Going Old School

Guest post by Robert.

When was the last time you went to an arcade? Can you remember the thrill of shooting that perfectly polished steel ball into the jackpot to destroy the high score on your favorite pinball machine? Have you ever even had the experience of going head to head with a friend at the air hockey tables? Well, it ís time.

I spent a lot of time in arcades when I was a little kid. Eventually I got one of my first jobs in that very arcade fixing up the machines that I loved so much. If a quarter got jammed in Time Crisis or the puck got lost for one of the air hockey tables, I got called. I also ran the midway rides, but I am not going to talk about my time as a carny. I’m simply going to reminisce a bit about my favorite machines.
I started down the path to being an arcade fiend when I used to watch my father play pinball from time to time. I was enamored with the flashing lights and the skills that he portrayed. I never could quite get to b as good as him but I tried very hard. He would always try the new machines, with their bright lights and high definition screens, but he always went back to the full mechanical and slightly dull machines of his own youth. I think this is a good part of why I have such a love of nostalgia. There is something almost magical about how they work and the first time I looked inside one it was like peeking into a wizard’s spell book.

Once I was tall enough to actually play the games, my father began to teach me about the machines and how to play them. Pinball is a bit of a one player game though and just handing me quarters to spend as I pleased while he played at his own machine was not his idea of father and son bonding. This is how we stepped up to the air hockey tables. A game he had always loved and had waited a long time to teach me to play. I still remember the thrill I experienced when I beat him for the first time.
Revisit that old arcade and brush the dust off that old machine that everyone forgets about. It will be worth it.