personal history

April 10, 1987: a trip from Yokota Air Base, Japan to Osan Air Base, South Korea, headed for Itaewon.

At fifteen years of age I'd lived in three different countries (including the US), and I was now visiting a fifth (including a long drive through Canada), albeit only for four days. The prospect of seeing a bit of South Korea was thrilling.

I’ve written before about how limited my experiences with arcades has been, and while that’s a perennial topic with me whenever it comes up, there’s more to tell than what video games I’ve never ever played: the subject of this entry is going to be pinball, and while there are some good associations, there are also some painful ones, too.

This was the year my father passed away, and he was a pinball enthusiast.

Actually, that may be a bit of an understatement. 

“War” is an easy metaphor often used to describe a given competition, and companies sometimes exploit our tendency to attach ourselves to tribal modes of thinking in order to move product.

In the case of a few media companies in competition with one another, war isn’t a valid metaphor, it’s marketing for invented tribes.

Previously on Game Restart: [it’s a series]

N-game.

Because of the Wavebird, games which were released for every platform of that generation wound up being purchased just for the GameCube. Wireless was a pretty big deal, especially since the new CRT television didn’t require me to sit so close to the display in order to play. Besides, then you get to use the Wavebird.

Previously on Game Restart: [it’s a series]

The thing about arcades is that arcades are expensive. 

Adjusted for inflation, a quarter in early 80s money is approximately 63¢ in today’s money at the time of this writing. Most people probably aren’t used to spending money after the initial investment in the console and then the game for their home, but imagine spending that for every three tries, lives, or continues.

Previously on Game Restart: [it’s a series]

Many people invest a lot in how their games are viewed and played. 

I did not. At least, not for a long time.

Previously on Game Restart:
1 of N [recapping later days, but still pretty early]
0 of N [recapping the early days]

In each of the recaps, you may have noticed I haven’t mentioned Nintendo.

Because of the PlayStation, I have Nintendo. (And pretty much only because of Sony.)

That may require unpacking a bit. Back to 1985.

Previously on Game Restart: [recapping intensifies]

I’m not going to suggest that video games were better in the olden days. They absolutely were not; anyone who thinks that they were is probably legally blind or has closed their mind to reality not damaged by Space War for the Atari VCS. At a certain point, video games didn’t exist. And then once they existed, they were objectively terrible for the most part. Being novel was their only saving grace. 

We didn’t have much money. I understand that now, though I didn’t understand it then. 

This meant toys of an electronic nature—especially in the 1970s—were rare, and although I still recall we had a lot of toys, even limited lots of toys like Lego, Micronauts, and some Star Wars figures and (hand-made) vehicles, electrical devices were rare.