Game Over

The glow of a cabinet screen. The clack of a trackball. The thrum of a Skee-Ball lane in the back of a noisy boardwalk hall. We go all-in on arcade culture—where it started, why it exploded, and how those simple, perfect loops still hook us decades later.

We trace the timeline from penny arcades and pinball to Atari’s first experiments, then the breakout hits that defined a generation: Space Invaders, Asteroids, Pac-Man, Centipede, Donkey Kong, and Dragon’s Lair. You’ll hear how Skee-Ball went from a stubborn invention to an Atlantic City sensation, why Pac-Man rewrote the rules on who played, and how Donna Bailey’s Centipede used a trackball and sound design to create a new kind of flow. We share the boardwalk stories, mall memories, and the little anxiety spikes that came with those accelerating beeps and bossy timers.

Then we pivot to the competitive heartbeat that kept arcades alive into the 90s: Street Fighter II’s six-button mastery, rivalries, and the rise of head-to-head skill. We spotlight Eugene Jarvis—Defender, Robotron 2084, and Cruis’n—and the design choices that made arcades feel fast, fair, and endlessly replayable. Finally, we unpack the decline: consoles, online play, and the fall of malls. But there’s a comeback story too—barcades, family entertainment centers, and retro cabinets that thrive on nostalgia, tactile controls, and social play.

If you love game history, boardwalk lore, or just the pure joy of a clean Skee-Ball arc, this one’s for you. Hit play, share your high score cabinet, and tell us: which game still gets your quarters? Subscribe, rate, and leave a review to help more Gen X and retro gaming fans find the show.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_08 (00:04):
Two best friends, we're talking fast.
We're mixing two arcades, we'rehaving a blast.
Seeing these dreams, me onscreens, it was all bad.
Like you know, it's likewhatever.
Together, forever, never, never,never.
Laughing, sharing, or scoringforever.

(00:24):
We'll take you back likewhatever.

SPEAKER_05 (00:31):
Welcome to Like Whatever, a podcast for, by, and
about Gen X.
I'm Nicole, and this is my BFFF,Heather.

SPEAKER_01 (00:39):
Hello.

SPEAKER_05 (00:41):
So Heather's off the hook um until after the holidays
to have to share her life.

SPEAKER_01 (00:47):
Because I have no life.

SPEAKER_05 (00:49):
Right.

SPEAKER_01 (00:49):
She's just deliberately.
I did go to the dermatologisttoday.
Oh, yeah.
That's exciting.
That's a new thing for me.
That is.
And I explained to the lady howup until five years ago, I had
porcillin alabaster skin.

SPEAKER_05 (01:02):
You did.

SPEAKER_01 (01:03):
Because I never went out in the daytime.
That is true.
And if I did, I put like a thina layer of shellac on myself to
keep the sun's rays out.
But because of my job, I do notI'm not able to do that anymore.
So I have to get a tan.

SPEAKER_03 (01:19):
Yes.

SPEAKER_01 (01:20):
Which hurts me to my core.

SPEAKER_03 (01:22):
And it looks weird on you.
It does.
No offense.
I know.

SPEAKER_01 (01:25):
It is weird.
It's funny because I'm I belongto those goth Facebook groups,
whatever.
And one of them was like, whatis the least gothly thing you
do?
And I'm like, I have to get afucking tan.
I need it.
It's awful.
But anyway, I thought, well, nowthat I get sun, I have to go and
have the doctor look.

(01:45):
And so she did the full bodyscan and she froze one off.
And she was like, no, this isgonna hurt just a little bit.
And I was like, I didn't evennotice.
Lady does do it.
I have so much shit on my skinright now.

SPEAKER_03 (02:02):
Well, your porcelain skin and and no sunlight ties
into something no one to talkabout.

SPEAKER_01 (02:07):
Oh, there we go.

SPEAKER_05 (02:07):
Look at me.
Segway.
So I finally watched the movieSinners.
Yes.
Do you know that movie?

SPEAKER_01 (02:14):
I do.
I haven't watched it, but it'sbeen on.

SPEAKER_05 (02:16):
Do you know it's about vampires?

SPEAKER_01 (02:18):
I do.

SPEAKER_05 (02:18):
I did not know that prior to watching it.

SPEAKER_01 (02:20):
I live with a vampire lover.

SPEAKER_05 (02:22):
Oh.

SPEAKER_01 (02:23):
Obsessed.

SPEAKER_05 (02:24):
So I am not a big fan of vampire movies, except
like The Lost Boys, of course.
I love that one.
Of course.
But this movie has Michael B.
Jordan in it, so I will watchanything with Michael B.
Jordan in it.
Because I just like looking atMichael B.
Jordan.
Um but yeah, it was it's reallygood.

(02:47):
And he plays two roles.
I didn't know if you knew that.
I didn't, because I went to bed.
They're either I think they'recousins, and one's name is
Smoke, and one name is one'sname is Stack.
See, that's where I would havebeen lost.
That's where you would have lostme.
No, it's actually kind of cute.
And then Josh Allen's wife is init.

(03:09):
Do you know who the actress isthat Josh Allen married?

SPEAKER_01 (03:12):
Josh Allen was married to an actress.
Catch up.

unknown (03:16):
I know.

SPEAKER_01 (03:17):
Well, I was still thinking that because I had to
have a a discussion about AaronRogers the other night for the
Pittsburgh game.
And um because he he got hislittle nose all bloody.
He did.
He got his little bell rung.
He's such a tough guy.
And uh I don't know how we goton it.
And I was like, wait, he waswith like one of the Hadids,

(03:41):
right?
And Gigi was it Gigi?

SPEAKER_05 (03:43):
I think, yeah.
Or Hella.
And then he was I don't knowwhich one, but I know he was
with the girl.
Danica Patrick.
Right.
And then the girl from themovies shunger games, maybe, or
Divergent, the Divergent movieseries.

SPEAKER_01 (04:00):
Okay, I don't know who that is.
But he's got a wedding ring on.
He's married.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (04:04):
Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 (04:05):
To a girl named Brittany.

SPEAKER_05 (04:06):
Oh, you know her name.

SPEAKER_01 (04:08):
Yes.
Apparently she does not want tobe.

SPEAKER_05 (04:11):
Yeah, apparently none of his teammates have met
her.
Apparently, none of his friends.
Yeah.
I wonder if she exists, becausehe's a little out there.
She's a little out there.

SPEAKER_01 (04:21):
I agreed.
However, um, I was thinking ifshe is real, good for him.
Like, and good for her.
Right.
Because like she's just likeobviously she didn't marry him
because he's Aaron Rogers, ifyou don't want anyone to even
know who you are.
Or maybe she did marry himbecause he's j he is um Aaron

(04:43):
Rodgers and she just doesn'twant anyone to know she's
married to a nut job.
Anyway, I digress, but yes.

SPEAKER_05 (04:51):
Yeah, I think Josh Allen's wife's name is Hal
Hallie Steinfeld, Steinfeldsomething.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (04:59):
Is she related to I don't I don't know?

SPEAKER_05 (05:05):
She doesn't look anything like him.
Oh, okay.
He has kids, right?
He does.
She is definitely not one of hiskids.
Okay.
I know who they are.
Okay.
Yes, I watched that.
I also watched a verydisappointing movie, um,
Weapons.
You haven't heard of that one?
No.
It has the girl that played Ruthin Ozarks.

SPEAKER_01 (05:25):
Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (05:26):
And I love her.
Um and it looked creepy.
It's the one where 17 kidsdisappear out of their classroom
and nobody knows where theywent.
It was dumb.
It was slow.
It was dumb.

SPEAKER_01 (05:40):
I don't know.
I wouldn't waste my time on it.
I have to I do need to.
I was listening to one of mypodcasts today, and they were
talking about this story thatI've heard several times, and I
really need to look it up againbecause every time I've heard it
on one of my um podcasts,they're always from like two or
three years ago.
So I never get an update onthis.

(06:00):
And it's just a fuckingfascinating story.
Like, I really just don't knowwhat happened to this kid.
And it was like the weirdest setof circumstances, and then he
just disappeared.
And supposedly, according to theones I listened to today, which
was probably the most updated ofany of the ones I've heard it
on, the kid has been classifiedas uh the case the missing

(06:25):
person's case is closed.
Um so I don't know, they seem tospeculate that he was found and
did not want anything to do withhis former life.
And so because he's an adult,you're allowed to just do that.
And so they don't have to theycan just go back.
I know this from experience fromum they just go back and tell

(06:49):
the family he's fine.
Don't worry about it.
And they they don't they underno obligation to tell you where
they are because they're anadult.
So that is some speculationbecause it's closed.
And he's not ever been found, nobody's been found, nothing.
It's a crazy I have to look itup.
I don't even remember what thekid's name was, and I literally
just listened to it about fivehours ago.

SPEAKER_05 (07:10):
Have you been following the news with the um
high school football coach thatis missing?

SPEAKER_00 (07:18):
No.

SPEAKER_05 (07:19):
So I can't watch the news.
Don't say it like you feel sorryfor him.
So no.
His team is on a undefeatedseason and he just up and
disappeared one day because uhsomeone found child porn uh on
his computer.
And no one has seen him.

(07:40):
And I've been thinking he'sdead.
He went and killed himselfsomewhere because he was like
upstanding in the community,like his whole life is shattered
now.
Right.
Um, but then I heard on the newstoday the last the family saw
him, he was walking into thewoods with a gun.
Uh duh.
And why can't cops find him?

(08:01):
Like you would think dogs wouldsniff at how far in the woods
did he walk?
Unless I don't know theterritory, maybe he's in a cave
somewhere or made sure to besomewhere that no one would find
him.

