I spent the bulk of my youth in places like this. Dark, dingy, smoky rooms filled with questionable clientele. Money would be changing hands constantly. Conversation was practically non-existent. The only noises that could be heard would be the electronic chirpings of the machines and the occasional frustrated curse word. I shudder to think how much money I wasted. How many hours I spent attempting to complete whimsical, yet impossible goals. These places are rapidly going the way of the dinosaur. It makes me sad to think that a new generation of kids will be unable to waste their time and their quarters in that magical place known as the arcade.
Many, many years ago arcades used to be everywhere. They used to be a staple in every shopping mall. In the downtown area of every major city you were guaranteed to see at least 2 or 3 of them in close proximity to each other. Giant rooms filled with every variety of video game and pinball machine imaginable. A formerly booming business funded purely by millions of individual quarters. They were never the most elegant of establishments either. Pretty much all of them had the same stereotypical elements. You had the hunchbacked elderly woman who used to wander around the joint with that dirty pocket-lined apron filled with hundreds of quarters. She would wander around like a zombie, giving quarters out to young punks with amazing robot like dexterity and speed while a cigarette would dangle precariously from her mouth. I always found her amusing, because I knew she had absolutely no conception of the business that funded her salary. It was pretty much a given that she had never even touched a joystick in her entire life. Video game joystick people, I repeat video game. After closing she wasn't going to get in a few games of Frogger before she went home for the night, nor would she able to give her customers sage like advice on how to get to the final stage of Dragon's Lair. She was a living, breathing change machine. Of course if the "change lady" wasn't around you could always get quarters from the man behind the giant counter. Every arcade had one of these. One of these unbelievably tall counters maintained by a surly, questionably clean, overweight individual whose job was not only to shell out the coins, but also keep a watchful eye on the customers from his elevated position. Of course his security duties never took place outside of the counter. If someone was a bit too frustrated with a particular machine and proceeded to vent their frustration in a physical manner, counter man sprung into action. If you can call screaming at the customer, springing into action. His bellowing commands would halt anyone in their tracks. "HEY! Cut it out!" or "YO! Quit it or yer out of here!" Of course when his shift would end, counter man would descend from his perch only to reveal that his stature was something even Napoleon would snicker at. Pretty much all arcades had the same layout. All of the new games were at the front, pinball machines would be collected together somewhere around the middle and all of the older games would be jammed together in the back. The classic arcade had a real underground feel to it. A dark, seedy atmosphere that you knew your parents would never approve of if they knew that was the kind of place you were spending your hard earned allowance. They only picked you up outside of the establishment, lord help you if they knew what it was like on the inside of this den of video game iniquity. It was a great place.
As years went
on the business began to change. Drastic changes. The change lady was
replaced by a finicky, dollar sucking coin dispenser. Quarters were replaced
with tokens. Smoking was prohibited. Shopping malls phased out arcades
altogether due to the gathering of what was classified as an "undesirable
element." New pinball machines were becoming less and less frequent.
Black painted walls were replaced with bright white paint and illuminating
fluorescent lights. The traditional upright consoles were being replaced
by monstrosities that require you to perform dance movements or operate
bicycle pedals in order to score points. It's just not the same. Soon
arcades where disappearing altogether. This can mainly be attributed to
the rapidly evolving home entertainment industry. Who would want to leave
the house to play the newest video games in a dark musty room when they
could do it just as easily in the comfort of their own living room? Pretty
much the only place you can find a wide assortment of coin-operated video
games in one room are Chuck E. Cheese's or some other birthday themed
party establishment. Nobody makes pinball machines anymore. Video game
development is solely focused on the home console market. The arcade is
dead. In all of my years of being a loyal patron of these establishments
I don't think I learned one damn thing. No life lessons were learned in
these places. It was just a place I could go to get away from the troubles
of the world for a few hours. A sanctuary that soon will be gone forever.
I guess I'm just sadly nostalgic about they way things were. I wonder
what that change lady is doing now?
Got Something You wanna say to this Guy? Say it Here!or mail to:christian@boldopinion.com
