reading09 — Strikes and Spares

Is there still a charm to arcades? How do these environments and games fit into the modern gaming ecosystem, especially know that we have PC games, console games, and mobile games?

Personally, my day at Strikes and Spares was one of my favorite days of class this semester. There wasn’t any lecture or learning like a normal classroom, but within the context of this class, I feel like I was able to enjoy the arcade more so than before. There was nostalgia in some of the games that I’ve been playing ever since I can remember, but there were also new experiences. For example, I got to play Deal or No Deal. The bright lights and fun music made it a fun experience and I didn’t get rid of the jackpot case until the very last pick (it was sad at the time, but still fun). There was a beer pong simulator game that I’d never seen before and enjoyed trying. There was the classic Hoop Fever and ski ball and countless other machines that I was fine putting my money into. It was a lot of fun.

With that being said, there was one issue I had with Strikes and Spares that I feel is very detrimental to the future of arcades. There were not tickets!! All the money I wanted to play with was preloaded onto an arcade card which was then used to swipe on each of the machines. When the game was done, the tickets were then uploaded onto that card. It might make things easier and save paper, but the fun memories I have of being at an arcade as a kid are just watching more and more tickets come out. The feeling of watching your winning just grow and grow and walking around with a huge bundle of winnings was what made arcades the best. Now, they are still fun, but I hope they find a way to replace that feeling for the kids of the future.

Arcades are much different than the way modern gaming. They are very social as you want to either play with others, compete with them, or just have them watch you win. It’d be very difficult to find a single arcade game that is better than most video games, but the fact that you have dozens of machines all in one building with dozens of people with different interests playing together, makes for a very fun environment.