Genuine Nerds

Last weekend, Mack and I walked through a velvet curtain in Koreatown and ended up in the 1980s. I'm pretty sure Bill & Ted were there, but that's not the only reason this was an excellent adventure.

There was also this.

Yes, that is a Playboy pinball game. And it is sitting next to a Twilight Zone pinball game, one that shuts off halfway through your game and makes you feel like you've entered a new dimension. One named Blipsy's. One that's packed with arcade games from your childhood. One that has a full bar.

I hate new video games almost as much as I love a dive bar. The last one I gave a chance was 007 on Nintendo 64 and it was fun, but I could not play it without getting nauseous. Mack has since had every Playstation and Xbox they've ever made, but every time I've tried to play them, I end up stuck in a corner shooting myself while a monster eats the back of my head.

The video games at Blipsy's only move forward, there's no going back to screens you've past, there are a maximum of 4 buttons, there's a joystick. That's all. Pure, simple, braindead delight.

My favorite games have always been the driving games, and this place had one of those awesome sit-down-and-shift-and-use-a-gas-peddle types. I have played this game probably 100 times in my life, and I had no idea it was called Spy Hunter until this moment.

They also had Mike Tyson's Punch-out, which Mack loved. And, no surprise, killed at. Guys, he kills at modern games with 3D and 16 buttons on the controllers, so a joystick and one button is a joke to him.

I finally made it to the second block on Paperboy, something I tried to do every day after school in fifth grade and never managed to accomplish. Thank god I can check that off my list.

The end of the night I settled into Ms. Pac-Man, funneled $5 of quarters into the machine that was the only reason I ever wanted to go to Pizza Hut, and let nostalgia and Jack Daniels make me all warm and fuzzy inside.