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It's a strange and amazing hobby!
vintagegamer:
When it comes up at work that I have 2 acrade machines, people are simply blown away and most end up saying "I always thought that would be cool but had no idea where to even begin". And to be honest, I was one of those folks too, until a friend in my neighborhood sold me an Asteroids cab.
Whenever you go to the movie theatres today, or anywhere else that "used" to have a ton of arcade games, I'm always sad to see how few offerings there are today. You can also tell that pinball machines are becoming a thing of the past too, as you only end up seeing 1 or 2 in the same place. It's hard to see that, after having seen entire arcades in malls when I was a kid.
Like someone else posted, having one of these is definitely like having an old car today- it helps people remember a better era. I'm so glad to have a couple machines, and I hope to keep them alive as long as I get to be!
VINTAGEGAMER
Zebidee:
Before I'd ever built a Mame machine, I went to an arcade operator to talk about an empty cab. While there I saw a 7-8 year old boy playing Time Pilot, complaining to his Dad about how hard it was, but he had nothing to answer with. So I casually yet politely interjected and asked "Are you right handed"? He nodded in answer. "Then keep going up and to the right as much as possible, spray back and forth and keep shooting. If you need to dodge away, do it but go back to the top right ASAP" He absorbed this and it seemed that his game improved immediately.
This was a pretty simple but amazing experience. I used to go to the local milk bar in the early 80's with only 20c, but come home with blisters between my fingers from playing Time Pilot ..... then I learnt to bring one of my Dad's handkerchiefs as well as 20c ...
BTW, I'm aussie too so its 20c not quarters ....
crashwg:
--- Quote from: Zebidee on May 12, 2007, 11:14:14 pm ---BTW, I'm aussie too so its 20c not quarters ....
--- End quote ---
So would that make it a "fifth" and "fifths"?
Zebidee:
Ok, to be technical we would call it "two bob".
You don't hear it much now, probably because it isn't worth much anymore. Obvious exceptions are phrases such as "It isn't worth spending a bob on", "It isn't worth two bob", and other variations.
Zebidee:
I should have mentioned the classics "couple 'a bob", and "a bob 'er two" which could mean anything from 20c to a small fortune, as in "I bet yer 'e has a bob 'er two" when drawing a friends' attention to a man who obviously has a lot of money.