SPEAKER_01 (08:15):
Maybe.

SPEAKER_05 (08:16):
Yeah.
But he gets whatever is comingto him.
So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (08:23):
Anyway.
I try not to watch the news atall.
Sometimes it's on because weonly have a certain number of
regular channels.
And when I come home, sometimesit's on, and I'm like, if this
doesn't get off my goddamn TV,I'm gonna shoot it.

SPEAKER_05 (08:39):
Well I like like CBS mornings, I watch because I love
Gail King.

SPEAKER_01 (08:44):
And I just don't, I can't know anything.
I don't want to know.
I mean, I know it's horrible,but I just it's not horrible.

SPEAKER_03 (08:51):
It's fine.

SPEAKER_01 (08:51):
I mean it's just the most frustrating thing.

SPEAKER_03 (08:54):
It is.
And I mostly I I mean I watchthe Philly news, so it's just
car crashes and shootings.
So you know.
By the time they catch up onthat, they don't have time to
talk about anything else.
That's true.

SPEAKER_01 (09:06):
That's a good thing about that.
I know it was always so funnygrowing up here when you would
watch the news because it wouldbe like 37 seconds of like
actual news that happened here.
Like, oh, you know, if thateven.
I mean 90.
Yeah, and most of the time itwas just like, I don't know,

(09:27):
today's Tuesday.
Like, I don't not in thebeginning, it would be like,
we're not even sure how we'regonna get a half an hour.
But in like a couple minutes,we're gonna have some weather,
and maybe that guy can drag itout.
And then they would talk about,you know, all the sports, the
kids' sports and stuff, and thenit would just be like, uh or my
favorite, not my favorite,because it's very sad, but when

(09:49):
it they would leave the newswith like a chicken house burned
down.

SPEAKER_03 (09:52):
I was waiting for you to say chickens.
I was like, if she doesn't saychickens, she is lying about
knowing the local news.

SPEAKER_01 (09:58):
Because they always started it with something having
to do with Jake.

SPEAKER_03 (10:01):
Always about chickens, it is it is when I was
growing up, my local radiostation had um the dead chicken
patrol.
Ah.

SPEAKER_05 (10:07):
And people could call in when they found saw a
dead chicken on the road.
Because there are there arechicken plants in Milford where
I grew up.
So I guess they'd fall off thetruck.

SPEAKER_01 (10:17):
A fun fact about chicken houses, um, because my
sister's friends of herhusband's family have chicken
houses or had chicken, I don'tthink they have them anymore.
Um some chickens that they'rethey're broiler we have broiler
chickens here, um, and they areonly meant to live for six
weeks.
Um get as big and fat as theycan in that six week.

(10:40):
They're so um sometimes they getoff-colored ones.
So like they're all white.
All of them are all white.
But then sometimes they'll getlike a like a weird brown one or
like a weird black one orwhatever.
Well, they don't want them inthere just because I don't know
if they're racist orsuperstitious.

(11:03):
I don't know.
But they would remove those assoon as they started showing
signs that they were not thewhite chickens.
They they segregated theirchickens.
So they used to give them to mysister.
So she's no no explanation forthis.

SPEAKER_05 (11:18):
The meat wouldn't be any different.

SPEAKER_01 (11:20):
No, they just I got I don't know if it's just like a
oh I don't know if it's likesome kind of genetic issue that
they don't want.

SPEAKER_05 (11:30):
Okay.

SPEAKER_01 (11:30):
Like a m I don't know.
Okay or if it's just asuperstition, they just don't
that's it's different and youknow, or racism.
I don't know.
It could be all over the above.
But she would get them.
Um the problem with them isbecause they're genetically
altered, they get ginormousbreasts so badly that they at

(11:53):
some point, because afterthey're six weeks, they're
they're cold.
Um, but if they go longer thanthat, they can't walk because
they get too big.
She had two large large margebreast reductions.
That's exactly what happens.
Um she had one she named LargeMarge that lived the longest.

(12:16):
The other one didn't quite makeit very long because they're not
very good at getting away frompredators either.
Yeah.
And she has a lot of predatorsout there, so um well she does
live in the woods.
Yeah, and then one day LargeMarge disappeared, so but she
doesn't eat her chickens.
Right.
They were going to.
Right.
But they didn't.

SPEAKER_05 (12:37):
Exactly.
Because they had a chance.
Sounded like a good idea at thetime.

SPEAKER_01 (12:41):
And then she was like, We're gonna get pigs, and
I was like, Okay.
All right, you couldn't evenkill a damn chicken.
Right.
Anyway, yeah.
So chickens, that's what's onthe news here.
Chickens.

SPEAKER_05 (12:56):
Yeah, I don't I don't know how much else is
going on.

SPEAKER_01 (13:02):
Um leave your porch light on for your delivery
driver.
Yes.
It's always nice to throw alittle snacky snack out on it.
If you get a lot of packages andyou're like, hmm, you should
just put like a little my uh Ihave a couple houses that do it,
and they I noticed it uhyesterday that they had their
snacks out.
Um yeah.

(13:23):
If you live where it snows, justtry and get the porch cleared
off best you can.

SPEAKER_05 (13:29):
Or if you have a mailbox that a carrier has to
drive up to clear it in front ofit.
Yes.

SPEAKER_01 (13:35):
It's not as easy as you think to get that damn thing
in there.
You need a little bit ofclearance.
Yes.
So it's not just don't parkdirectly in front of it.
Give it some space on eitherside.

unknown (13:46):
But yes.

SPEAKER_01 (13:47):
If you live in an area that gets snow, just think
about your poor mail carrier.

SPEAKER_05 (13:51):
Speaking of um deliveries, at the ripe old age
of 52, I've decided I'm gonnastart doing Jigsaw puzzles.
Um because I think I'm at thatage where it's time for me to
start.

SPEAKER_01 (14:06):
We've always done them.

SPEAKER_05 (14:07):
I've always enjoyed them.
I haven't done them in years.
Um, but they are supposed to begood for your brain.
Yes.
And the older I get, the more Ineed to start thinking about
that.
And yeah, I just missed doingit.
So I ordered a thousand piecepuzzle.
It's a um really colorful um uhlike a surf shack on a beach.

(14:31):
It looks super cute.
And then I bought a mat to rollit in so my cats don't steal my
puzzle pieces.
They will.

SPEAKER_01 (14:37):
I'm gonna try it.
We had growing up, my dad lovesall through the winter when
there was nothing to do.
We had the puzzles, and he hadthe special board that we put
puzzles on.
It just laid on the floor.
But like in October, November,when the board came out, you
were like, Oh yeah, it's wintertime.
It's time for puzzles.

(14:58):
I'm pretty sure he still has theboard downstairs.
Um so we would put like three orfour puzzles together all
winter.
But he is a weirdo, like I don'tknow.
And he never has answered thequestion, but because we'd be at
school all day, and so he'd behe would fuck around with it.
And the last he would never putthe last piece in, ever.

(15:21):
Like the whole puzzle would bedone, and then last piece would
be sitting next to the spot thatthe last piece belongs, and he
would not take it down untilsomebody put the last piece in.
And he never has answered us asto why he does that.

SPEAKER_05 (15:33):
It's gotta be a superstition.

SPEAKER_01 (15:35):
I don't know what it is.
I don't know if he was justnever allowed to do it as a kid,
so he was just like, fuck it,I'm never gonna do it.
I don't know.
But he will not, you have to putit in there, and then like as
soon as you put that in there,the next day the puzzle's gone
and a new puzzle's up.
But if you left it there for aweek, it would stay there for a
week.
Until someone else puts the Idon't know what it is.
Sounds like trauma.

(15:56):
Right?
I don't know.
He'll never answer.
But they probably have one goingright now.
We got him, um, we got him some3D ones.
He doesn't like the 3D ones toomuch, but we got him um it was
like round.
Ooh.
We try and get him like a reallyhard one, and then one year I
got him one that was all black.

SPEAKER_00 (16:17):
Whoa.

SPEAKER_01 (16:19):
He it that one took him a long time.
Yeah.
There's some where it's like thesame pattern all over it,
uh-huh.
And they're they're the reallyhard ones, so yeah, you can work
your way up.
Yeah.
Let me know, and I'm sure thatblack one is in that closet
somewhere.

SPEAKER_05 (16:33):
Whenever I think I'm ready for it.
Yeah.
Let me know.
You can have it.
Nice.
All right.
Well, before we get started, ifI could ask, like, share, rate
review.
Yes.
Find us wherever you listen topodcasts.
Yep.
Find us on all the socials atlike whatever pod.

SPEAKER_01 (16:55):
Yep.

SPEAKER_05 (16:56):
And follow us there too, please.
We are on YouTube at LikeWhatever.
Uh, and still a work inprogress, but there's stuff
going on there.
You should check it out.
Uh, speaking of checking out, wehave a new website.
Check it out.
Uh you can find it atwww.likewhateverpod.com.

SPEAKER_02 (17:17):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (17:17):
Uh, you can go on there, all of our episodes are
on there.
Um merch.

SPEAKER_01 (17:22):
Thanks, Pat.

SPEAKER_05 (17:23):
Yeah.
Crap about us is on there.
And we do sell merch.
We have shirts, uh, waterbottle.

SPEAKER_01 (17:29):
Thank you, Pat.

SPEAKER_05 (17:30):
Yes, thank you, Pat.
Um, our number one fan didpurchase some merch, and we are
super excited.
Yes.
Uh, and Christmas is coming up.

SPEAKER_01 (17:41):
This book is coming out too.
Let's not forget that.

SPEAKER_05 (17:43):
Oh, I think it came out this week.

SPEAKER_01 (17:44):
Did it?
Yes, because I got thenotification that I will be
getting my signed copy nextweek.

