Funspot founder Bob Lawton dies at 90

Paul Feely, The New Hampshire Union Leader, Manchester
·2 min read

Nov. 11—Bob Lawton, founder of Funspot in Laconia — dubbed the largest arcade in the world by Guinness World Records in 2008 — has died. He was 90.

Funspot staff announced Lawton's death on social media Thursday afternoon.

"With sad hearts we announce that our founder, Bob Lawton has passed on," read a post on Facebook and Twitter. "He died peacefully surrounded by family. He was 90 years old. Funspot will continue to offer family fun and will now be looked after by the next generation of Lawtons. R.I.P. Bob! 1931-2021. We'll miss you."

Lawton died early Thursday, a Funspot staff member who answered the phone confirmed.

Bob Lawton founded Funspot with his late brother, John, in 1952. After borrowing $750 from their maternal grandmother, the brothers built a nine-hole miniature golf course in rented space on the second floor of Tarlson's Arcade on Lakeside Avenue in Weirs Beach.

The pair grossed $2,900 during their first year of operation, at a time when Lawton said they were paying workers just 35 cents an hour.

In 1964, the business relocated to Endicott Street North and eventually expanded into a 7,000-square-foot family entertainment venue featuring a 20-lane candlepin bowling alley, the D.J. Long Tavern, Skee-Ball, kiddie bumper cars and rides, a replica of the 1952 original indoor mini-golf course, a 400-seat bingo parlor, a free party room, prize games and more than 500 video games.

Funspot hit the big time in 1977 when video games started becoming popular.

"We knew pretty quickly to go with video games if we wanted to stay in business," Lawton told the Union Leader in a 2020 interview.

Some 300 of Funspot's video games are housed in the American Classic Arcade Museum on the second floor of Funspot. Games from 1987 or earlier are featured, all of them working and available for customers to play, including such favorites as Donkey Kong, Space Invaders, and Pac-Man.

"People can't believe it when they walk in and see 300 games that they used to play and are hearing the music that they used to hear in the 1980s when they were playing them," Lawton told the Union Leader in 2020.

In 1996, Bob and his son Tim, started the Lake Winnipesaukee Historical Society.

Lawton also served 16 years in the New Hampshire state legislature. He is credited with introducing a bill during the 1960s to have the state motto, "Live Free or Die," printed on New Hampshire license plates.