the verge of extinction. Just enjoy. Bring your kids- show them what a gameroom of the 70's and 80's looked like. |
| 2008-06-04 | jpcline004 | I live about 10 minutes from here, I had driven by it and heard they had an arcade a long time ago so I was surprised when I stumbled across this site and found they still do. I actually went there for the first time tonight and was blown away. Its no FunSpot, but its as close as we are can get. They have even more games then what is listed here, and about 15 pinball machines too. go there now!!! |
| 2008-04-18 | Joe | April 08 - visited this place on a trip from NJ to Washington D.C. -- About 70 % of the games are working but many are in poor shape, almost all are very dirty. The atmosphere was pretty strange, kinda creepy. There was only one other person in the place for the hour or so i was there so don't expect a social experience. I still recommend checking the place out if you're in the area - the games are cheap and it's near impossible to find a collection like this one now...worth the visit. |
| 2008-02-02 | Al | 2/2/08 -ok it is an aging dinosaur. But one of the few dnosaurs still alive. A real arcade from the late 70's to early 90's. A decent amount of pinball and video game in working order although most if not all show their age. Many are still a quarter per game, but some like the Simpsons pinball require 50 cents (despite the 25 cent sign in the game). Pinbot merely steals your money. Stay away. My personal favorite Carnival is working fine and only 25 cets. The gane room is situated between the restaurant/keno hall and the price gauging liquor store. This is 2008 folks, experience it while you can. |
| 2007-11-27 | f.n. | I was there recently and the change machines worked just fine. It's true that many of the games have problems and are labeled to let you know that, but the vast majority work just fine and it's always a good, cheap time. No complaints here. |
| 2007-10-01 | fyi | Crabtowne USA is a great place just to go relax and play arcade games. (or MD Lottery) They do serve beer ( 21 and older) as well as food. It is a family based business which makes the enviroment nice. All of the regulars are friendly. It's definately a place you could go to have a couple beers and relax. |
| 2007-09-06 | Pete F. | I just called Crabtown USA - they went on vacation from August 15-22... they usually take one during that month, and between Christmas and New Years, so the comment saying that it's going to close is FALSE. |
| 2007-07-31 | JJ | Sadly, you may have heard that Crabtown USA will be closing for good very soon and its true. Sorry to see it go. Had some good times growing up there. Not sure what will happen to the machines, maybe we will auction them off. |
| 2007-07-26 | Josh | Was in the area this week and decided to stop in. As others have mentioned, MANY of the games are either turned off or in some other way unplayable. My best estimate is that 2/3 of the games were unplayable. Happily, from what I discovered while there, I can report that Gorf, Carnival and Phoenix were 100% playable. Sadly, One of the Gyruss machines (I didn't try the other one) and Make Trax had controller problems which made playing them impossible. It's really a shame that such an awesome collection of old and hard to find games is in such disrepair. |
| 2007-06-28 | Matt | Darn, I didn't know places like this still exist.
I've been looking for a real arcade for the last few years now.
I thought all of the good arcades were extinct.
I wish I could have seen that place back in 88 or the early 90's.
If Crab Towne were to get a few Mortal Kombat machiens I would never leave.
I plan on checking this place out in the near future. |
| 2007-05-28 | ABR | Went back today. Turns out there's also a little liquor store next to the arcade--it isn't open on Sundays (when I was last there) so I simply assumed that the doors led to an exit. Another one of those old crane games is in there. Eight Ball Deluxe works excellent now, they seem to have someone that knows a lot about pinball, just not video games. "Big Bat" looks to be the next machine they will work on. No progress (at least from what I saw) on the video games. |
| 2007-05-13 | ABR | A few more comments about this place. Yes, it is sort of a "crab shack", maybe more like a diner of sorts, they have sandwiches, and even a breakfast menu. I sort of had it pictured like a cheap red lobster for some reason, I don't know why. And about making the drive for a "crab shack", who cares where these are, I mean, are some of us not the generation that grew up going to "Showbiz Pizza Place" and "Chuck E. Cheeses pizza time theatre", many of us went to a pizza place to play these games, well, now I go to a Crab place. Back to the games, the list above is rather accurate, but as someone has already said, that doesn't mean everything works. I still reccomend going though, you can't find this many machines (counting just the working ones) in many places outside of new hampshire. Even the change machine is old school, it's one of those where you put your bill on a tray and push it in. For the record, they seem to do a much better job taking care of their pinball machines than the video games. When I go again I'll see if anything with the actual video games has changed (my MAIN reason for going was for the Pinball). It looked like they were planning on working on (or sending out) the eight ball deluxe pinball game, so it's not like they completely ignore the game room like some have said. |