SPEAKER_05 (17:50):
Exciting.
Yep, yep.
So look for um ways to orderthat on um Facebook.
I will be putting up hisinformation on how to reach out
for that.
He uh, if for anyone who forgot,uh Pat Green, he wrote Hearts of
Glass, Living in the Real World,and we had him on for an episode
to talk about his book.

(18:11):
So if you did hear him and yougot his book and you enjoyed it,
you got number two out now.

SPEAKER_01 (18:17):
It is uh Hearts of Glass, Fade Away and Radiate.
So check it out.
I imagine you can get itanywhere that books.

SPEAKER_05 (18:27):
Yes, although he does prefer um independent um
bookstores, he he really ismaking a push to try to support
them and keep them going.
So if you um if you could orderit that way.
I think he has something goingon too, where if you buy one, he
donates to something to do withchildren of trauma.

(18:49):
Yes.
I can't remember exactly what itis, but anyway, like I said,
I'll be posting that stuff onFacebook.
So if you are interested, um youcan check that out.
All right, now that we've gottenthrough housekeeping.
Housekeeping, let's fuck aroundand find out about our cage.

SPEAKER_01 (19:10):
I have so much to talk about.

SPEAKER_05 (19:12):
I know, and this was what made it fun for me.
Like I have all the like boringwhere it all started, how it all
evolved, crap, and I know thatHeather will be able to
contribute lots of fun stuff.
I grew up at the beach.
Yeah, yeah, she did.
I spent a lot of time inarcades.
Yes.
Um, so my information this weekcame from Betson.com, uh

(19:36):
mpamusements.com,lbhustin.medium.com, and
arcade92.com.
Alrighty, here we go.
The earliest forms of arcades,known as penny arcades, emerged
in the late 19th and early 20thcenturies.
These establishments featured avariety of mechanical amusement

(19:57):
devices, including fortunetellers.
Strength testers and pinballmachines.
Pinball machines happen to beone of my all-time favorite
games to play.
I don't know why.
They're very anxiety.
They are very anxiety.
Anxiety.
Yes.
Um, but and I'm really not goodat them, but they're very loud.
Yes.
But when you get something goodon there, it's so fun.

(20:19):
These venues provided a form ofentertainment that was
accessible to people of all agesand backgrounds.
Pinball machines, which becamepopular in the 1930s, were a
significant milestone in thehistory of arcades.
These machines featured a playfield with obstacles and
bumpers, and players usedflippers to keep a metal ball in

(20:41):
play.
The goal was to score points byhitting various targets.
Pinball machines introducedelements of skill and strategy,
making them a staple of arcadesfor decades.
Video games have evolved from asmall hobby into a massive
industry.
Now many big games are releasedeach year.

(21:01):
The esports scene has alsoexperienced unprecedented growth
in recent years.
Here is a brief history ofarcade games to learn more about
them.
For younger people, it may seemlike game consoles have always
been around.
Anyone under 25 likely grew upwith a PlayStation or Xbox at
home.
The truth is that the ambiguityof consoles is relatively new.

(21:26):
Long before the home cultconsole, blah blah blah.
Long before the home console,there was the arcade.
So to understand the history ofgaming, you need to know the
history of arcade games.
Coin-operated arcade games drovethe popularity of video games
for decades.

(21:46):
Even after the NintendoEntertainment System came out in
1983, it changed console gaming.
However, arcade cabinets stillplayed the big role in the
gaming industry.
It's easy to understand why.
A video game console can beexpensive, and that's not
counting the games you need topurchase.

(22:06):
On the other hand, an arcadecabinet offers the same amount
of fun for a handful ofquarters.

SPEAKER_01 (22:11):
They're not quarters no more.
No.
Just a fun fact, Ocean City,Maryland, if you're anywhere in
the East Coast, um, they did asof like two or three years ago.
Because I haven't been downthere in a while.
Actually, I haven't been downthere since COVID.
So I I I'm gonna guess thoughthat they do.
But the one big arcade downthere, um, play Playland?

(22:34):
Uh no, that's one I'm a hope ofwhatever their big one is, they
still have the old um games inthe back, and they're all still
a penny.

SPEAKER_00 (22:41):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 (22:42):
Wow.

SPEAKER_01 (22:43):
They're just mostly just candy claw machines and
stuff.
But they do have uh, and I seeyou're gonna talk about them in
a second.

SPEAKER_05 (22:49):
So I'll wait.
Yeah, we had there was an arcadeon Rehoboth Avenue.
Um it was three years ago, Ithink.
Um my brother-in-law was in townand he was here for his
birthday.
And so we took him down there tohave dinner, and we went to the

(23:12):
arcade, and it was winter, so Iguess his birthday's in
December.
So it we had the whole place toourselves, and it was really,
really fun.
But I think they closed it.
So probably it was the one thatwas next to Dolly's, and I know
which one you're talking about.

SPEAKER_01 (23:28):
Yeah.
Um I don't know if it's stillthere.
I haven't been downtown in awhile.

SPEAKER_05 (23:32):
Yeah, I'm pretty sure it wasn't there.
Um let's see here.
What do you picture when youhear the word arcade?
No, that's Nintendo.
Ding ding ding ding ding.
Uh, whether you remember thedimly lit arcades of the 90s or
modern chains like Dave andBuster's, you're probably

(23:55):
picturing a room with manycabinets and games.
I've never been to a Dave andBuster's, but a couple years
ago, um, I worked for the stateof Delaware and we had a
retreat, and it was a Dave andBusters type place.
And me and my co-worker actedlike a couple of 12-year-olds.
We had the best time.

SPEAKER_01 (24:15):
Oh my gosh, we were laughing.
We had I have been to a Dave andBuster's, and it is a lot of
fun, but around here we have oneocean, two in Ocean City, and
one in they're not affiliatedwith each other, but it's
exactly the same thing.

SPEAKER_05 (24:28):
In Rehobas?

SPEAKER_01 (24:29):
Yeah, lefties in Rehobas and then Alley Oops in
um Ocean City.
Okay, and they're along the samelines, but they also have
bowling or duck pins orsomething.

SPEAKER_05 (24:39):
Yeah, yeah.
Oh man, I love duck pins when Iwas little.
Yeah, we didn't have themlocally.
I think we had to go toMaryland, but my dad used to
take us to play duck pins allthe time.
And it was so much better whenyou were a little kid because
the balls were manageable.

SPEAKER_01 (24:49):
Yeah, and let me tell you, the lefties, their
spinach dip is off the hook.
Yeah, we've eaten there before.
Have we?
Mm-hmm.
I probably had spinach andorange cook dip.

SPEAKER_05 (25:01):
I'm sure you did.
If that's what you like there,then that's what you had there.
Um, you might not realize thatthe familiar arcade trappings we
all know and love arose from amuch different kind of gathering
place.
Before arcades existed, therewere amusement halls.
Now I tried to look up stuff onamusement halls, and it wasn't

(25:24):
as easy as you would thinkbecause it just took me to
amusement parks.
And I'm like, why, Google, canyou not understand?

SPEAKER_01 (25:33):
I imagine uh it's probably the same as like the
old Ocean City, like the one inthe back of the one in Ocean
City.
Like it's like in the backpack,they have all all the ski ball
and stuff.

SPEAKER_05 (25:46):
Right.
And I remember somethingsimilar.
Um, my dad would take us toseaside heights every summer.
Yes, I'm sure.
And they had similar thingsthere back in the 80s.
Um so an amusement hall was likean arcade, it was a place for
people to gather and have fun.
They spent money oncorn-operated machines.
Amusement halls existed beforearcade games.

(26:06):
So, what kind of entertainmentdid amusement halls offer?
Didn't they?
An amusement hall had two maindraws slot machines and pinball.
Due to the gambling laws of thetime, slot machines didn't last
long in most amusement halls.

(26:26):
Although that was one thing,that's where my gambling started
in the early 80s.
My dad taking me to SeasideHeights and giving me a roll of
nickel, me and my stepbrotherrolled nickels because you could
kids could sit and play nickelmachines on the boardwalk.

SPEAKER_01 (26:40):
That's how I won a cabbage patch kid.

SPEAKER_05 (26:42):
Rather than playing games and riding rides, we sat
at the sop machines.

SPEAKER_01 (26:47):
That is how I won my cabbage patch kid.

SPEAKER_05 (26:50):
That's amazing.
That's a really great story.
Um, the history of uh pinball iscritical, a critical element in
the growth of arcades.
They were some of the mostfamous early coin operated
machines paving the way forarcade cabinets.
They remain a fixture of manyarcades today.

(27:10):
Ski ball, my favorite, uh, hasbeen, I know I already said
pinball is my favorite, but Ithink skee ball is really my
favorite.
Uh, it's been a staple ofarcades for decades.
But there was a time when skeeball was both new and struggling
to take hold.
The story of ski ball beginswith a career inventor searching

(27:31):
for a big break.

SPEAKER_01 (27:32):
Now, as a kid who grew up at the beach, uh-huh,
ski ball literally everywhere.
I am quite good to have the skiball.

SPEAKER_05 (27:44):
I'm pretty good too.
I need like a game or two towarm up.

SPEAKER_01 (27:48):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (27:48):
To find the right spot to hit, but you have to go
to the side if you want to hitthe center.
Yep, or the corners.
You have to round it that way.
You can't throw it straight atit.

SPEAKER_01 (27:57):
Gotta have a gotta have a system.

SPEAKER_05 (27:59):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (27:59):
And they're all worn down so bad that there is
probably just a groove thereanyway.

