Did You Ever Play Those Classic Arcade Games?

The Good Old Days

Do you remember playing those old Atari games? First, it started with those old pong games a few of us got for Christmas. For some of us it was a major technological breakthrough. Sure, we would mindlessly play an electronic form of ping pong up until 3 am, but for us kids it was as techy as landing on the moon.

In the mid to late seventies we had all sorts of these electronic game rooms to go to. You could hear the games binging and dinging before you even opened the door. It would be summertime and they usually had great air conditioning. As the old saying goes, "the rest was history" and so was our lunch money, our coin jars, piggy banks and every quarter in the couch we could get our hands on.

The game rooms were usually very dark and it took a few minutes for your eyes to get accustomed. They kept them dark so you could see those old game screens better. First you had to get a coke and of course five dollars worth of quarters. Then you were off to find your favorite video game of the week or month.

The memories of a simpler, even more financially broke time, come flooding back now. I just thought of why we all had such long hair back in the late seventies, it was because we spent all our haircut money on Asteroids or Galaga, more than likely.

Some of my all time favorites were Defender and Defender II, after I learned how to warp it. Another favorite was Space Invaders. I got addicted to one called Tempest for quite some time.There was a race car game called Pole Position that was highly addicitve and could be very competitive amongst my friends and I.

By the 1980's they started to lose their attraction or we just got older. I remember I would go to a bowling alley, just to play an old asteroids game "just for the memories" "between old friends". It was kind of sad and I somehow, still feel the loss.

In the late 80's they were all but gone, except for one or two Pac Man machines you would find in a bar or club, as kind of a second thought, novelty item. Although Pac Man was never my cup of tea, I couldn't help but dig my hand in my pocket one last time.