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When things were simple
By maibock
"Now Class.. quiet down please", my eighth grade homeroom teacher informed us. "We're going to have a new student join us today, when he arrives please make sure you make him welcomed."
Awesome, nothing stirs up the excitement of a classroom than the expectation of a new kid joining your class. Well, apart from maybe a good snow fall, that could bring a classroom to a fever-pitch. Or even the first warm spring day after the school ground lawns were cut. The hypnotic smells of cut grass wafting through the open windows, enticing each and every kid, reminding them that summer break was right around the corner.
However, a new student joining always led to lots of speculation. Would it be the nice-looking Swedish girl exchange student? Or worse, could it be another bully to join the swelling ranks of deviancy? Most likely, you just hoped it was a normal kid who had similar tastes and who didn't overly screw with the natural order of things in an 8th grade class. Usually by Junior High, the fragile social fabric was pretty much set in place. You had the jocks, wasteheads and brainiacs mixed in with the "normal" kids and then those, like myself, who could travel flawlessly from one group to the next, without ever really being totally absorbed by either culture
Dave came walking in looking a bit shy, but with a bit of confidence. Most of all, he looked normal. It didn't take too long for him to melt into our group as I had invited him to sit with us during lunch. He came from Connecticut as his father was transferred to a branch outside of Philadelphia. We liked the same movies, had similar tastes in sports, enjoyed the occasional company of girls, but best of all, he also had an Atari VCS. Like reciting elements off the Periodic Table, those who had an Atari could recite all the games they had, and all they games they wanted. Dave was no exception. We compared lists, commented on those we didn't have, those we wanted, those that "looked gay" and then the conversation wandered into arcade games, a natural progression as it was.
Freedom and all that
To make things even more accommodating, the house Dave's family moved into was a short bike ride away, and it quickly became a well-travelled route. Yeah, I had other neighborhood friends, but Dave and I seemed to really hit it off, in fact we were so alike, that we were often mistaken as brothers. What also helped with the compatibility, was that both Dave and I had similar mischievous streaks. Frequently on weekends, I'd say I was staying the night at Dave's house and he'd reciprocate, leaving us to roam around town, on our bikes, at all hours of the night. We would close down most of the shops, playing various arcade machines until we were finally forced to go home. Once you taste the first sense of freedom of riding your bike late, late at night, with not a care in the world, you want to savor the moments and look forward to going out again. There's that feeling of doing something that you really shouldn't be, that makes you realize you have life by the balls and you're not about the let go. All five senses are utterly in overload, as the wind blows through you, carrying the scents of every damn flower you happen to pass by. You wish you could ride forever and sometimes you try, but eventually the lack of sleep takes over and you realize it's about time to head home.
Below you can see some of the shops mapped out, that we'd frequent:
A - Defender was here at the local Wawa convenience store. The store is still there, and oddly enough has a distinct smell which brings back a ton of memories. As I'm in line buying a coffee, I glance to where the machine stood often wondering if anyone else gives a shit..
B - Tony's Pizza had Pacman, Centipede and Tempest - What a beautiful collection of machines this guy had. Their pizza sucked and after a few years went out of business, but man I spent a small fortune in quarters there.
C - The local super market which had Berserk - long before there were claw machines. During it's reign there, I went along shopping pretty much every week.
D - Mackey's Pharmacy - Oddly enough, they had a Wizard of Wor machine tucked away in the back by an old phone booth. My ninth grade girlfriend's mom worked there, so visits were kind of limited.
E - a local deli which had Tutankham - it wasn't a normal stop for us, but every so often we had to stop by and play. Just because...
F - no machines here, but as a point of reference this butcher shop is where I started my first job which fuelled my arcade spending habits. Some would say it was run by the Mob, but I would argue they were just business men who some how got away with breaking the law quite frequently. I was the only non-Italian working there. Talk about a learning experience. Once a year I still pop in and say "Hi"...
A Thing of Beauty
Soon enough we were all approaching the age where we'd get our driver's licenses and some were fortunate enough to have a car of their own, while the rest of us drove our parents' cars. Dave got an AMC Pacer that was just a hideously ugly car, but it was transportation and nobody really gave a shit what it looked like, even though it resembled a fish bowl. This new found freedom opened up a whole new library of arcade games to go play. We'd frequent one of the local malls, which had an Aladdin's Castle, it was truly the mecca for arcade games in our area. Another Pizza shop was found a short drive away that boasted a mini arcade which had about 6 machines running at all times, exposing us to even newer games, that had not yet been played before. Some areas we explored turned out to be a bust, but it was the sheer joy of exploration that kept us searching for more areas to play. We'd stop off at bowling alleys, diners, miniature golf areas, sometimes running into an odd grocery store, all the while searching. We were without a doubt, in the golden age of arcade games and we had a real desire to play all that we could.
2007
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