SPEAKER_05 (28:05):
Uh in 1907, Joseph Forester Simpson was living in
Vineland, New Jersey and tryingto invent the next big thing.
After several other inventionsfailed to gain momentum, Simpson
took note of the quickly growingamusement industry, including
the rapid growth of other gameslike very early iterations of

(28:26):
pinball.
Looking for profit from theamusement trend, uh, Simpson
filed a patent for a game he hadinvented.
This game, which he called SkiBall, was officially granted
U.S.
patent number 905,941 onDecember 8th, 1908.
He soon licensed the rights totwo business partners, John W.

(28:49):
Harper and William, either Niceor Nice Jr.
Um, John and William created theSkee Ball Alley Company in 1909.
By April of that year, they hadstarted advertising the game in
Billboard magazine.
However, sales grew at a crawl.
In 1910, Nice passed away,leaving Harper to manage the

(29:14):
company.
Significantly in debt and livingwith friends, Harper and the Ski
Ball Alley Company were on theverge of bankruptcy after
several years of poor sales.
Fortunately, a PrincetonUniversity graduate and future
war hero stepped in to save thecompany and the game.
John Dickinson Estee was agraduate of Princeton

(29:36):
University.
He was also an early fan of skeeball.
Incorrectly credited as theinventor of skee ball for many
years, Estee actually discoveredthe game in 1910, allegedly
while looking for a gift for hisson.
Estee quickly fell in love withthe game and in 1913 helped
Harper save the Ski Ball AlleyCompany.

(29:59):
Thank goodness.
I'll tell you.
In an effort to build a marketfor the game, Estee installed
skee ball machines in locationsclose to Princeton University.
These games initially attractedan audience and did well, but
eventually the novelty wore off.
Deciding more drastic action wasneeded, Estee purchased the Ski
Ball Patent and its rights fromSimpson.

(30:22):
Now with full ownership of SkiBall, Estee founded the JD Estee
Company.
Um until this point, the gamehad been unable to take hold in
the amusements markets.
Estee was determined to changethis.
I'm really surprised it took solong for it to catch, because
it's so fun.

SPEAKER_01 (30:40):
It is a lot of fun.
Especially in like New Jersey,because they got a lot of I
mean, they got the sameboardwalk shit.
Right.
And in 1900, there wasn't thatmuch stuff to do.
And that's like their heyday.

SPEAKER_05 (30:50):
Yeah, exactly.
In the same year, he founded thecompany, Estee installed ski
ball machines in a rented spaceon Atlantic City's boardwalk.
See?
He coupled this with anaggressive marketing campaign
placing advertisements innewspapers throughout the East
Coast.
Soon buzz grew and a market forthe game quickly emerged.

(31:11):
In 1915, ski ball tournamentswith hundreds of players were
held in locations like AtlanticCity.
Ski ball became so popular thatsome cities, including Atlantic
City itself, placed restrictionson when noisy amusements could
be played to curb the disruptionthe game allegedly caused.

SPEAKER_01 (31:29):
Meaning it is pretty loud.

SPEAKER_05 (31:32):
Sounds like I get off my lawn, kind of.

SPEAKER_01 (31:34):
I'm like, who knew?
I did not know that this was anEast Coast situation.

SPEAKER_05 (31:40):
In one of your favorite towns.

unknown (31:44):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (31:46):
Soon after Ski Ball's initial success, Estee
went off to fight in World WarI.
Upon his return as a hero pilot,he sold the company and skee
ball rights to new owners.
The rights to ski ball wouldchange hands several more times
over the ensuing decades, butthe popularity of the game
wouldn't wane.
Today, Bay Tech GamesIncorporated owns the official

(32:09):
rates to skee ball.
They manufacture new machinesfrom their headquarters in
Pulaski, Wisconsin.

SPEAKER_01 (32:16):
That's great.
Like I can't believe they'restill making them.
I know they all look like theyare from 1910.

SPEAKER_05 (32:23):
I know.
Maybe when these new like Daveand Buster-y type places open,
yeah.
I guess.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (32:30):
I guess.
Because they do always I wasdating a guy that lived on the
other side of the bridge.
And we went to the Dave andBusters, and I was like, oh,
skee ball.
And I cleaned the floor with himin the skee ball, and he said
that I was cheating because Igrew up at the boardwalk and had

(32:52):
skee ball experience.

SPEAKER_05 (32:54):
And I was like, You had ski ball muscle memory.

SPEAKER_01 (32:56):
Yeah, I was like, okay, I haven't played in like
32 years.

SPEAKER_05 (33:04):
Unlike other amusement games, which increase
in complexity as technologyadvances, skee ball has remained
virtually unchanged for morethan a century.
Originally, skee ball lanes were32 feet long, and rolling the
balls towards the bullseyerequired more force, but it soon
was shrunken down to its currentrange of 12 feet to 14 feet.

(33:26):
32 feet would be very long andvery hard to be accurate.
Then it becomes like bocce ball,curling or something at that
point.
Um that has been the onlysignificant change in its
history.
As we entered the digitaldigital age, the game adopted
modern features, electronicscoreboards, sound effects, and

(33:47):
lights, but its core gameplayhas remained the same.
Maybe that's what has led to itslongevity.

SPEAKER_01 (33:53):
Yeah, remember it would have like the little flip,
flip, the numbers would drivedown.

SPEAKER_05 (33:57):
Yep, yep, yep.
It's funny it took so long forit to take hold, but then it's
remained constant for all theseyears, basically unchanged.
Those early guys didn't knowwhat they were talking about.
Uh, regardless of age, ski ballis easy to pick up and play, but
like any good game, it takestime and skill to master, as

(34:18):
Heather has, obviously.

SPEAKER_06 (34:19):
Indeed.

SPEAKER_05 (34:21):
Above all else, however, its simplicity is what
drives ski ball's lastingappeal.
There's something innatelysatisfying about accurately
throwing or rolling a ball tohit a target and score points.
Many sports are built aroundthis experience.
Joseph Forrester Simpson likelynever imagined this game would
spread across the globe, or hewould have never sold it and

(34:44):
continue to be played over acentury later.
Yet skee ball continues toremain a popular amusement game.
Yes.

SPEAKER_01 (34:51):
They're very loud though.
You can hear when you go intothese arcades, because typically
the ski ball is in the back.
Also, that one where you rollthe ball under the it's like
glass and then it goes into acup at the bottom.

SPEAKER_05 (35:05):
Yeah, that one stresses me out.

SPEAKER_01 (35:07):
But I don't know what I guess you get points for
different colored cups.
I don't know.
I never really played it becausethe get glass was or in the
bingo numbers.

SPEAKER_05 (35:14):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (35:14):
Those are always in the old section of arcades, too.

SPEAKER_05 (35:16):
Mm-hmm.
Yep.
Um, in 1971, the world tilted onits axis.
Wow.
Not literally, but somethingseismic shifted in the realm of
entertainment.
That year, Nolan Bushnell andTed Dabney, the visionary minds
behind Atari, unleashed computerspace.

(35:39):
Do you remember computer space?
No.
I don't either.
Um, it was the first ever arcadevideo game.
Imagine, which I always thoughteverybody always said Pong,
which does come up later, butno, it was not.
Imagine a clunky cabinetsplitting out pixelated rockets,
soaring through a starry void,battling flying saucers with

(36:00):
reckless abandon.
I can't even imagine.
Sounds like uh asteroid.
Yeah.
That was a dawn of a revelation.
A revolution, not a revelation.
Neither.
Yeah, whichever.
Although the first arcade gamewasn't built until 1971, we must
return to 1962 to get thecomplete picture of arcade

(36:23):
history.
That was the year Steve Russellcreated one of the first video
games, Space War.
Do you remember Space War?
No.
Me neither.
It was a simple game by modernstandards featuring two
spaceships that could firemissiles at each other.
At the time, though, it was abreakthrough, and I'd imagine it
was wildly fun back then.

(36:44):
Um, Space War inspired twostudents at Stanford University,
Bill Pitts and Hugh Tuck, tocreate Galaxy Game, a version of
Space War that was coin operatedand ran on a computer housed in
a wooden cabinet.
Uh at the same time, NolanBushnell and Ted Badney worked
with Seiz Engineering on anothercoin-operated version of

(37:08):
Spacewar called Computer Space.
Computer Space would become thefirst commercial arcade game.
I know.
I did not know that.
The following year, Atarireleased Pong, which was much
more successful than ComputerSpace, and brought the idea of
arcade gaming to a broaderaudience.

(37:29):
These were humble beginningsthat sparked the video game
revolution.
Yeah, revolution, I got rightthere.
I'm playing Pong.
Uh-huh.
She's Ponging in her chair.
Uh Atari began the computerspace's innovative technology
and Pong straightforwardgameplay.

(37:49):
They laid the groundwork for anindustry that would build,
attract billions, and transformpop culture forever.
Next time you're watching ascreen, whether you are fighting
aliens or racing cars, rememberthis.
It all started with a rocket, apaddle, and two creative people
who dared to dream in pixels.
So poetic.

(38:10):
Following the success of Pong,more game companies began
developing arcade games.
More and more titles would hitthe market throughout the 70s,
with racing games being the mostpopular.
And those were always one of myfavorites.

SPEAKER_01 (38:22):
I was never a fan of the racing game.

SPEAKER_05 (38:23):
I was god awful.
Like I crashed into I died ahundred times.

SPEAKER_01 (38:27):
I know.
I was thinking that.
And even after I starteddriving, I would go and play
these games and I would be like,I still can't do it.

SPEAKER_05 (38:33):
That wheel was so touchy.
Like you turn it a tiny bit andyou smash into the wall.
It was really nothing likedriving.
I did get very disappointed.
I did get decent at it for aspell where I guess I must have
been going to the arcade at themall a lot.
But yeah, I've tried onerecently and I'm not good at it
anymore.

