Tech Olive

Once upon a time (as recently as 15 years ago), online gaming was a sci-fi notion and cross-platform games were few and far between. If you were craving some social interaction to round out your gaming happy-meal or just wanted to play the newest release for the console that you didn’t get for Christmas, you went to the local arcade. I realized only recently that Craig and Tim, our lead editors, are just young enough to have missed out on the arcade experience that I took for granted growing up. It came up when we were talking about the (then) upcoming Street Fighter IV game because I waxed sentimental about standing in line at Street Fighter cabinets for a chance to risk my quarter to challenge the winner and I was the only one. We decided that an entire day spent investigating all our local arcades was warranted, to teach these boys where multiplayer gaming started. This is my tribute to the nearly extinct arcade.

We found that there where four arcades within reasonable driving distance of my apartment. I had been to two of them before, but not in a very long time. So –armed with quarters– we set off, doomed to experience some initial letdowns. At our first stop we found that the old Namco arcade at our local mall is now a “Fun Zone” where almost all the machines dispense tickets and the average age is about 8 years old. Also the second arcade stop, which flaunted “one of the biggest game rooms around” in their advert, has fewer games than most pizza parlors or theaters used to have.

We did have an awesome time at two other fine establishments though. I will share my reflections on todays arcade experience. First of all, the age of the single-quarter game is almost dead. In fact, at one arcade, we had to purchase a “playcard” that we proceeded to slide through a reader on every cabinet in order to play. Yet, Track and Field (a classic arcade staple) took the cake as the day’s best play and only at the cost of one quarter, or “credit,” if you will. We also had a great time playing Off Road. You know, three steering wheels, tiny cars viewed from an aerial perspective. Again, one credit. Unfortunately, this was not the case for the majority of games in today’s arcades. I simply miss the quarter. Ironically, at one point during our escapade, I slapped up our playcard against the glass into that magical slot that signifies life force (because that’s where the queued up credits/quarters/tokens go) and it slid right down into the cabinet. A nice woman had to climb halfway into the cabinet to get it back for us. We appreciated it. She unknowingly posed for an amusing picture (thanks again!):

Here is the biggest thing that I found to be missing though: Interaction. Tim and Craig both admit to never “entering in” or challenging someone they didn’t know to a digital dual in an arcade. Nor have they ever experienced someone doing the same to them or slapping a quarter on their machine, in essence saying “you have one more round against the AI before I beat you out of a quarter.” Where is the community of gamers? Oh right, they’re online. The other thing that seemed to be missing was the “wizards” with their entourage and audience. Sometimes I didn’t play when I spent an afternoon in an arcade. Instead, I just watched the masters at work, while ignoring signs addressing loiterers. It seems like nowadays if I wandered up to a group and stood watching, I might creep someone out. We did witness one wizard going to work on Dance Dance Revolution and in spite of all evidence to the contrary, the man had some good timing and moves when it came to stomping those beats out. However, instead of respect for his skill, I found myself wondering how he affords to practice such skill at $1.25 per play. Ouch!

Maybe it’s a good thing that the online arena allows our clever avatar names to mask us with a certain amount of anonymity, especially if we feel too old to wander around Fun Zone. It’s definitely cheaper, but I do miss playing all the way through a sidescroller with my best friends and letting the world know that we won with a victory yell, or relishing the scowl of the sore loser twice my size whose quarter I just nullified with my perfectly timed uppercut. I guess I’m old fashioned, but at least I can still uber-pwn h4krz all night, long after arcades close up shop.

To see all the images from our arcade adventure, visit our gallery!