| 2006-09-30 | little mac | help me mike tyson is eating my chldren! |
| 2006-09-07 | Shade | Crabtowne is most certainly still there. I live in Maryland and stop by there every once in a while. Nothing like a classic arcade, pinball, and Maryland Blue Crabs. Crabetown is on RT 3 business. |
| 2006-06-15 | Judy | I had my birthday party here and it was fantastic! There were a few games that were out of order, but the place has so many it hardly mattered. About 30 people came and everyone found a game or ten that they enjoyed. Plus, the local crowd was friendly and made things more fun. I have no complaints. |
| 2006-02-24 | R. Sloan Ph.D. from Tamp, FL. | Crab Towne has been there forever it seems. The original owners were about the friendliest people a person could meet. It use to be open 24 hours a day. I have only the fondest memories of that wonderful place. The seafood use to be top of the line, only to be outdone by the prices. I would stop in once every couple of years through the 1990's and the owners would always remember my name. I haven't been there since it was renovated. I am wondering if the family still owns and operates it like they have for the past 35 years or so... Now that I have found out it's open, I will go back. I miss it. Oh, by the way the games were so awesome. Crab Towne started putting the games in around 1978, starting with pac-man. It grew like crazy and the rest is history. If the original family is still operating the place, I recommend anyone to stop in and have seafood, some beer and play the game machines, oh and get to meet some of the nicest people on this planet. |
| 2006-02-09 | Hugh Jass | Anyone visited this location lately? I was thinking of heading up that way to celebrate some personal goals with CLASSIC VIDEO GAMES but didn't want to make the trip only to find a crab shack. |
| 2005-06-16 | Nick | Great to see a place like this. Cool to see so many pinball machines............. |
| 2004-05-13 | Jason B. | Man oh man, I grew up making the drive to this place and still do---Not only is it alive and well, the PLACEMENT OF THE MACHINES hasn't even changed in aprox. 20 years I've been going there. They even have two copies of my favorite game, Gyruss. The food, is ok, not great, but pretty cheap, and cheap beer. The steamed shrimp's not bad, and the crabs are ok, but better can be had. In any case, you can definitely go just to play games---they're all in a seperate big room, you can buy cans of beer and carry 'em in, it's a real down and dirty Anne Arundel County atmosphere---lots of big guts and the trucker/waterman look reigns supreme. I still go regularly, and just brought my girlfriend's 3 and 6 year old out there, it was ablast watching them play the same Asteroids and Missle Command machines that hooked me years ago. They're open late, too, which is nice. and lots of the pinball machines give you 5 balls for a quarter, including my fave Black Knight 2000. It's WELL worth the trip, and ignore the unassuming look from the outside of the building. The glory that awaits is truly amazing. |
| 2003-12-08 | Danny Clark | Crab Town is now taking better care of their games. It is a lot of fun to go there every once in a while and play. |
| 2003-04-27 | Jim of Reston | Went by today and it seems Gorf has it's voice back. Also, someone stole the gun on Crackshot! They added a Defender. However, the screen is very white. I hope they get more Williams games though -- like Robotron! |
| 2003-01-16 | Jim | Wow! I wonder what a fair price is? I'd like to get one just for the cabinet and functioning monitor. I can fix/replace the controlers if needed. I'll have to go down there and take a look, so long as it's a JAMMA cab. |
| 2003-01-15 | McAllisterFallsChurch@yahoo.com | You can buy a game from them if you offer the owner a fair price. Be carefull!!. A lot of those boards are just so old. Much of the game glitch (flip screens)
My friend and I are dissapointed that they don't intend to keep up the collection with maintenance. Some of the older games have no sound Donkey Kong and Gorf.
Crabtown still Rocks. I like the fact you can drink a beer and play games.
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| 2003-01-03 | Mark from Maryland | Gorf is broken. But you can connect the wires in the joystick to fire and play. Crabtown is a cool place to have a beer and play old classics. You can drink in the game room. |
| 2003-01-03 | McAllisterFallsChurch@yahoo.com | The place exists!!!!! They have 90 working coin-op games!! |
| 2003-01-03 | McAllisterFallsChurch@yahoo.com | The place exists!!! I drive from Virginia 40 miles to play games. They have a 109 coin operated games. 12-15 are broken. Therefore the place has roughly 90 games.