SPEAKER_01 (38:49):
Fun fact the arcade is technically why Nicole and I
failed out of the University ofDelaware.

SPEAKER_05 (38:57):
Well, that and vodka.
But anyway, um look.
I said technically.
Uh then in 1978, Taito releasedSpace Invaders.
Which changed arcades forever.
Love Space Invaders.

(39:18):
Oh, yes.
That one stresses me out too.
Yes.
I don't go too good with gamesthat time me and put pressure on
me to hurry up.
Um like I used to love um,remember that phone game um
Subway Surfer?

SPEAKER_01 (39:33):
No.

SPEAKER_05 (39:34):
Oh, I actually got really good.
You had to, it was a little guyand he ran on these tracks, and
you had to jump up subways andcollect coins, and it would go
faster as you go.
And I actually got very good atit, and then I realized it was
giving me insane anxiety, so Iquit playing it.
Um Space Invaders was a hugesuccess.

(39:54):
It created the shoot 'em upgenre and marked the beginning
of the golden age of art.
Arcade games.
As the 70s closed, arcadesexperienced their biggest boom
yet, becoming major fixturesthroughout the 80s.
You know how big arcades were ifyou grew up in that decade.
While Space Invaders kicked offthe arcade craze, it was joined

(40:16):
by another significant release,Atari's Asteroids.
Yes.

SPEAKER_01 (40:22):
That's the one that had a knob, right?
And Asteroids have a knob.

SPEAKER_05 (40:26):
Uh-huh.
Yep, we're gonna get to a knob.
Which became the company'sbest-selling arcade game in
1980, a year after asteroids andtwo years after Space Invaders,
Pac-Man arrived.
Soon Pac-Man fever swept thenation.

SPEAKER_01 (40:42):
Do you want to mention the uh I don't remember
the name of the episode?
Oh shoot.
Oh.
Uh all right.

SPEAKER_05 (40:48):
It'll come to you.
I know it will.
I'll look it up.
Um, making it clear that the 80swould be the decade of the
arcade.
Developed by Namco and publishedin the United States by Midway,
two companies that would becomearcade juggernauts, Pac-Man
revolutionized arcade games inseveral essential ways.
Pac-Man was the first mascotcharacter in gaming, emerging

(41:12):
years before characters likeMario and Sonic.
It also featured some of theearliest video game cutscenes.
The game was one of the first toappeal to both men and women.
The game's creator, ToruIwatani, uh, aimed to create a
game that wasn't based onviolence or sports in the hope

(41:32):
that such a game would attractwomen to arcades.
Did you find it yet?

SPEAKER_01 (41:37):
I don't know if it was the um the one year, what a
wonderful podcast, wonder filledpodcast, or if it was the
mixtape for the recentlydeceased, but I think it was the
What a Wonderful Podcast.
One hit wonders.

SPEAKER_05 (41:51):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (41:52):
Yeah, I think you're right.
Oh, yeah, it is.
Okay.
Okay, so it's the What a WonderWonder Filled Podcast from
October of 2025.
It was our anniversary, one yearspectacular, and we talk about
Pac-Man Pieper.

SPEAKER_05 (42:07):
And you can find it on our website at
www.likewhateverpods.com.
Amazing.
I know I pulled a U there.
You sure did.
Uh Pac-Man introduced a uniquegame genre into arcades, the
Maze Chase.
This was very different from theshooting and racing games that
came before it.
As the Golden Age continued,many new games appeared.

(42:30):
In the golden age of arcadegaming, they say golden age a
lot.

SPEAKER_06 (42:34):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (42:35):
Uh, one title crept its way into the hearts of
players everywhere.
Centipede.
I never cared for centipede.
See, this was one that Ipurposely like a lot of this is
the history of, but then I wouldgo and find information on
things I wanted to talk about.
Again, a very anxiety.
I know it contributed to myanxiety.

SPEAKER_01 (42:56):
I didn't like when they broke depart.
Then there was two of them.

SPEAKER_05 (42:59):
Yeah.
But the ball.
Like, yeah.
Yeah, I had the ball.
Released in 1980 by Atari, thisfast-paced shooter stood out not
only for its colorful graphicsand addictive gameplay, but also
for the unique legacy it broughtto the industry.
Designed by Ed Log and DonnaBailey, one of the first female
game designers in arcadehistory.
Go Donna Bailey.

(43:20):
Yeah.
Uh, Centipede brought a freshperspective to gaming that
appealed to both male and femaleplayers during a time when the
arcade scene was heavily maledominated.
They were like, we gotta getsome chicks up in here.
We look really bad.
Oh, that reminds me.
I heard this thing on the newsand I thought it was such a good

(43:40):
idea, and everybody's poo-pooingit.
But this guy owns a bar, I don'tremember where he owns it, and
no one single is allowed to comein after nine o'clock because he
doesn't want men in therestalking women and trying to
pick them up and take them home.
He wants people to be in therehaving fun with their friends
and or their spouses orwhatever, and everybody I see

(44:03):
both sides of it, I do, but Ithought it was very um
forward-thinking to protectwomen in that way.
Um, I would definitely go tothat bar.
I've always wanted to do a barwith no alcohol.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (44:17):
That has bands and stuff.

SPEAKER_05 (44:19):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (44:20):
Like a full-on real life bar with mocktails and oh,
I don't know if it's a bigthing.

SPEAKER_05 (44:24):
And mock tails can just go wild these days.
I mean, yeah, you can make somereally I see mocktails on the
menu, and I'm like, well, itdoesn't have alcohol in it, so
I'm not gonna order it, but itlooks really good.

SPEAKER_01 (44:34):
I want to do I I have always thought it would go
well, especially if you hadbands and stuff like that,
because people who arealcoholics kind of lose out
because they don't want to go toa bar anymore.
So then that's where bands play.

SPEAKER_05 (44:48):
And plus, you know, it could be very appealing to
like a group of women or just acouple of women that want to go
out and hang out and have theexperience of being in a bar but
not get drunk and not get preyedupon and all those kinds of
things.
So yeah, I love it.
You know what?
I'll have to be your bartenderif you do it.
So please don't pursue it.
But yes, you would.

(45:08):
I don't think I can do itanymore.
You can.
I would if I had to.
I'll give you a stool.
Speaking of which, I starteddashing this week.
Yes, I am now officially in theDoorDasher Club.
Yep.
Just trying to make some extramoney for Christmas.
And if I want to, I'll keepdoing it.
But it is fun.
Um, I really enjoy it, and it'smuch easier than white dressing.

(45:30):
Yes.
Which would be my fallback if Ireally had to go out and make
some money for any reasonbecause I did it for a lifetime.
So yeah, I enjoyed it.
I did almost die last night.
Um I was out after dark, yeah.
Which I try not to do, but nowit gets dark early, and I have a
full-time job, so I have verylimited time I can go.

(45:52):
But I'm taking this bypass umthrough town, and it's just one
lane going one way, and then agrassy center, and then the lane
going the other way.
And the car in front of me,luckily, I am not someone who
rides someone's bumper, so I wasfar enough back.
But all of a sudden, he stoppedon a dime going 50, and I hit my

(46:15):
brakes, and my car did verygood, and I swerved a little bit
to the right, and the car behindme, thank God, didn't hit me.
Nobody was injured.
But as I'm almost rear-endingthis person, I look and
something is coming out of thegrass, a herd of something is
coming out of the grass.
It all happened in literally ahundredth of a second.

(46:39):
So I don't know what happened,but I think they were too small
for deer.
They look like they were allwhite.
I don't know if it was a pack ofdogs, wild bobcats, Jersey
Devils.
I don't know, but some herd ofsomething, and it came, they
came and ran in front of the carin front of me and out.

(46:59):
So I didn't get to see at all.
It was just crazy.
And the poor car in front of me,they just pulled in the
shoulder.
They were like, fuck this.
I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_01 (47:06):
Maybe they saw, I guess they saw the herd coming.

SPEAKER_05 (47:08):
Yeah, but I had this amazing Mexican pizza in my car
that smelled so good that Ineeded to get to somebody, so I
didn't have time to take pullover and take a break.
But oh my god, that pizzasmelled so good.
That is the problem with doordashing.
It is.
I was starving by the time I gothome.
Anyway, back to the story.
Uh, the premise of centipede isdeceptively simple.

(47:32):
You control a small bug blasterat the bottom of the screen,
fending off an onslaught ofcreepy crawlers like centipedes,
spiders, fleas, and scorpions.
The centipede winds its way downthe screen, bouncing off
mushrooms and splitting intosegments when shot.
Uh, the longer you survive, thefaster and more intense the
action becomes.
And that's where my anxietykicks in.

(47:54):
Uh, it was this rampingchallenge and hypnotic rhythm
that kept players coming backfor just one more try.
Yep.

SPEAKER_01 (48:03):
So now we're gonna hear a little bit about our
middle school adventure withtiny little Nicole.

SPEAKER_00 (48:14):
Let's hear that lovely music.

SPEAKER_07 (48:26):
Middle school madness out of control.

SPEAKER_05 (48:29):
Okay, so this week, I think I read ahead and I think
it's a doozy.
Oh, good.
I'm excited.
Arcades and a doozy.
I know.

SPEAKER_01 (48:37):
Shut your mouth.

SPEAKER_05 (48:38):
Um, let's see.
I'm checking.
Oh, wait.
Hold on a minute.
Oh lost my place.
Last week I was.
Oh, yeah.
Last week I abandoned school,right?
I don't know, because it was asubstitute for Miss Bailey.

