Chuck E. Cheese to open second Adventure World in Plano<\/a><\/p>\nConstruction follows the pandemic<\/p>\n
The COVID-19 pandemic depleted the couple\u2019s savings, Bell said. It took about two years for customers to begin returning to their previous numbers.
Just as the arcade appeared to be recovering, construction on Keller Hicks Road began outside the business on Feb. 12, 2024.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Bell said she expected the work to take about two years but now understands it will not be completed until spring 2027. Road closure signs, changing traffic patterns and navigation apps led some customers to believe the arcade was inaccessible, she said.<\/p>\n
![\"Road]()
<\/p>\n
Road construction continues along Keller Hicks Road outside Tornado Terry\u2019s Family Amusement Center in Fort Worth on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026.<\/p>\n
Michael Cuviello\/Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
Russell Bergman, a customer since about 2009 and a volunteer at Tornado Terry\u2019s for the past two years, said he repeatedly saw customers arrive frustrated after navigation apps directed them to park at a nearby apartment complex and walk to the business.<\/p>\n
Some said they would not return until construction was finished.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s killing this place,\u201d Bergman said.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
Bell said she has not drawn a paycheck since September 2025 and has operated without paid employees since August 2025. She has relied on credit cards and sold a 1968 Camaro that Terry rebuilt for her to pay property taxes.<\/p>\n
She has held onto the 1968 truck Terry received when he was 15.<\/p>\n
Friends and customers now volunteer to run the counter, replenish tickets and help maintain the games.<\/p>\n
The anonymous family\u2019s pledge gives Bell hope that the arcade can survive until customers regain easier access. It does not eliminate the expense of maintaining aging games and keeping the business operating while construction continues.<\/p>\n
Bergman nevertheless believes customers will return. Before the pandemic and road work, he said, Tornado Terry\u2019s could become so crowded on weekends that people struggled to move through it.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce that construction is done, people are going to come back in droves,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
More than machines<\/p>\n
Terry entered the arcade business in the early 1980s after buying an existing arcade and vending route called Video Point.
Customers sometimes mistook it for a video rental store.<\/p>\n
Bell said. Around 1990, the couple renamed the business Tornado Terry\u2019s, a reference to Terry\u2019s preferred Tornado foosball tables.<\/p>\n
Tornado Terry\u2019s has retained traditional tokens, paper prize tickets, pool tables and a mixture of classic and newer games as many competitors moved to electronic cards and larger entertainment centers.<\/p>\n
Bell said that approach is less profitable but central to the affordable, alcohol-free experience she and Terry wanted to offer families.<\/p>\n
Terry often said they wanted to \u201cmake a living, not a killing,\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing like seeing a kid run through the arcade with an armload of tickets screaming, \u2018I\u2019m rich,\u2019\u201d Bell said. \u201cYou just don\u2019t get that. That\u2019s nothing but pure joy.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\u00a0A]()
<\/p>\n
\u00a0A young customer gathers prize tickets at Tornado Terry\u2019s Family Amusement Center in Fort Worth on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026.<\/p>\n
Michael Cuviello\/Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
The games represent decades of investment. Bell said she and Terry once paid $25,000 for a motion-based Cruis\u2019n USA game. The arcade also has nine pinball machines, most from the 1980s and 1990s, that have become increasingly difficult to maintain as parts disappear.<\/p>\n
Terry was the arcade\u2019s full-time technician and its public face. He played games with children, taught them to shoot pool and spent hours talking with customers. He died of heart failure in February 2023 at age 62.<\/p>\n
\u201cI miss him horribly,\u201d Bell said. \u201cHe was all about the games, and he was all about the kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not everything inside Tornado Terry\u2019s received an auction sticker.<\/p>\n
Bell never intended to sell an Addams Family pinball machine the couple bought new in 1992 or a custom Dragon\u2019s Lair cabinet Terry built.<\/p>\n
Terry did not know Don Bluth personally, but Dragon\u2019s Lair, which featured Bluth\u2019s animation, was his favorite arcade game. His admiration for the former Disney animator\u2019s work led him to build the custom cabinet.<\/p>\n
![\"Animator]()
<\/p>\n
Animator Don Bluth\u2019s signature appears across the marquee of the custom Dragon\u2019s Lair cabinet built by the late Terry Bell at Tornado Terry\u2019s Family Amusement Center in Fort Worth. Dragon\u2019s Lair, which featured Bluth\u2019s animation, was Bell\u2019s favorite arcade game<\/p>\n
Michael Cuviello\/Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
After Terry\u2019s death, Bergman took a photograph of Terry playing the game and other Dragon\u2019s Lair memorabilia to a Dallas fan convention. He told Bluth about Terry and showed him pictures of the cabinet.<\/p>\n
When Bluth saw the photograph, he declined to sign an empty portion.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said, \u2018I want to sign my name on him,\u2019\u201d Bergman recalled.<\/p>\n
Bluth wrote his name across Terry\u2019s image and also signed the cabinet. The photograph now hangs behind the machine Terry built.
\u201cI just couldn\u2019t believe he understood the love that went into that,\u201d Bergman said.<\/p>\n
Related: Dallas theater leaders promote merger<\/a><\/p>\nA place families call home<\/p>\n
![\"Bryce]()
<\/p>\n
Bryce Delin plays Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with one of his sons at Tornado Terry\u2019s Family Amusement Center in Fort Worth on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. Delin arrived with sons Jackson and Luke believing it would be their final visit to the arcade where he grew up, then learned that owner Shannon Bell had canceled the closing.<\/p>\n
Michael Cuviello\/Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
Donna Martinez has brought her children to Tornado Terry\u2019s since 2009. Her family has celebrated birthdays there, and her children, now 14 and 15, continue to visit.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a nice, clean place for the kids to come and do something,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cIt\u2019s more interactive. It\u2019s a place to come with friends.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martinez said the closing announcement saddened her. Learning the arcade would remain open brought relief.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow they can keep coming back, and we can still have birthday parties,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Bell said customers often describe Tornado Terry\u2019s as a second home.<\/p>\n
\u201cParents talk about, \u2018This is home. We\u2019re safe. Our kids are safe here,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Bryce Delin arrived Wednesday with his sons, Jackson and Luke, believing he was bringing them for one final visit to the arcade where he grew up playing games.<\/p>\n
When Delin learned that Bell had called off the closing, his expression shifted from surprise to joy.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo way,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"A]()
<\/p>\n
A customer plays Terminator Salvation at Tornado Terry\u2019s Family Amusement Center in Fort Worth on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Michael Cuviello\/Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
Delin was expecting to say goodbye. Instead, he left knowing he could keep sharing with Jackson and Luke the place that had given him so much joy growing up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just thankful they found a way to stay open,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tornado Terry\u2019s owner Shannon Bell sits beside a custom Dragon\u2019s Lair cabinet built by her late husband, Terry…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":400584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[826,116,118,117,88032,87998,88643,89217],"class_list":["post-400583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-arts-entertainment","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-news","tag-tp-dallas-fortworth","tag-tp-dallas","tag-tp-fort-worth","tag-tp-tarrant-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/400584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}