Take Baltimore Washington Parkway to exit 100 to Glen Burnie. Getting there the first time is hard. I still get lost every time and I lived in Maryland 20years. The place is great. You can drink beer in the game room. Perhaps that is why some games are broken. Donkey Kong has no sound. Missle Command starts to flip its screen after 15,000 points or 10minutes of play. Still a great place. Just hard to find. It exists. |
| 2002-05-29 | Marianne | I live in Glen Burnie, Md. very near Crab Town USA it is listed in the yellow pages and it has just recently re-opened. I'm not sure if everything is open or just certain parts. It is open though. Located 1510 Crain Highway, phone is 410-761-6118. |
| 2002-05-25 | Tim Stone |
I played the games on 5/25/02.
The above list is about accurate, it's really good to find classic games.
It's REALLY hot in there. AC is not broken,
it's nonexistant.
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| 2002-05-14 | Mack B. | I went there in Dec. 2001 & it was closed. The last time I played there sometime in early 2001 the Gorf game was quite rough, semi-broken joystick and the GLARE from the overhead fluorescent lights was intense. Just made it more of a challenge :-) I've been there about ten times over the last 18 years, it is really a classic. I will go see if it is open tomorrow. |
| 2002-04-23 | Dan | Crab Towne is open and it's simply amazing. Apparently stuck in a time warp ("newer" games like Afterburner are 50 cents, everything else a quarter), the highlight is easily the Tapper machine in pristine condition. The above list looks pretty accurate. |
| 2002-04-17 | John H. | I was also there! The list above is still fairly accurate, but I'm not sure if Hat Trick is still there, and a few of the games were turned off (Like Crime City). There's also a slew of pinball machines not mentioned. There were at least 15-20 of those.. I remember Kiss, Dr. Dude and his Awesome Ray, Popeye, and Twister. I can't remember the rest, maybe I'll write them down next time I go. :) A couple of the games have busted controls, but pretty much everything is in good playable condition. We all smiled just walking into a place with this many classic games (which is a rarity in our area) I'll be going back often. :) |
| 2002-04-15 | Doug V. | I was there today and the game room is open. |
| 2002-03-01 | Chuckrex | I called March 1, they said should be opening in a couple weeks. |
| 2002-02-19 | Jorge | El mejor Juego del Mundo: Gyrus |
| 2002-02-13 | keith h. | my family and I have been going there since the 70's its there! |
| 2002-02-11 | Margaret | I just called and the fellow who answered said the game room is set to reopen around March 1st. You should probably phone and check before heading out there, just to be sure, though: 410-761-6118. |
| 2002-01-26 | patricia | i like to play bowl o rama |
| 2002-01-04 | Peter Johannsen | Did the fire destroy the games posted here rendering this list obsolete? Has it reopened yet and has anyone been there to check it out? I want to visit but wouldn't want to drive there for no reason. |
| 2002-01-01 | taper88 | I live close by, Crabtown USA is there. |
| 2001-11-13 | Miss Janet | A fire caused alot of damage and the place will be closed for awhile. I heard by the end of the year it will reopen..better than ever with new games/old favorites and lots of fun..who needs the giant rat when you got crabtown!! |
| 2001-10-30 | mcdefjef | Spoke to the lady 10/30. "Getting closer to opening" she says. Hopefully by year's end. She assured me that the games would return. |
| 2001-08-18 | chalin | chick on phone estimates opening in october, 2001 |
| 2001-08-16 | Richard M. | Any idea when the renovations will be completed? |
| 2001-08-16 | RP | Well, like I said it is there, but it is being renovated, im just trying to say that it does exist. |
| 2001-08-15 | R P | Crabtowne is there, I've played the games more than a few times... it most certainly exists. |
| 2001-07-07 | Erik | Crab Town is alive and well.
Crab Town USA Inc
1510 Crain Highway South, Glen Burnie, MD 21061
(410) 761-6118 |
| 2001-06-17 | John H | Well, it does exist, but I have called and they said it isn't open at the moment due to rennovations. Crabtown USA is on Crain Highway/
Route 3 close to a overhead bridge, surrounded by
a Hardees, a Target, Walmart and darn close to
one end of Veterans highway and a exit to 97. Theres a gigantic sign with a idiotic looking crab, you can't miss it :)
Hope this helped. I'm dying to find some decent old school arcades near me sometime soon :P |
| 2001-05-27 | Bill P. | For the 2nd largest classic game collection listed on this website, it seems very surprising that no one has left any commentary on this place.
This may be due to the fact that it no longer exists. The address link claims that there is no such place, and what's more, there is absolutely no mention of any place called "Crabtown" in Glen Burnie, Maryland, other than on this website.
Perhaps someone could verify for certain whether this place is up and running or not. If not, then this location should be delisted. In any case, thank the lord, Funspot in New Hampshire, the world's (and this website's) largest classic game collection is still alive and well. I hope someone will clarify the situation on Crabtown as soon as possible. Cheers. |