pac-man city

I mentioned in a previous post how my dad, my brother and I used to go play video games at the Apollo II tanning salon in my hometown. Before Apollo opened, we used to go to Pac-Man City, another arcade on the other side of town. Pac-Man City was actually a little better arcade than Apollo, but after they installed pool tables, my dad was wary of letting his young children hang around. Who could blame him? Pool halls were rough places, especially back then.

At Pac-Man City we had our choice of (obviously) Pac-Man games, plus Asteroids, Galaga, Gyrus, Donkey Kong, Dig-Dug, Q-Bert, pinball and Lord knows what else. For a crappy arcade, it had a lot of options. The video games from back then really were my favorites. They were simple, cheap, low-tech ways to have fun.

As time went on, all my old favorites got replaced by more sophisticated, realistic video games that I’ll never understand. The practice of the gaming industry making things increasingly complicated turned me off and I honestly haven’t paid much attention to gaming since the ‘80s. I’ve tried some of the new games, but they’re way too involved and expensive for me.

I have seriously entertained the thought of purchasing a vintage or rebuilt video game machine with those early ‘80s games on them. They’re on the internet and stores like Frontgate and Brookstone sell them. But they are quite expensive (up to $3000) and finding a space for one here at the house would be a problem.

In the meantime, I’ve found a suitable substitute: A company called JackksPacific has come out with a 5-in-one video game system that you can plug up to your TV’s audio-video jacks. The one I bought at Wal-Mart has Pac-Man, Dig-Dug, Galaxian, Rally-X, and Bosconian. The other one I want has Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga and several other games. It’s really cool. And incredibly cheap. The consoles sell for less than $20.00.

Looking back, some of the games are so simple it’s embarrassing, but it harkens back to the time when things seemed a little more innocent and natural, like childhood is supposed to be. I know things weren’t perfect back then, but having a game that was fun for the whole family (and still is) made life a little more bearable, for me anyway. We, my dad and brother and I, were never closer to each other than wee were back then. In fact, think Dad was a little nostalgic when I showed him what I bought. That’s got to count for something.