Fun at the Arcade

by Lauri Griffin | More from this Blogger

08 Sep 2007 08:44 PM

Most of the time I want family outings to have some educational moments. Today though we took our change jar and went to play at the Manitou Springs Penny Arcade. They have rooms and rooms of games. Some are very old and some are very up to date and modern. Some of the old games only cost a nickel or a dime. There's an "English Football" game that is not electronic at all but has entirely mechanical works. And it costs a penny to play! One of my sons had great fun scoring goal after goal on me.

We had the boys takes turns at a pinball machine that was probably sixty years old. I remember how exciting pinball used to be, all those bells and levers and lights. The boys thought the pinball was pretty cool, but that it didn't compare to the Wii.

My husband and I played air hockey. To the amazement of our youngest sons I almost won. We own a small air hockey table, but it was great fun to play on the huge, fast moving, official table.

Some games seemed old to the kids, but are ones my husband and I remember from our teenage years. I just had to play Galaga. I even got to enter my initials into the top score for the Asteroids game. And I got the highest family score in skee ball. (Anyone seeing the signs of a misspent youth here?)

I don't suppose we learned anything today. Maybe the kids learned that there are sides to their parents that they don't about. Maybe the boys will understand something of the history of games, or how much technology has changed. But I do know that for a couple of hours, and for probably less than ten dollars in change, we had fun together as a family.

Also See:

Penny Arcade Expo: PAX 2007

PlayFirst Downloadable Computer Games

GameTap - A New Way to Play Video Games

Learn more about Lauri Griffin

Lauri lives in Colorado with her husband and three sons. Amidst all the laundry and packing of lunches, she tries to keep parenting fun.

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