When I saw that the Gamers Bay Convention was coming up last weekend, I thought back to when I used to play video games years ago.
I remember the heady days of Asteroids, Centipede, Pac-Man and Donkey Kong. The kind of game consoles that were hot when I was a child are now worth a small fortune if they are in the original box, in pristine condition… you know the drill. Nothing makes you feel old like when items from your childhood have experts drooling on the ‘Antiques Roadshow’.
Places like Tortuga Club had tabletop video games that we played when we were kids. Anyone else recall those? Where there were seats and joysticks on either side of a standard-height table with a screen in the middle? While everyone was heading to those idyllic spots for the beach and drinks, we children had pocketfuls of quarters because the beauty of Mother Nature just couldn’t compare to exciting and fun technology.
I also spent a pretty penny on the Centipede game that used to sit in the old cinema lobby (where Office Supply now resides, in Marquee Plaza). I was quite good at it, I must say. I think I actually had my initials listed as a top 10 scorer for a while. Gotta be proud.
When my Dad brought us home our first gaming system, it was celebration time. We spent many an hour trying to avoid Donkey Kong’s barrels and Pac-Man’s ghosts. The joysticks weren’t the smooth versions of today – you had to jam them in the direction you wanted your character to move. Many’s the time I’d end up with a big red mark in the centre of my palm from trying to accelerate Pac-Man and have him gobble up all the blue ghosts before they became dangerous again.
My parents knew what they were doing, getting us that game set. Once we kids were addicted, it was all the leverage they needed to make us do whatever they wanted. Help Mum with the dishes; do your homework; make the bed; stop fighting… or no more ColecoVision for the rest of the night. You know what I’m talking about – REALLY unreasonable requests. I swear, the pillow-thumping stopped mid-air every time the threat was made.
By the time I was in my 20s, more sophisticated systems had come to light. I had upgraded to a PC and was discovering the world of ‘Doom 2’ and ‘Quake’. Sure, it was all a bit pixilated, but it made the games of old look like calculators in comparison. I spent hours getting my soldier through hellish worlds, using the keyboard and mouse, picking up health boxes in order to stay alive while trying to find keys for doors so I could advance to the next level.
I hadn’t used a joystick in ages, so when I finally gave the Xbox a try, I ended up shooting at the ceiling and the walls rather than the monster in front of me. A flamingo could have done better.
With some practice, I improved significantly, but by then, other distractions in my life were getting priority. The Xbox went into a storage bin in the closet, and that was where it remained.
Apart from hearing about my brothers playing ‘Halo’, I hadn’t thought much about gaming for years, until my nephews Arjan and Kalyan signed up to play at Gamers Bay.
“Well, I don’t know what game you’ll be playing. I’ve never heard of these titles,” I warned them. “I think there’s ‘COD: Warzone’, ‘Ninja Storm 4’, ‘Fortnite’… ”
I was met with eye rolls. “Auntie Vicki, we’ll be playing Fortnite. You don’t know what that is?”
“Ummm… who wants ice cream?”
I don’t know that I even have time for it these days, but I may just have to dig the Xbox out and give it a go for old time’s sake. Auntie Vicki can show her nephews that she has skills. Let’s just hope it doesn’t end up being like ‘Jumanji’, where I get sucked into the game and have to fight for survival in that world. Much like if I tried my hand at ‘Fortnite’, I don’t think I’d make it out alive.
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