Penny Arcade

We stopped by Gameworks on Sunday night before heading over to the Video Games Live concert. We had heard that they had a Street Fighter 4 machine and we all wanted to check it out. They did have the machine and when I saw it I was instantly transported back to my youth. The arcade culture that surrounds a new machine like this was in full effect and it was something I hadn’t witnessed since I was a kid playing fighting games like Virtua fighter and Killer Instinct. Chairs had been scrounged up and placed around the cabinet. There was a steady stream of people going up against one guy who had been running the machine for a while. It was like watching people being fed into a chipper shredder. He dismantled each new player without ever giving up a single win as long as I watched. I snapped this picture because I thought it was so awesome.

This used to be so common when I was a kid. You’d see these guys drag their girlfriends out to the arcade. Presumably to watch them destroy challenger after challenger. The girls would always sit there on a stool popping their gum or reading a magazine. In my young mind there was nothing more awesome than these cabinet kings and their bored harem. My dream was to someday have a girl of my own, who would grudgingly accompany me to the arcade of my choice. Then she would sit in silent judgment as I performed my killer combos. 

It warmed my heart to see that there were still young men out there keeping the old dreams alive. 

-gabe out