I recommend the German TV documentation “Killerspiele” (3 parts).
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Is there a subtitled version of it? I’m interested on it but I’m afraid my German is not good enough.
I don’t know a subtitled version (maybe someone else?).
(I found all three parts in German on YouTube. So maybe there is a/are tool(s) that are able to generate and translate the subtitles?)
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You can ask the uploader to allow for subtitles and translations. Once he does that, one can use the YouTube tool to make the on-screen translations / captions.
That’s how I made some Italian translations for The 8-bit guy, because I wanted my father to understand his videos.
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I´m confused. This film says that by 1985 Arcade Machines were banned by legislation from public places (like Movie Theaters or Restaurants) why do I clearly remember them being everywhere(especially in those places) in the late 80s early to mid 90s? Was the ban lifted after a short time? Was it only for certain districts? Was it never enforced?
AFAIK they were right. In Germany arcade machines weren’t around in public places. I can’t remember a cinema or restaurant with an arcade machine. They came up first at the end of the 90s (if my brain is right). An exception were slot machines and pinball in bars.
Do you have an example where you have seen an arcade machine?
Oh yes, tons of! Where I´ve grown up every restaurant, movie theater and basically every kind of public place had them. Arkanoid, Double Dragon, Rampage, Street Fighter 2 etc etc etc.
That’s interesting. Because I saw arcade machines for the first time on a vacation in italy (@ZakPhoenixMcKracken in Pinarella 
). And I was totally blown away by these machines.
The german Wikipedia says (Cite): “Ab dem 5. März 1985 durften in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland an öffentlichen Plätzen keine Videospielautomaten mehr aufgestellt werden. Arcade-Automaten waren von da an nur noch in Spielhallen oder in Freizeitparks anzutreffen. Diese Regelung bestand bis zur Einführung des neuen Jugendschutzgesetzes am 26. Juli 2002.”
Quick translation in English: Since 1985 arcade machines were banned from public places. They were only present in “gambling halls” or in theme parks. This was valid until a new bill was taking effect in 2002.
@milanfahrnholz: I don’t know exactly which rules applied back then. Maybe it was allowed to offer arcade machines if there was a supervisory staff around?
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The reason I´m confused is that the documentary explictly also mentions movie theaters and restaurants and I can definitly guarantee that then biggest movie theater in my town had a Rampage machine (which I also spotted at a restraurant at a bathing lake in our area).
And also Arkanoid and Double Dragon at restaurants in the town I was born in. I think some sort of supervisory staff has to be around anyway, because of the maintance etc. (you can´t really compare Arcade machines to public cigarette or drinking vending machines, video games need more active care than that) so I´m really not sure what the difference was.
But of course I also noted their presence in gambling halls which pissed every kid my age off since we could see the attracts of Street Fighter 2 and Ghosts´n´Goblins from outside and weren´t allowed to get in while everyone inside was mainly preoccupied with Slotmachines and Pool, and completly neglegted the video games.
I however also clearly remember first playing Street Fighter 2 (on the original machine) at the campgrounds of Lake Garda in the mid 90s.
Funnily enough, while I´m too young for the first wave of the late 70s and early 80s my dad cannot for the life of him remember ever having seen a Space Invaders or Pac Man machine out in the open.
In additon to all that you had video game consoles and computers with games to try out in every supermarket, toystore or just any kind of shop.
Or when you couldn´t walk the streets and see someone playing with his gameboy.
I really miss those days when Video Games were absolutly everywhere and not just at home.
That was a really good idea. I´ve never actually seen anyone do that, though.
Not in my hometown. I would definitely remember an arcade machine. I my childhood I stumbled over them only in theme parks. But maybe this was just coincidence, because in bars and some restaurants there were slot and gambling machines. Maybe they were just more profitable. 
Yes, I agree. But they are still everywhere on the cell phones/smartphones/mobile devices.
Which is funny, since I´m from a considerably smaller town and found some machines in restaurants even in bordering villages. Maybe they took an exception in bavaria? I really have no idea.
Those too, and that used to irritate me as well. The slot machines in restaurants had warning labels on them that stated that playing with them under 18 was prohibited, while it was their presence that stoped us from entering the halls where the video game stood (which by law couldn´t be considered gambling). Yet there they were out in the open.
The difference is, when I see someone now messing with his phone I have no way of telling if it´s a game they´re playing or if they do something else entirely. While with something like a Gameboy if the sound was up enough and you stood close enough you could even hear what game it was they were playing.
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Coincidentally my first experience regarding arcade machines was also in Italy (Jesolo)!
At least you can be certain it’s not productive work 