” Make sure you are home before dinner” Is what my mom usually yelled at my brother and I as we darted to the garage to grab our bikes so we can go on a “bike ride” as we would often tell her. Little did she know that we just came from downstairs after tapping into a very large basketball shoe like piggy bank that was filled with coins that my dad would fill constantly after returning home from his restaurant job( thanks for supporting the gaming habit dad). The year was 1993 I was only 8 at the time but my older brother was 12 and back in those days I was only allowed to leave the driveway as long as he was around. We had a crew of us that always rolled together. We had my brother and Lewis the oldest of the bunch, little Enzo and Terry and of course me. No matter what we did we were always together and when my brother and Lewis were at school that week they heard rumors of a new plaza that had a pizza shop and convenience store that was decked out with a few arcade machines. In those days it wasn’t rare to see arcade machines in stores and although at the time I knew of some places that had them I was of course never allowed to play them because of my age. We had a crew meeting the night before our epic journey would start. Yes at this point in my life I had seen The Goonies, Stand By Me, and The Lost Boys. Classics to this day and my childhood like most kids born in the 80s revolved around the movies after I was old enough to watch them. It’s weird how I wasn’t allowed to go out on my own but my dad never minded when I would watch rated R movies with him. Yippe ki yay mother F&*$er!. I took a few slipper shots from my mother when I repeated that at the dinner table one night( but it was worth it). Back to the journey plans as we all had a job to do, get home get quarters and get out as quick as possible without tipping off our parents that we had pockets of quarters. It was pretty tough when you had $11 in quarters in your socks, pockets and shoes to try not to make a sound  but my brother and I managed to get out alive!. We met those boys at the nearby park and we all threw down whatever money we had. With the 5 of us we managed to muster up $29 which was a pretty sweet haul if you ask me. We split up the money evenly between us all and we were off to embark on the hunt to find this plaza. We never had google maps or smartphones to help us out, we had the word of another student at school and the direction we should go in to find this plaza. It was about 45 minutes into our journey where we came across the plaza that would turn me into the gamer I am today. It was like we won the lottery, a brand new plaza with fresh asphalt on the road and the sound that the  bike tires made I still remember it to this day.  We quickly jumped off our bikes and put our faces to the glass of the first shop we saw. We were so excited at that time we didn’t realize we were peaking into a beauty salon, although that wasn’t a bad thing when you are first discovering girls. We moved on quickly to the place we needed to be, bikes and skateboards were piled up outside the doors of the pizza shop and the one convenience store. Right then we knew were in the right place. My brother quickly recognized a few buddies from school and himself and Lewis quickly got caught up in some chatter with them while the rest of us ran into the store and followed the line up to the two arcade machines that were there. Now I have at this time already played on the NES at Lewis’ house but we never had a console of my own until later that Christmas so it wasn’t like I was new to gaming, I was just new to arcade gaming. We tried seeing over the masses to get a glimpse of what arcade machines the kids were playing and It wasn’t until a  few parents came in and plucked their kids out the crowd by their ears that we were actually able to see what games they were. MORTAL KOMBAT II was the first we saw and the second was WWF Wrestlefest!. Two iconic arcade games at the time and I am thankful that our journey has brought us to where we needed to be.   It’s game time. First up was little Enzo and Terry as they were able to split playing time together on Mortal Kombat II against a kid who I think was 15 at the time and was just taking everyone down. Pretty sure this was the owner of the stores son because there is no way you are that good!. Enzo and Terry quickly lost half their share of the prized quarter pool and next up was me. I had no idea exactly what I was doing but luckily the machine itself showed you what the buttons did. Low kick, high kick, punch and block. Easy right? I quickly learned the hard way that I needed to practice and practice a lot. I was disposed of by the arcade champ who dominated everyone in Mortal Kombat II. Luckily for me I only lost $3.00 playing against him and decided that when its my turn to play WWF Wrestlefest I will channel my inner Hulkamania and run wild on my friends knowing I could beat them for sure! We spent the next hour or so playing games off and on as we shared time with other kids and of course my brother and Lewis finally decided to show up to play. After the long journey home and we all went our separate ways home and all I could think about was how to I get good enough to beat the MKII champ. For months we would sneak out to this arcade haven and practice all the time. The “champ” as we called him wasn’t always there so that was when I would get the most practice in. I watched a group of older guys play, maybe somewhere in their 20s and damn where they good. I spent my weekends watching them when they played and just studied how they moved the joysticks and did all these awesome moves so that I could take a shot at the champ one day. In my mind I was ready and in my heart I knew I was going to beat this mother F*&$@R. Thank you John McClane for always giving me choice words to use.     I was finally ready to face off against the champ and when I woke up that morning to see dark clouds and rain just pouring down it just put me in a funk. I talked to my brother and he said he wasn’t going anywhere today so that meant neither was I. When I looked out the window for the next two hours hoping for a break in the weather to convince my brother to come with me to the store but it didn’t come I was heartbroken BUT Then there was hope. My parents said they were taking my sister out to the mall to get a haircut and that my brother was to watch me while they were gone. Although it was still raining like crazy in my mind the skies were clear and the sun was shining. My parents left and that was the first time I had snuck out of my house and made my way to my destiny! I was soaked as I walked up to the beauty salon, yes we had become such regulars to that plaza that we made friends with all the shop owners and I waved to Wanda who owned the salon as I walked by. I laid my bike on the ground and swung open the shop doors like I owned the place and there he was. His time as champ is now going to be taken down by a charismatic youngster who was ready to win!. I slammed my $2.00 in quarters down on the machine and I asked him if he was ready. He laughed and said “are you”. let the battle begin, he quickly took me down in 3 straight matches but as I watched him play closely I picked up on his patterns. He would use Scorpion and use the “get over here” move and then and if blocked he would jump and try to high kick. Now I used Sub-Zero at the time and I would block the move step back while he would try to high kick and then bam! the ice ball would come and he was frozen. Before he knew it round 1 was over and he barely even got a shot in on me. Start round 2 and to this day one of my greatest gaming moments was watching this guy storm out of the store after I hit him with a flawless victory in round 2 and shocked him with a fatality!. My destiny has been fulfilled, I have brought joy to the kids who have fallen to the champ and now I am the champ!. Yippe ki yay mother F&*$er!     I quickly raced home after the legendary match I won not only to be greeted by my brother who I was pumped up to tell him the story but also my parents car in the driveway and my mom and dad standing at the door worried sick. Now I have to give props to my brother who didn’t rat out our arcade spot and just said I was over at Terry’s which was quick thinking on his part because Terry’s mom and my mom were super close so I was off the hook instantly. I will never forget those arcade playing days and all the awesome memories I had while doing so. I was the champ for a short period of time but I will never forget it. It is a shame that today’s gamers will never really know how arcade gamign was back in the 80s and 90s and how it actually shaped the gaming industry today.   Cheers folks!