Arcade Memories

[Battra92]

Or an excuse for me to talk about my bachelor party.

 

So yesterday for my bachelor party my groomsmen thankfully eschewed the traditional silicone enhanced large breasted strippers and alcohol for my bachelor party and instead too me to Funspot in Laconia, NH. It's a bit out in the middle of nowhere and for us was a four hour drive. It's also the largest arcade on earth!

 

Between approximately 10:30am and 6:30 PM we played classic arcade games. I have now played a Computer Space game as well as a real Pong arcade machine.

 

What dawned on me while playing through the endless rows of video and pinball (and Video Pinball) machines was just how the youth today won't have the same thrill with getting to play an arcade game. As a child if my parents let me play an arcade game it was a treat! Now children simply are given consoles and smartphones just shortly after their ass is slapped and they start breathing on their own.

 

Also, I will say this: you can download a ROM but you can't download a pinball game. I sing the praises of the Pinball Hall of Fame games (especially the Williams Collection and the unnamed sequel that they are "busy acquiring licenses for") but quite frankly they just aren't the same as playing a real table.

 

So tell us about your experiences with arcades. What do you like about arcades that can't be replicated at home?

[Pirandello]

Light gun games.

 

Because, goddamn it, Time Crisis has to be enjoyed in the right environment. An arcade is just that.

 

I'm not sure if it counts, but that was what I grew up loving in arcades. It was always 'that one game' that I had to play. That, and House of the Dead, which my parents didn't like me playing at all.