When you walk down Manitou Avenue in Manitou Springs, you’ll hear the place before you see it. Bells ring, coins clink, and old machines buzz and chime. Behind a candy stand called Patsy’s is the Manitou Springs Penny Arcade, one of the oldest arcades in the American West. Today it has eight red-and-white buildings and about 450 to 500 games and kiddie rides.
The arcade began in 1933 as a bingo hall. Its owner, Jack Kerns, was so well known that people in town called him “Bingo Jack.” But then the Colorado attorney general decided that bingo for profit was gambling, and gambling was against the law. Jack Kerns didn’t give up. Instead, he filled his building with coin-operated games and instant photo booths.
Over the years, Jack kept on buying new machines. In the 1950s, he bought pinball machines, and in the 1960s, he bought the first electronic games. When he died in the early 1970s, the arcade had four buildings. His wife sold the business to two of their sons. One son, Alan Kerns, had started working there when he was six years old. He ran the arcade for about 45 years, and he made it twice as big.
Alan Kerns had a simple rule: an old game keeps its old price. If a game cost a penny when it was new, it still costs a penny today. The oldest game in the arcade is an English football (soccer) game with little metal players. The game itself is more than 100 years old, and it still costs one cent. Alan once told a reporter that he had no idea how much money that game had earned over the years.
Walking through the arcade feels like walking through history. There are hand-cranked “movie” machines, Zoltar fortune tellers, and old shooting galleries. There are pinball machines from almost every decade since the 1910s, and video games like Pac-Man and Galaga. Little children can ride about 80 coin-operated kiddie rides for a quarter or two. Mechanics work hard to keep these old machines running, and sometimes they have to order parts from overseas.
Many games pay out paper tickets. Skee-Ball is the most famous, and the arcade still uses lanes from 1963. Another favorite is the Derby, a horse race game from England. Up to 12 players roll balls into holes, and the better they roll, the faster their horses go. Children stuff long strips of tickets into their pockets, and families add their tickets together. Then they turn them in at the prize counter. A few tickets buy a piece of candy, and 1,000 or more can buy a stuffed animal. Kids often stand at the counter for a long time and ask themselves which prize they should choose.
The arcade is cheap and fun, so people come back year after year. On a sunny holiday weekend, more than 2,500 people may visit. Parents show their children the games they grew up with. One man from the Chicago area made the arcade a stop on his trip to Colorado every year for seven years. In 2026, a travel magazine compared more than 200 arcades and named this one the best west of the Mississippi River.
Patsy’s candy stand is even older than the arcade. Its story begins with Patrick “Patsy” Mahaney, an Irishman who had worked as a waiter, a railroad man, and an actor. People remembered him for his singing and yodeling. He made candied popcorn and then saltwater taffy, and Patsy’s says its Manitou Springs store dates to 1903. In 1956, the Niswonger family bought the business. Their factory in Colorado Springs still makes popcorn in an old air popper. The family once tried a new popper, but the popcorn came out too hard! Visitors buy taffy and caramel popcorn, and they eat ice cream on benches near the games.
By 2024, Alan Kerns was ready to retire. His first sale fell through, and some buyers wanted to turn the old buildings into stores. Many people wondered if the arcade would survive. Then, in May 2025, a longtime Manitou resident named John Weiss bought it. Years before, he had brought his three sons to the arcade so often that he and Alan became friends. Weiss calls himself the arcade’s “caretaker,” not its owner. He plans to keep about 75 percent of the arcade exactly the same, and all 31 workers kept their jobs. In August 2026, he reopened an old-style snack bar where workers wear striped uniforms and paper hats.
People who live in Manitou Springs say the arcade is a big part of their lives. If you visit, bring a pocket full of coins. It’s one of the few places in America where a penny can still buy some fun. If you could play only one game at the arcade, which game would you choose?