Nothing mixes better than babies and classic arcade games
You ever play Black Widow? What about Crossbow? Pretty much everyone on Earth of a certain age has played Ms. Pac Man. But how about playing them in your basement? Bianca's friend Jude has about two dozen full sized authentic arcade machines in his basement. He is something of a mechanical genius and it is a hobby of his. He had a party last night and invited a ton of folks including us. His daughter Jacqueline was dressed as Yoda (or, since she was a girl, Yaddle and yes, that picture is Yoda with a wig, it was a way of saving money but making it look like there were a bunch of different Jedi Masters).
And who knew the mix of video games, pizza, and babies would work so well?
Isaac loved it. We hung out upstairs for about an hour and then slowly trickled down into the basement where we were greeted by the flash and glow of a full-fledged arcade:
I carried him down with me as I played Centipede (I lost my title from last time though as Brian, another Holy Cross professor, like Jude, beat my high score), Crossbow (which is insanely hard) and some Bubble Bobble (it was like being back at Xavier). Isaac and I chatted up Jude and his friend Jay, who also restores old arcade games, about the virtues of the Mortal Kombat series (Isaac and I agreed that Mortal Kombat II was the best in the series). We also talked about our not so secret desire to have a Super Street Fighter II Turbo arcade machine (they are big and heavy, according to Jay, about 7 feet tall and 400 pounds) for our basement. There are many things Isaac will have to learn about video games before he can join the conversation, but it was fun to have a night out to talk about the virtues of Eternal Champions and battles between Trident and Larsen (me being a Trident player, with his super cheap high kick and Jude being a Larsen player; we were, of course, both Sega Genesis men). I am confident, though, that Isaac will rise to the challenge.
Even last night, at 4 months old, he was mesmerized by the lights and the sounds. He was downstairs in the arcade for more than an hour without so much as a peep. He leaned forward when Dad got close to a machine and lifted his massive, chubby cheeks to look inside. He also got along quite well with the other kids, all of whom were ALSO mesmerized by the blinking lights and explosions.
Jude also had a working, fully loaded jukebox, complete with little tags and tiny 45s of the 80s and 90s greatest hits. There is nothing quite as cool as rocking out to "Another One Bites the Dust" (thanks Mary Alice) while holding your son and playing Ms. Pacman (a one handed game, BTW). He even had a working tokens machine with actual tokens.
It was FREAKIN' awesome. Both Isaac and I agreed.
And who knew the mix of video games, pizza, and babies would work so well?
Isaac loved it. We hung out upstairs for about an hour and then slowly trickled down into the basement where we were greeted by the flash and glow of a full-fledged arcade:
I carried him down with me as I played Centipede (I lost my title from last time though as Brian, another Holy Cross professor, like Jude, beat my high score), Crossbow (which is insanely hard) and some Bubble Bobble (it was like being back at Xavier). Isaac and I chatted up Jude and his friend Jay, who also restores old arcade games, about the virtues of the Mortal Kombat series (Isaac and I agreed that Mortal Kombat II was the best in the series). We also talked about our not so secret desire to have a Super Street Fighter II Turbo arcade machine (they are big and heavy, according to Jay, about 7 feet tall and 400 pounds) for our basement. There are many things Isaac will have to learn about video games before he can join the conversation, but it was fun to have a night out to talk about the virtues of Eternal Champions and battles between Trident and Larsen (me being a Trident player, with his super cheap high kick and Jude being a Larsen player; we were, of course, both Sega Genesis men). I am confident, though, that Isaac will rise to the challenge.
Even last night, at 4 months old, he was mesmerized by the lights and the sounds. He was downstairs in the arcade for more than an hour without so much as a peep. He leaned forward when Dad got close to a machine and lifted his massive, chubby cheeks to look inside. He also got along quite well with the other kids, all of whom were ALSO mesmerized by the blinking lights and explosions.
Jude also had a working, fully loaded jukebox, complete with little tags and tiny 45s of the 80s and 90s greatest hits. There is nothing quite as cool as rocking out to "Another One Bites the Dust" (thanks Mary Alice) while holding your son and playing Ms. Pacman (a one handed game, BTW). He even had a working tokens machine with actual tokens.
It was FREAKIN' awesome. Both Isaac and I agreed.