SPEAKER_01 (48:57):
Yeah.
Because we had to switch.
Remember, we recorded ourChristmas episode last week,
too.
So we're all kinds of fucked up.

SPEAKER_05 (49:06):
And we had the new student named Mindy last week,
right?
I think so.
And Mr.
Eschenman, my math teacher, wasweird.
Yep, yep, that was last week.
All right.
So today we are at April 6th,1984.
It is a Friday.
Uh, at the top of the page, Iwrote in larger letters T G I F
T G I F wrote under it.

(49:26):
Right.
Thank God it's Friday.
Right.
We might forget.
T G I F when I was 11.
Um today.
I had to go to Miss Fox, Mrs.
Fox's again.
God damn it.
I know.
Mrs.
Bailey did have a substituteagain.

SPEAKER_01 (49:41):
I'm telling you.

SPEAKER_05 (49:42):
I know.
Now even our our our friend Patis worried.
Did you see his post?
He posted, where is she?
What happened?
In Miss Bootin's, I took a test.
In Jim we played floor hockey.
Uh-huh.
I'm sure I was wildly bad atthat.
Uh today in lunch, I didn't getto sit by Daphne.

(50:03):
Oh.

SPEAKER_01 (50:05):
Son of a bitch.

SPEAKER_05 (50:06):
In apparently, I wrote boo-hoo.
I guess.

SPEAKER_01 (50:10):
Devastating news.

SPEAKER_05 (50:11):
Surprising I wrote teardrops on this page while I
wrote it.
In Miss Irwin's, we started tostudy the ocean.
Oh.

SPEAKER_06 (50:18):
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_05 (50:19):
In Mr.
Escherman's class, uh, Tony,Tanya, and me were making
upsanes, but not saying cusswords.

SPEAKER_01 (50:27):
Oh, yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_05 (50:29):
Like, I've got to go Swiss, go to helicopter, kiss my
asteroids.
That's very fitting for this uhO-Ship.
Son of a biscuit.
O-Ship.
And Mother Strucker.
Oh.

(50:49):
Wild.
Wild.
Out of here.
We were crazy.
We're lucky we didn't getexpelled.
I know.
That's that is crazy.
I was a wild child, I'll tellyou what.
You lint liquor?

SPEAKER_01 (51:02):
You could have made that commercial.

SPEAKER_05 (51:06):
So that's this day in um April 1984.

SPEAKER_01 (51:11):
I'm gonna be so sad when this diary is over.
You're gonna have to just thinkup new stuff.

SPEAKER_05 (51:15):
I am too.
And it must be the next onethat's really, really good.
Because I I read one recentlyand I was like, oh my god.
Um all right.
Now, since we have talked diary,it's time for fun facts.
Uh trackball triumph.
Centipede was one of the firstarcade games to use a trackball

(51:38):
controller, allowing for smoothand precise movement.
This helped differentiate itfrom the joystick-dominated
competition.

SPEAKER_01 (51:44):
And it made a really cool noise.

SPEAKER_05 (51:46):
It did.
It really did.
Um historic design, DonnaBailey, the first video game
designer, became a trailblazeras one of the first women to
program an arcade game, and shepurposely designed the game to
appeal to a broader demographic,particularly women and kids,
resulting in a more inclusivegaming experience.

(52:08):
And I think it's funny thatwe're just now including kids.
It really was all made for men.

SPEAKER_01 (52:15):
You know, it's funny because when in the 70s, uh, I
distinctly remember, well, here,hold on a second.
Let me just throw this in herefor a second.
I might put we might put this upon social media because I want
everybody else's opinion onthis.
Because at the Thanksgivingholiday that was last week.

SPEAKER_05 (52:32):
Oh yes, I hope you all had a good one.
Yes.

SPEAKER_01 (52:34):
I was at I was sitting next to my mother, and I
don't know why I was lookingthrough pictures, but there's a
picture of me and my mom insomewhere in, I don't know, West
Virginia, possibly anywhere onthe road.
Yeah.
But so I'm standing in front ofher, and I have a shirt that has
my name on it because probablyno I made fun of that.
That was one of the reasons Ibrought, I was like, look, mom,

(52:55):
you didn't even know my name.
No, she's like, that's the wayeverybody was doing it then.

SPEAKER_05 (53:01):
And I was like, Yeah, because no none of you
could remember your kids' namesbecause you were all high.
So I'm looking at it.

SPEAKER_01 (53:06):
Okay, my mom is five five.
And I was like up to like justat her boob or like just under
her boob size.
But my sister was not here yet.
So I was under five, and shewasn't pregnant, so that has to
put me under four.
I look giant.

(53:27):
I said to mom, I was like, whyam I so big?

SPEAKER_05 (53:30):
And you are tall.
We're both five's nine.
Yeah.
So we're both tall for women.
I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 (53:35):
I don't, I was I was a giant.
Your your dad's kind of tall.
Yeah, that's really tall though.
I'm gonna look for it and showit to you because when I saw it,
I was like, wait a minute, whyam I so tall?
Aren't four-year-olds like threeand a half feet tall?
That's what I'm saying.
I was looking, so go ahead andI'll find the picture, but yeah,
I was a giant.

SPEAKER_05 (53:55):
That's crazy.
Or there's some kind ofshenanigans with your sister.

SPEAKER_01 (54:00):
No, I mean you can tell it's definitely
pre-sibling.
Because you were happy.
Yes.
I don't look like I have beenabandoned.
I mean, maybe a little becausethat's why they have my name on
my shirt.

SPEAKER_05 (54:15):
God forbid you're running away and they couldn't
see the front of your shirt.

SPEAKER_01 (54:19):
And it's funny because the shirt is black.
Oh my god.
That's perfect.

SPEAKER_05 (54:24):
Did you find it?

SPEAKER_01 (54:25):
Yes.
Oh, that looks enormous.
Yes.

SPEAKER_05 (54:31):
And wow.
You and your sister look so muchlike your mom, it's weird.
I know.

SPEAKER_01 (54:35):
Maybe, maybe I'm not super big, but I feel like I'm
way bigger than like afour-year-old.
Three and a half, four-year-oldshould be.
Like I was literally three and ahalf or four years old in that
picture.
Because my sister was born inOctober after I turned five.
So my mom would have had to bepregnant with her when I was
four.
Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_05 (54:55):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (54:55):
Like for the majority of my four.
Right.

SPEAKER_05 (54:58):
So that could have been early on.
She could have been pregnantwith her.

SPEAKER_01 (55:01):
Right.

SPEAKER_05 (55:02):
Well, and you're blocking her belly.

SPEAKER_01 (55:03):
But I had short, but I have shorts on.
But she looks really thin.
To be on her second kid.
And we have shorts on.
In the mountains.
So it has to be summer.
I don't know.
Anyway, sorry guys.
I don't know why I'm a giantbaby.

SPEAKER_05 (55:20):
We wandered off there for a minute.

SPEAKER_01 (55:21):
I got distracted by my ginormousness.

SPEAKER_05 (55:24):
Alright, I have one more fun fact.
Okay, sorry.
Sound strategy.
The audio in Centipede wasn'tjust for flair, it was part of
the gameplay.
The increasing tempo of thebackground noise added tension,
yes, and urgency, yes, as thegame progressed.
So it was built to invoke myanxiety.

SPEAKER_01 (55:47):
They all do.
I mean, I guess that's the wholeSpace Invaders gets dent, yeah,
and it gets faster as you godown further.

SPEAKER_05 (55:55):
Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (55:56):
My dad liked I think the whole tangent we went off on
was because uh my dad playedvideo games a lot.

SPEAKER_05 (56:03):
Oh, really?

SPEAKER_01 (56:04):
Berserk.
Everywhere we went, they wouldgo play.
I mean, that could have alsobeen just their ruse, but Yeah,
Berserk stressed me out, Tetrisstressed me out.

SPEAKER_05 (56:13):
I love Tetris.
Yeah.
You would.
All right, Centipede was apillar in shaping what arcade
games could be.
It blended action, strategy, andcreativity into one thriving
package.
And it's no surprise that evenover 40 years later, it still
makes an appearance in retroarcades across the country,

(56:34):
including at arcade 92, wheretimeless fun never goes out of
stock.

SPEAKER_01 (56:39):
Where is that?

SPEAKER_05 (56:40):
I know.

SPEAKER_01 (56:42):
Well, we will have to find that.
Yeah, because the arcades, likethe the ones on the boardwalk,
they all have new games.
None of them have the old gamesanymore.

SPEAKER_05 (56:50):
And the new games are the same things as new slot
machines.
They're just lots of lights andnoise and yeah.
It's very complicated stuff.
I'm a simple person.
Yeah, just give me, give me agame.
Just give me Galaga and I'mgood.
Yeah, exactly.
That was my favorite Galaga.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.

(57:11):
Um Donkey Kong, which introducedmany people to the platformer
genre, a popular game style thatremains popular today.
Like Pac-Man, Donkey Kong was anarcade titan with an enormous
legacy.
Konami released Scramble in1981, which is considered the
first side-scrolling shooter.

(57:32):
Uh, this hugely influential andside-scrolling shooter became a
staple of gaming until theadvent of three-dimensional
consoles.
Do you remember?
Okay.
The journey brought digitizedsprites to the arcade in 1983.
That same year, Cinematronicsreleased Dragon's Lair, the

(57:52):
first game to use cell umanimated video with art by
renowned animator Don Blues.

SPEAKER_01 (58:00):
I also remember, I remember Dragon's Lair.
I know I didn't play it, but Iwould watch other people play it
because I am that weirdo wholikes to watch other people play
games.
Because I'm not very good atthem myself.

