Once upon a time long long ago a mother was pushing a trolley with a little boy through a typical U.S. shopping mal.
The boy did find all fascinating, the flower store, the food area, the long hallways with all those interesting shops and people to watch, he even did love the clothing shops his mother used to spend most of the time forcing him to try so unimportant stuff like pants.
But the little boy would never forget the day mama did steer the trolley past the “Video Games Arcade Hall”
Strange sounds, colorful lights and all those much older kids running around or standing in fron´t of devices that are beaming light that reflects from their faces. And other stuff that was colorful and reminded him of toys and fun.
They way some kids did look into those devices made the little boy curious, it must be something very important… and even some older almost adults seem to have even more kids standing around them watching them moving and hitting buttons and looking like wise guys.
What was that? Mom stop..mom stop … i wan´t to go in there.
Of course I received a shaking no and the stupid trolley did move on to the next wonderful pair of socks i had to smile at.
I had to become a little older still to even reach to them. 🙂
I think back then , that was one of the starting points of my fascination that stayed with me until to today: Games! Arcade Games!
But first my live had an evil plan for me. Lets call it Germany!
Yes. my karma decided that i should spend my live growing up in the country that probably was the worst place to love “Arcades” as a teenager.
Why?
Germany had released a law for the protection of children and youth in the year of 1980.
This included that at the end arcades are only allowed for adults age 18+.
So instead like in the U.S.A. finding the Arcades everywhere as a fun entertainment for kids and teenagers , an area parents did let their beloved feel like grown ups , i mean even in Disneyland they had Arcades!, you could only find Video Game machines in the more unwelcoming dark adult-shops, often behind a dark window with a dark door and they had other adult stuff also.
I remember watching movies like “The Lasts Starfighter” or “Tron” in germany. They connected the Arcade Player with becoming a real Hero.
The teenagers in “The Last Starfighter” played so good an arcade game, that was secretly placed from a Galactic Starfleet, to find the ones to join their force.
I had to always wait for the vacation time , when we travelled back to U.S.A for 6 weeks.
And believe me , the first thing i did in every hotel we stayed is to search for a Video Game Arcade Machine.
And happy me, my mom had some coins for me i was allowed to spend.
Took me sometimes a lot of time to decide what “Video Game Machine” should have the privilege to receive my precious coins, as i only had limited amounts.
Back in Germany i had to wait more years to come until under a christmas tree i was lucky to get a Atari Console with Pac-Man and Space Invaders!!
I was so excited with my brother.
But now guess what. They did not work! It was an import from the U.S.A my family did send us and they did not work with the German TV System. We had to wait again for another year until the consoles slowly made the way also to germany.
Oh yes. And i had cool parents who gave me one day a small toy version of an arcade. Was one of the best toys i got.
It was a Donkey Kong.
Well that was my little story remembering “Arcades”
Well today Arcades are still around, but the hype is gone in western cultures compared to the early 1980´s
Different in Asian cultures.
There it has become a part of culture to visit arcade places and have fun and they have today the most advanced and high-tech arcades of all.
They just understood more than us that you have more fun with video games if you meet out of the house and socialize.
We all moved to much into our private rooms and forgot how fun it was to meet a stranger and show him how to play an arcade game.
Myrcello
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