Thumbusters
Thumbusters was an arcade business located at 565 Red River Road, Thunder Bay, Ontario, in the early 1990s. Children from Pine Street School would venture down after school to play there.
It was owned by former NHL player Walt Poddubny (1960-2009) and run by him and his brother Peter. It was located in the same building as Carmen's Barber Shop.
Several Facebook users reminisced about this arcade in the Thunder Bay Memories group on 22 July 2018:
- "Yes I do....I think [Walt Poddubny] owned it. I went there all the time!! ... I used to live on Rupert and go there to buy games. I remember a few different people telling me he was an owner. I could be wrong though." - Jacob Einarson
- "You are correct. Walt was my late husband and he did own Thumb Busters." - Tammy Kane
- "My boyfriend knew Walt very well. By the sounds of it he was a great guy. My boyfriend has shared many hilarious stories with me about Walt. RIP Walt. He calls him 'Padubblies'. Lol." - Robyn Michelle
- "Walt was the owner of the business. He also ran it with his brother, Peter Poddubny. Well I can't say he ran it, as Walt and Peter just basically played video games all day! When customers came in they played with the customers. Just a win-win job! [Walt was there] only in the summers. I'm not sure how long it was in business for. Peter may have taken over the business after the [NHL] season started [since Walt was an active NHL player until the end of the 1992 season.]" - Tammy Kane, February 2019
Sources
Google Maps [1]