I’ve always loved video games. I blame it on having an older brother who is a total geek, who loves all things gamy and electronic and gadgety. The first game I remember ever playing is Frogger, on an old Apple black computer that was hooked up to a small TV screen. We’d have to load the floppy disc into the computer, being careful not to touch the inside circle rim of the floppy disc. The computer base was heavy, and I remember we were always careful not to bump it. There were also joysticks that we could plug in and use to play games…but I don’t remember what games we played. I just remember that the joysticks were often difficult to navigate. I’m not sure what happened to that old Apple computer base – I think my brother had it in his basement for the longest time. It’s still probably there, gathering dust. Or it's since been thrown out by his wife, who doesn't always appreciate his desire to hoard old devices on the thought of "some day" or "what if" thoughts.

When I was in middle school, my parents bought my brother and me a Sega system. Not a Sega Genesis or Nintendo, just a basic Sega system. So we missed out on hours spent playing Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda – those games were special treats when we visited friends who had the more expensive Nintendo system. But our parents had told us that the Sega had better graphics and images; that the system was higher quality. While I still don’t know a ton about gaming systems today – just that I like to play and the differences between certain platforms and megabits – my brother holds to the statement that this is true: that we were better off having a Sega than the Nintendo. My favorite games to play on the Sega were Safari Hunt, Ghostbusters, Wonder Boy, Double Dragon. Video games appeal to my obsessive side of being able to dive into something, and then just sit and play and think and strategize. With Safari Hunt, I loved the soft “pew, pew, pew” sounds the system made when you shot a panther or how the armadillo rolled into a ball and bounced off screen when you hit it. Ghostbusters had weird driving scenes where you would navigate the Ghostbuster hearse through the streets of New York City, trying to vaporize ghosts that were flying through the air. And I loved Wonder Boy -- navigating through maps, jumping to stab things with Wonder Boy's sword, gathering coins and potions. Double Dragon was a special treat when we went to visit my dad in Michigan. He had purchased a Sega system as well, and we had different games that we played. My brother was always the black-haired guy dressed in red, and I was the blond guy dressed in blue. My brother occasionally would turn on me and beat the shit out of me in Double Dragon, but more often than not we would team up to defeat the bad guys as that was really the only way you could win the game. To this day, whenever I see a Double Dragon video game in an arcade, I stop to play. While my round kick skills aren’t quite what they used to be, I always find myself drawn to that game. When we were in college, my brother lent the Sega to one of his friends, and we never saw it again. I imagine if one of us still had it, we would probably spend hours sitting in the dark, deeply caffeinated on Mountain Dew, smelling slightly like BO and basement, playing Double Dragon and Safari Hunt. Our spouses would love it.

Since then, we’ve graduated to Wiis and X-Boxes and adult-geared video game bars like Dave & Buster’s and Gambols. I try to avoid video games as much as possible as I’m slightly obsessive when it comes to those things. Years after the popularity of it came and went, I still wish I had purchased Guitar Hero, but I’m pretty sure I would never sleep or leave my house if I did own it and as I tried to master the “guitar” riffs of legendary songs by The Beatles, Tom Petty, and Pink Floyd. The only games I have for our XBox are games that need to be played connected to the Kinnex, meaning that it requires moving my heavy ottoman in the living room so that I can stand up to play. It’s too much of an effort, so I can safely say that my time is not spent playing video games.

But my all-time favorite video game is Ms. Pacman. I realize that that probably makes me a typical girl, but I love the power pellets. Inky, Blinky, Pinky, and Sue. The different fruits at the different levels. I am completely obsessed with that game and love to play it whenever and wherever I can. There are a couple bars in my neighborhood that have either the upright video game or the tabletop video game, and I love to play. I’ve started carrying around quarters for that sole purpose, and will randomly pop in places just to take a whirl on Ms. Pacman. While I have yet to be able to get the high score on any of the Pacman machines around town, I take pride that I recently blew the mind of one of my co-workers who had no clue that I could own Ms. Pacman. A self-proclaimed video game nerd, I believe he thought that it would be an easy victory to beat me in high score, at which he failed miserably. Despite multiple attempts, he has yet to outscore me on Ms. Pacman.  

I imagine it’s the escapist element of playing video games that I’ve always enjoyed. In a video game, you can take on a different persona, explore a different world, eat things and blow things up and win things without ever a) having to leave your own home and b) not having to worry about the impact or repercussions (I mean, you play Grand Theft Auto, you don’t have to worry about going to jail, right?). And for a nerdy, tomboy girl like myself, it makes it an easy way to bond with my brother or talk with my guy co-workers or friends. And there’s nothing better than an intense game of Ms. Pacman, eating all those power pellets and avoiding Sue.