As a child of the 80's I was just old enough to get swept up in the craze of what has come to be known as the
golden age of arcade games. I have fond memories of pouring my weekly allowance into those old coin-operated machines at our local grocery store, mall, laundromat, bowling alley... practically every place I went had at least one or two. I credit my fascination with those games for getting me started with computers and programming at an early age. For me, the nostalgia has never really worn off.
For my 33rd birthday this weekend, Candace and I made our annual pilgrimage to
Funspot Family Fun Center in Weirs Beach, New Hampshire. Funspot is home of the largest video arcade in the world. If you're at all a fan of classic video games and you live in or are visiting New England, you really must see this place. While sporting the usual fare for these "fun center" type places, the real treasure is up on the third level (yeah, it's that big), away from the mainstream crowds, where you'll find the
The American Classic Arcade Museum. The museum holds over 250 video game and pinball machines of yesteryear, and is where much of the hilarious yet highly engrossing documentary
The King of Kong was filmed.
Suffice it to say I had a blast. Set the day's high score on a number of machines, including a 263,000 point game of Donkey Kong. Also had to play a few rounds on their
famous Pac-Man machine, but I swear I was better at that game when I was eight. Can't wait to go back.