The Arcade

As my son approaches his birthday, I began to think back about my own birthday experiences of my youth. Being a kid growing up in the eighties, one image came to mind, the arcade. The arcade is where many birthday parties were held, and a lot of money was spent 25 cents at a time. Even as I got older, the arcade became the meeting place for me, and my friends. The atmosphere of the arcade was always one of fun and excitement, which sometimes turned competitive. While I thought back and smiled on those happy memories, I realized I hadn't been in a real arcade in almost a decade. Then I realized that all the arcades that I went to growing up were now gone. Vacant spaces in strip malls, just empty shells of their former glory.

During the past few years I hadn’t given arcades much thought, I was just to busy with the rest of my life. There was college, and then a real job, followed by marriage, a house, and now a baby. The thought of going to an arcade hadn’t really crossed my mind. Then it hit me! My son will never experience the thrill of an video arcade. I have to admit I got kind of upset about that. I know I shouldn’t be upset about my son never going to an arcade, he can play all the same games safely at home, but it’s just not the same.

The arcade was more than just the video games you plated there. It was the whole experience, the way the arcade was filled with darkness and flashes of light all at the same time. The constant blurs of zips, zaps, and zooms, broken periodically by the sound of quarters spilling out of the coin machines. The feeling of excitement when you spotted the machine you wanted to play was free, and the disappointment you felt when you realized it was “out of order”. Sure if you look hard enough you can find place that resembles an arcade, but their not real arcades, not like the one I remember. I’m sure my son will never miss not going to the arcade, or how you felt when your friends said “I’m having my birthday at the arcade”. I just wish my son could have all those great experiences I had growing up and the arcade was definitely one of them.

Some people say that parents try to relive their youth through their children. I don’t want to relive my youth through my son, I just want my son to be able to look back on his youth and smile, the way I do when I think about those birthday parties at the arcade. So in memory of the arcade, we bid you farewell old friend may you live on in our memories.