| ...they just get pushed into a dark corner and forgotten about.
I went to Jillian's in Boston a few weeks ago. For those who've never been, Jillians is a big gaming facility and pool hall off Lansdowne Street. There are about fifty pool tables, several dart boards, about a thousand televisions, and, of course, and entire floor of video games. A while back, Jillians removed the coin-op system in favor of a card system. You put points on a "Player's Card", and then you swipe it into a game machine in order to get credits.
So I'm wandering around, watching people play Time Crisis 2 and House Of The Dead 2, and some huge tank game, and this vibrating jetski machine, and I see, over in the far corner, near the cigarette machine and the restrooms, an old arcade game. I wander over to this deserted wasteland, and see the logo painted on the side of the machine. It's Galaga! I turn the corner...
Tetris! Ms. Pac Man! Dig Dug! Arkanoid! All of them just sitting there with their ancient sprite-based graphics and antique joysticks (or, in the case of Arkanoid, that weird metal wheel). Of course, with that whole area void of people, I thought that these games had been sitting there forever with nary a person even touching them. But lo and behold, I had been in the presence of greatness. For when I finished that first game of Ms. Pac Man, and looked at the high scores table, who was it that had the #1 high score? That's right! None other than AAA, the greatest gamer in history, record holder for high score in nearly every game at almost every arcade in North America. To think, he's still around after all these years...
I must have sat there and played for hours. My friend Seaver came over and said "Hey, you've gotta check out this game! You sit and pedal a bike and it flies through the air!" I just pointed and said, "Tell me that your game is cooler than this bouncing strawberry, and I'll go over right now." He knew I was right, and began playing Galaga instead. Old video games kick ass.
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