My Earliest Gaming Memories (About Me)

 At around the young age of 5 in the early 1980's, I had my first experiences at an arcade inside a Meijer Thrifty Acres in Canton, MI. 

 While I have no memory of what my exact "first game" was, I do have vivid memories of playing popular ones such as PAC-MAN, MS. PAC-MAN, and GALAGA, as well as obscure ones like MR. DO!, KANGAROO, and PENGO. 

 While I played a good bit of games, I always seemed to drift back to "Mr. Do!". I'm not sure if I would call it my all-time favorite, but I was pretty good at it. There was a period of time when "Mr. Do!" was OUT-OF-ORDER at the Meijer arcade, and it made me sad. 

 My older brother bowled in a league every Sunday around the Canton and Detroit area. It was a traveling league where they bowled in a different bowling alley each week. Most of the time, I tagged along. My mother would give me some money, and I played arcade games while my brother bowled. Each bowling alley had it's own selection of arcade games. 

 In 1986, my family moved to Crestview, FL. There were ZERO arcades, and I was bummed.

That Christmas, I got the Nintendo Entertainment System along with "Super Mario Bros." and "Kung Fu".

For the first time ever, I was able to play video games without having to leave the house!

In the late 80's, Shoal River Bowling opened in Crestview, FL. I began bowling in my own league on Saturday mornings. They did have a small arcade, and I was usually able to play a few games before the league started. One notable game they had was a PlayChoice-10 with the highly anticipated "Super Mario Bros. 3".

There was also Santa Rosa Mall about 30 miles away in Mary Esther, FL which had a Diamond Jim's and an Aladdin's Castle, which we went to from time to time.

I'm still a gamer. In 2025, I bought a Rec Room Masters arcade cabinet and installed my own mini-PC with TONS of games. I also own a PS5 and Switch 2, so I do play "some" modern games.

But, I always go back to the classics. The ones I grew up with. The ones from that period in my life where my biggest worry was eating all the dots before the ghosts caught me.