SPEAKER_05 (58:15):
Right.
And I know I've mentioned itbefore, but don't I I had um
twin boyfriends when I was inthird grade because they had a
Donkey Kong.
Right.
Handheld concert.
It was shaped like the videogames, and it was handheld.
I actually one of them was myboyfriend, but the other one
just came along.
Right.
And they would follow me homefrom school and bring their
Donkey Kong, and then eventuallyI used my like voodoo magic on

(58:38):
them and got them to leave theDonkey Kong machine at my house.
And so they could only play itwhen they came over.
I had access to it all the time.

SPEAKER_01 (58:45):
I had a Qbert watch.

SPEAKER_06 (58:47):
Aww.

SPEAKER_01 (58:47):
I know.
Loved my Qbert watch.
It's so cute.
I played Qbert all the time.
I like Qbert too.
Hence the reason why I had tohave a watch.
Uh puzzle.
It's like you actually playedthe game of Qbert on the watch.
Get out.
No.
It was like uh you remember thecalculator watches?

SPEAKER_05 (59:04):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (59:05):
It was kind of like that, only it was Qbert.
That's amazing.
That's some high-tech shit rightthere.

SPEAKER_05 (59:11):
I know.

unknown (59:13):
I know.

SPEAKER_05 (59:14):
All right.
Puzzle platformers like BubbleBobble, adventure games like
Gauntlet, uh, beat 'em ups likeDouble Dragon, and more were
released throughout the 80s.
At the same time, pre-existinggame genres were continually
refined throughout the decade.

SPEAKER_01 (59:32):
So here's the thing about old people homes that I've
now decided, and I know there'slike the thing on the tickety
tickety talk and stuff.
Like when we all have to have gointo the old people homes, A,
some people say that they shouldjust redo malls as I could not
agree more with that.

SPEAKER_05 (59:50):
Like malls are never going to come back.
Brick and mortar is a dyingindustry, unfortunately, because
I love to shop in person and trythings on.
But What are you gonna do withthose malls?

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:03):
You could turn them into nursing homes for Gen X.
Yes.
And they already have an arcadein them and a movie theater.
And so you could turn like theBoscovs into how many apartments
could you get into a Boss Govs,especially because they're two
floors and the two-story malls?
Shut up.
Think of how many old people youcan fit in there.

SPEAKER_05 (01:00:20):
Right.
And you don't even need to payfor name, brand, anything.
You can hire employees who canwork in the food court and you
can serve subs at this one,salads at this one, pizza at
this one, Chinese food at thisone.
I mean, what are we doing here?
I don't know.
I don't know what we're doing.
But it's you can hire highschool kids.

(01:00:42):
Give them full-time jobs to comein, run the arcade.
We could have record stores.
All of it.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:48):
All of it.

SPEAKER_05 (01:00:49):
Even you could have clothing stores in there.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It could be one stop shopping.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:53):
A Benetton?

SPEAKER_05 (01:00:54):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:55):
Let's just fully go back to the 80s.
Let's do it.

SPEAKER_05 (01:00:58):
Let's do it.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:59):
We're gonna need to crowdsource that.

SPEAKER_05 (01:01:03):
It really is a genius idea.
But were you gonna say somethingelse about nursing homes?

SPEAKER_01 (01:01:07):
No, that was it.

SPEAKER_05 (01:01:08):
Because you were like, firstly Oh, I don't know.
Okay.
All right.
If it comes back, just it won't.
Cut me off.
Okay.
Gone for good.
Okay, I get it.
Um believe it or not, Froggeralmost never saw the light of
day.
And wait till you find out why.
It's frustrating.
When the game was first pitchedto Sega executives, they
dismissed it as a woman and kidsgame.

(01:01:31):
I don't even know what to say.
That wouldn't appeal to theirtarget audience of young boys.
For real.
And what's the differencebetween kids and young boys?
I don't know.
So they're just saying women,let's just face it.
Women like to squish frogs too.
Yep.
Um, but one determined marketresearcher named Elizabeth

(01:01:53):
Falconer fought tooth and nailto convince them otherwise.
In a bold mood, Falconer calledout the execs for their previous
blunder of rejecting Pac-Man,which went on to become a
massive hit.
Impressed by her tenacity, theyfinally agreed to let her test

(01:02:13):
the game.
And so, with the proclamation,let her have her damn kids game,
Froger was born.
Who knew?
Uh, in 1981, the very firstFrogger arcade cabinet was put
to the test at a singlelocation, a San Diego bar called
Spanky Saloon.
They really put a lot of effortinto helping this lady get this

(01:02:35):
off the ground.
Um, to everyone's surprise, thegame became an instant hit with
the bar patrons, and she said,Bitch, I told you.
Um that's not in the script.
I made that up.
Um, they couldn't get enough ofguiding that little frog to
safety.
Seeing the incredible responseat Spanky's, Sega knew they had
a winner on their hands.

(01:02:56):
They decided to go all in andpublish Frogger widely, setting
the stage for the game'smeteoric rise to fame.
Meteoric rise to fame.
Namco's pole position.
That was my shit.
Um, from 1982 was not only oneof the most popular racing games

(01:03:17):
ever, but it also introduced16-bit graphics to the arcade.
Finally, in 1981, Defenderintroduced more complex control
schemes to the world.
As the 80s drew to a close, sodid the golden age of arcade
games.
That doesn't mean arcadesdisappeared, though, far from
it.
The early 90s saw the release ofa game that rocked the arcade

(01:03:39):
world.
In 1999, Capcom released StreetFighter 2, a game many still
consider the pinnacle of thefighting game genre.
Fighting games existed beforeStreet Fighter 2, but none had
ignited the competitive scene asthe release did.
It changed everything byfeaturing a six-button control

(01:04:00):
scheme, a wider variety ofspecial moves, and more.
I used to like to watch peopleplay that game.
It was very entertaining, but Iwas not good at it.
That's the so many controls.
Like I can't do it.
I wasn't coordinating enough forit.

SPEAKER_01 (01:04:14):
Yeah, I didn't know either.
That's too many buttons to haveit.

SPEAKER_05 (01:04:16):
Like I never learned to use an Xbox controller.
And I wasn't I I could play, Iwas really good at Tiger Woods
um golf game, but that's becauseit's slow and you take your time
to think and you line yourselfup and then you release.
But watching somebody sit thereand play like Call of Duty and
their hands.

SPEAKER_01 (01:04:34):
I can play some Call of Duty.
Can you well see because I likebeing the sniper?
Oh.
Because you have to breathe.
You take the breath in and thenyou shoot.

SPEAKER_05 (01:04:44):
Yeah, I like the sniper.
That that does sound prettycool.
Actually, my son, when he wasaround 14, he I think I got him
an Xbox then, and he was intokind of like the fantasy games,
um, like the mystical kind ofthings, and he tried so hard to
teach me how to play it, and itjust wasn't happening.

SPEAKER_01 (01:05:05):
Now, with the Nintendo, I am a big um oh,
they're getting ready to make amovie of it too.
What the fuck?
Oh my god.
Mario?
No.

SPEAKER_05 (01:05:15):
Sonic?

SPEAKER_01 (01:05:16):
No.
Go on.

SPEAKER_05 (01:05:19):
Okay.
Just interrupt me when you justcut that part out.
The one with Link.
I can help you there.
During the golden age of arcadegames, competitions arose over
who could achieve the highestscore in games like Pac-Man.
As Street Fighter's popularitygrew, competitions in the arcade
space became more direct.

(01:05:40):
Street Fighter 2's, tightcontrols, deep strategy, and
two-player versus mode made itthe perfect game for
head-to-head skill tests.
This led to the development of avibrant fighting game community
that persists to this day.
Of course, the runaway successof Street Fighter II led to a
boom in fighting gamedevelopment.

(01:06:02):
As a result, several newfighting franchises emerged,
including Tekken and MortalKombat.
Did you find it?

SPEAKER_01 (01:06:11):
The Legend of Zelda.

SPEAKER_05 (01:06:13):
Oh yeah.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (01:06:16):
Mostly because I like playing the Ocarina of
Time.

SPEAKER_05 (01:06:19):
Oh, okay.
Mortal Kombat's had movies too,right?

SPEAKER_01 (01:06:22):
Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_05 (01:06:23):
Okay.
Uh, in the golden age ofarcades, quarters powered fun
games.
Joystick blisters were badges ofhonor.
One name stood out, EugeneJarvis.
This visionary isn't justanother game designer.
He is an arcade alchemist,conjuring up classics that
ignited imaginations andredefined the genre.
Jarvis's early days were spenttinkering with Atari pinballs,

(01:06:46):
honing his skills beforeunleashing his creative fury on
the world of video games.
In the early 1980s, he struckgold with Defender, an
exhilarating shooter where yousoared through a starry sky,
blasting alien invaders andrescuing kidnapped humans.
Do you remember that one?
I don't.
Um, the dual joystick controls,innovative scoring system, and

(01:07:10):
addictive gameplay made it aninstant phenomenon, propelling
Jarvis to legendary status inthe arcade world.
But Jarvis wasn't content withone masterpiece.
He followed up Defender withRobotron 2084, a dystopian robot
robo rampage that pushed theboundaries of arcade action.

(01:07:32):
With its frenetic twin stickcontrols, waves of relentless
enemies, an iconic human errormessage, Robotron became a cult
classic, testing reflexes andchallenging players to new skill
levels.

SPEAKER_01 (01:07:47):
I don't remember that one either.

