Game BuzzardCyber Arcade

 Not to long ago, well 30 years give or take, an incredible cultural event began to take shape in shopping malls and strips centers across the country. Arcades began to open up faster than the games could be made to fill the spaces. The original “PONG” was out in a little hole in the wall where my friends and i used to play Foosball called Bernie’s Hillside Lounge. At first I thought it was a dumb new game and never work. That was until I dropped my first quarter in it and beat my best friend. I was hooked. The game was incredibly easy but yet when I missed that little “square” ball bouncing off the side wall it infuriated me to the point where I had to play it again cause I knew I could hit that damn ball. My Favorite games during this time where DEFENDER and TEMPEST. Lots of other games where born during this golden age of gaming, like Pacman, Galaga, Donkey Kong, Frogger just to name a few. It was such a good time to go after school with my friends down to the local arcade and challenge each other and the loser having to by lunch or drinks depending where we were playing.

To many of us this Golden Age of Gaming has long gone but a thanks to the efforts of CA Extreme they have been able to bring many of these great games back and they are in their 13th year of having a show to celebrate the golden age oggaming. I have been to the show and let me just say if you ever played coin-operated games back in the day, you owe it to yourself and kids to return to the glory days of gaming. There are great classics with plenty of rare games that you won’t see anywhere else and best of all you can leave your quarters at home because all these games are on free play. There are many tournaments going on during this two day celebration of coin-operated games. More on the tournaments coming soon.