Looking back over the year, the arcade, pinball and retro-game hobbies took a bit of a back seat to my 3d Printing shenanigans. My plan for 2023 involved reworking parts of the game room for a hangout and bar space and focus more on time-with-friends than game collecting. I .. partly succeeded.
Building a welcoming hangout space was a successful project. Setting aside time to hang out, I could have improved upon.
If arcade collecting was a mental disorder, the psychological pathology of being a gameroom builder is probably rooted in a desire to assemble an epic hangout space and to share it with friends and family. A little bit of Willy Wonka meets Silver Spoons. Though, you may also find yourself in a friend group where everyone is expecting to be host and no one wants to be attendee. I’ve tried to be a better attendee this year.
There’s also the fact that arcade games themselves are often not exactly as social of an experience as you might remember. That time you mustered the nerve to ask that girl out at Aladdins’ Castle: It happened in an arcade but probably not at the control panel. With the exception of 2/4-up games like TMNT, Gauntlet, SmashTV, Joust, etc some of the best games are turn-based. This leaves 1-3 of your guests to twiddle their thumbs when not playing.
..That’s a long a reflective way of saying this year, I built a pretty cool bar and we made some memories around it but need to do more!
..I’ll be posting a look-back towards the end of the month but until then - hug your peeps, make time with friends and enjoy the season.
-BillD