SPEAKER_05 (01:07:48):
I don't either, but there was a movie called
Robotron, right?
I don't know.
I mean, I know there was aRobocop, but I don't think
that's different.
Yeah.
Um beyond these iconic titles,Jarvis' influence reaches far
and wide.
He co-founded VidKids, a companythat makes educational games.
This demonstrates his commitmentto utilizing games for more than

(01:08:13):
just entertainment.
Later in the 1990s, he broughthis magic touch to the driving
genre with the cruising series,putting players behind the wheel
of virtual hot rods andredefining arcade racing
experiences.
I do remember that one.
Today, Jarvis is an active forcein the industry, leading his own

(01:08:34):
development studio, Raw ThrillsIncorporated, which launches new
hit titles yearly.
His legacy, however, is etchedin the Annals or Anals.
No, it's not anal of arcadehistory.
From the frantic dogfights ofDefender to the neon drenched

(01:08:54):
streets of Cruisin, Jarvis gamesare more than just pixels and
circuits.
They're testaments to the powerof imagination, innovation, and
pure unadulterated fun.
While the fighting game crazehelped arcades persist through
the 90s, their popularitysteadily declined.
By the early 2000s, gameconsoles were more commonplace,

(01:09:17):
eliminating the need forarcades.
In addition, players wereinterested in longer narratives
and more complex gameplay, whicharcade games aren't designed to
provide.
Finally, the rise of onlinegaming services such as Xbox
Live also contributed to thedecline of arcades.
Arcades found a way to bounceback, they expanded their

(01:09:38):
options.
Many arcades are now part of alarger family entertainment
center experience, offering avariety of activities, food,
drinks, games, and redemptioncounters.

SPEAKER_01 (01:09:50):
I think probably a lot that killed the arcades also
was the death of the mall.

unknown (01:09:54):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (01:09:55):
Beginning of the end for the mall.

SPEAKER_05 (01:09:56):
Yeah, I think if malls were still a thing,
arcades would definitely be astaple.
Even with a home console.
Agreed.
Yeah, because that's just fun asshit.

SPEAKER_01 (01:10:04):
Well, and that and people actually pay attention to
their children now.
I mean true.

SPEAKER_05 (01:10:07):
Back in the day.

SPEAKER_01 (01:10:08):
You got sent to the arcade while they went shopping.
Get out of my hair.
Yeah.
Just go.
Here's some quarters.
Go leave me alone.
Yeah.
So I think that's I mean, Ithink we killed the arcade.
Great.
Technology.

SPEAKER_05 (01:10:21):
We built it up and tore it down.
That's what we did.

SPEAKER_01 (01:10:24):
And then in the in the old people homes that we
will have, we will bring itback.
And it will be all these coolgames and not just new shit.

SPEAKER_05 (01:10:32):
I know.
I have friends who have prettybadass man caves and they have
some of the consoles or the thewooden cabinets in their
basement.
Oh god, I would love to haveone.
I know.
I just wouldn't know what gameto pick.
I know.
I think I'd have to get two orthree if I was gonna do it.

SPEAKER_01 (01:10:48):
I know some of them have like it's multi.

SPEAKER_05 (01:10:52):
Oh.

SPEAKER_01 (01:10:53):
Like they'll have Pac-Man and like your typical
like Galaga Pac-Man.

SPEAKER_05 (01:10:58):
That wouldn't be a vintage one, though.

SPEAKER_01 (01:11:00):
No, I mean they're not like it's like basically
just the cabinet with the gamein it.
You know what I mean?
Where you can still play it.
But it was like you can pick agame, I guess.

SPEAKER_05 (01:11:10):
I think they're a couple grand.
So if I ever have that layingaround, maybe I'll get one.

unknown (01:11:14):
Okay.
Okay.

SPEAKER_05 (01:11:15):
Um, today, massive massively successful restaurant
change incorporate uh arcadegames into their experiences.
They offer families a place toget a good meal and
entertainment.
Arcades are also experiencing aresurgence due to nostalgia.
Goja next.
Uh children who grew up in the1980s and 1990s have fond

(01:11:36):
memories of visiting arcades.
Now they are opening their ownarcades for their friends.
Since many of these arcades areaimed at adult audiences who
grew up on arcade games, theyalso offer alcohol, leading to
the term barcade.

SPEAKER_01 (01:11:51):
Barcade.

SPEAKER_05 (01:11:52):
Because we Gen Xers are also a lot of alcoholics.
Yes.

SPEAKER_01 (01:11:56):
We have been drinking since we were seven.

SPEAKER_05 (01:11:59):
Yeah.
I mean, what do you want us todo?
Um, barcades.
Not much else you can do.
Yeah, I mean, it's not ourfault.
Uh Barcades Nationwide offerclassic arcade titles and brand
new games that preserve thetraditions of the arcade.
However, the main factor intheir growth has been family
entertainment centers, whichcontinue to evolve to include

(01:12:19):
miniature golf, climbing walls,boo, laser tag, boo, VR, not a
fan of VR.
Um, batting cages, rope courses,absolutely not, and video games.
Oh hell no.
Oh, hell no.
Oh, hell no.
Um, the current landscape ofvideo arcade game manufacturers

(01:12:41):
includes a robust lineup ofcompanies, including Brawl
Thrills, LAI Games, Bay TechEntertainment, ICE Games, and
more.
And that is our history of thearcade.
And now I really want to go toan arcade.
I need like really, really bad.

SPEAKER_01 (01:13:02):
Well, we should go.
I don't know when they I don'tknow when Ocean City shuts
theirs down.
Ah, well, probably afterChristmas because they got those
stupid ass winter festivalmotherfucking lights.

SPEAKER_05 (01:13:12):
Does lefties have a good selection?
Um I remember I just rememberthe restaurant part and the
bowling alley.
I don't remember really.

SPEAKER_01 (01:13:20):
I really remember I think it's more towards kids.
Like I think it's like the kid,I don't think it's a whole ski
ball.
It's probably got the clawmachines.
Yeah, I know it has, I know ithas the call.
I know, and you're a master ofthe call party.
Master of the claw machine.
Well, that was so much fun.

SPEAKER_04 (01:13:38):
It was.
That was really fun.

SPEAKER_01 (01:13:41):
We're gonna um just as a aside, I guess.
We're gonna we discussed itbefore.
So the website allows us toblog.
And I'm gonna say this becausewe discussed it.
Don't expect it to be all thetime thing, because we're we're
gonna try to each do a blog aweek.
So there will be, and we allwill sign whichever one's ours.

(01:14:02):
And um, so while I was listeningto you, I was thinking about all
the things that I would like toinclude this week in my blog.
So do it.
I'm gonna.

SPEAKER_05 (01:14:12):
I have random thoughts throughout the week.
I'm like, that would be good forthe podcast.
And then I either don't put thenote in my phone or I put the
note in there, but I don't putit in a way that I understand
what I was talking about.
I'm like, I'll remember this inthree days, and then I read it,
I'm like, what the fuck am Italking about?
Yeah.
Because in the moment it feltreally like there's no way I'll
forget.

(01:14:33):
Yeah, I do that shit all thetime.

SPEAKER_01 (01:14:35):
Yeah.
So we're gonna try and do that.
Um, so check out.
I think there's a way.
I'm not an expert on thiswebsite.
I did finally find a companythat would make it easier than
the last company I had to do.
Um, but I think there's a waythat you can subscribe to the
website to keep it up to date.

(01:14:56):
I don't know.
Look at it, you tell me, I don'tknow.

SPEAKER_05 (01:14:59):
At least Google it and bump us up to the top of the
Google search.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (01:15:04):
Google that shit.
Um, but yeah, I'm I'm attemptingto um we're gonna we're gonna
try to blog.
So this and and we're gonna trynot just the week's episode, but
like other stuff.

SPEAKER_05 (01:15:15):
Yeah, just random shit we think about because that
happens all the time.
Like I'll see something on TV orI'll have a random thought, or
I'll have a conversation withsomebody, and I'm like, oh,
that's such a but you can't makea whole episode out of it.
Right.
So I love this idea of the blogwhere I can just put down my
random stupid thoughts andhopefully somebody will read it.

(01:15:37):
Yeah, I can also tell mytherapist I'm journaling
technically, right?
So she'll be really happy.

SPEAKER_01 (01:15:42):
In in 30 years when we come back to do this, we'll
read it like we're reading herdiary.

SPEAKER_05 (01:15:49):
Because in like three months, I think I've done
five entries in my and I'll belike, Well, I wrote a word, and
she's like, That counts.
She's such a great cheerleader.
I love her so much.

SPEAKER_01 (01:15:59):
I I I have never I don't know.
I love to write, and I don'tknow why I can't journal.
I just can't do it.

SPEAKER_05 (01:16:06):
I know.
I even leave it laying right onthe coffee table with a pen so
that if a random thought hitsme, and then I'm like, Yeah, I
should write this to me.

SPEAKER_01 (01:16:17):
Yeah, I do that too.
Yeah.
Anyway, um arcade games, yeah.
Yeah, that was a really fun one.

SPEAKER_04 (01:16:27):
Yeah, I enjoyed doing that.

SPEAKER_01 (01:16:29):
Um thanks for listening.
Thank you.
Uh you can like, share, rate, uhreview.
Please.
You can find us where you listento the podcast.
Yes.
You can follow us on all of thesocials at Leg Whatever Pod.
Yep.
You can find us on the interwebsat www.liverpod.com.

(01:16:54):
Yes, please check it out.

SPEAKER_04 (01:16:57):
It's really, really cool.
She did like an amazing job.
Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 (01:17:00):
Um, and the the mobile version is a whole
different experience from the Idon't know why.

SPEAKER_04 (01:17:06):
It really, really is.
It really, really is.
It's weird.

SPEAKER_01 (01:17:09):
Anyway, um, Alra, you can send us an email about
what your favorite or best atgame is.
You can send an email to likewhatever pod at gmail.com or
don't like whatever.
Whatever.
Bye.