For me, the beloved hangout place of yesteryear that is all but gone is the classic arcade. Yes there are still a few scattered arcades here and there, and Dave and Busters is thriving, but almost nobody leaves their house to play video games anymore. Not that I blame anyone for that, as we can now play thousands of games with people across the world from the comfort of our couches.
But there was something different about playing games in an arcade. The bright, colorful flashing lights, the cacophony of sound effects and music blaring from the machines, the oddly satisfying act of feeding those machines tokens and watching them spit out tickets in return, sitting in a makeshift cockpit and holding a plastic gun or rubber steering wheel. The whole environment was a fun, exciting place to be. It was a place for young men to hang out and avoid doing their homework. But most of all the neighborhood arcades felt like part of the community in a way that modern stay-at-home gaming could never replicate.
For me, the beloved hangout place of yesteryear that is all but gone is the classic arcade. Yes there are still a few scattered arcades here and there, and Dave and Busters is thriving, but almost nobody leaves their house to play video games anymore. Not that I blame anyone for that, as we can now play thousands of games with people across the world from the comfort of our couches.
But there was something different about playing games in an arcade. The bright, colorful flashing lights, the cacophony of sound effects and music blaring from the machines, the oddly satisfying act of feeding those machines tokens and watching them spit out tickets in return, sitting in a makeshift cockpit and holding a plastic gun or rubber steering wheel. The whole environment was a fun, exciting place to be. It was a place for young men to hang out and avoid doing their homework. But most of all the neighborhood arcades felt like part of the community in a way that modern stay-at-home gaming could never replicate.