Joe's Fun House

Joe's Fun House. . A game arcade, Joe's Fun House was owned by Joseph S. and Alice Miller of Geneva-on-the-Lake from 1953 to 1994. Joe was a journeyman electrician who was self-taught in many disciplines, including the restaurant business. He married Alice Campbell Robinson of Madison, a widow with two children, and the couple purchased Chapman's Diner, Restaurant and Bar, Route 20, Geneva. , The restaurant work load was so great, the couple agreed to trade Chapman's for The Cleveland Inn at the resort, reasoning that it would be easier to work hard three months a year rather than 12. Joe built the arcade structure to the front of the Inn in 1956 and named it Joe's Fun House. The arcade was known for its many classic arcade games from the 1940s and the prizes that could be won on the coupon system. The couple's son, Tom, and Alice's daughters, Nancy and Mary Jane, all worked in the arcade, which provided the means for them to go to college and earn advanced degrees. Alice and Tom ran the business after Alice and Joe divorced in 1981. , What Happens in the Booth Stays in the Booth , The photo booth was a popular arcade attraction that produced a strip of photos about three minutes after the last flash went off. Subjects sat behind a waist-length curtain, and adventurous females sometimes stripped for the camera while couples recorded intimate moments between themselves. An arcade operator became suspicious whenever they saw underwear around the ankles of the person(s) in the booth. , Naughty Prize , Many arcades of the 1950s featured mischievous art that dispensed post-card sized images of ladies in seductive outfits (or no outfit), as well as cards featuring movie star portraits. At Joe's, these cards cost 2 cents until the 1970s, when they were raised to a dime. , Joe Miller died in 2010 at the age of 96; Alice died in 1997.