I was trying to come up with a good place to put this within the page structure but was at a loss. Where do I put the best of the best.

Sure pong and breakout were memorable. But the first time I played this game where you were a diver trying to stay away from a shark had more impact on me. And not because the cabinet was a giant sharks head either :) My dad had to drag me out of the arcade that time.

3D? Pure science fiction although there was one attempt to turn a pong style game into something 3D.

Sure, you had to imagine it was night and your headlights were shining on guide posts. Fun for the first 3 times you played it then it was back to playing breakout.

This is all I remember...

Then one day they showed up.

The orderly columns of invaders descending from space was the first time I remember plunking quarter after quarter in a machine. For some strange reason the first few weeks Space Invaders were out the only ones we had in my area were the cocktail table version. It was out in the pizza parlors and bars before it was in the arcade. Yeah I wonder what I was doing in a bar at 17 myself ;)

The first  time I played battlezone I was in a bowling alley with my girlfriend at the time. The 3D was, well it was 3D. I remember heading for the volcano wondering if you could reach the edge. Luckily for me it wasn't till after we were done our games till I spotted the new machine in the game room because I got hooked for almost an hour. I also remember dreaming about the game that night. Ha, I wonder if 3D games would ever catch on.  :)

Forget pacman and donkey kong the first time around. I wondered what this wimpy stuff was. Who would have thought it was a new wave in progress.

Atari started with pre Nintendo marketing techniques with radio commercials for arcade games. Sure zaxxon and turbo were standard Sega arcade staples but Xevious and Pole Position revitalized the arcade scene. And then Tron came in and started a whole new franchise.

Then the laser disk came out. The next memory is of this racing game with this futuristic sci-fi background. These different tracks. All burned into my memory. Playing megarace on the PC in 95 brought back a flood of deja-vu for this game. It wasn't till I found the references to the early laser disk games that I found out what this was. And I'll have to find out again to get the name here.

And of course the first big laserdisc hit. Dragon's Lair. Not only did I spend a few hundred dollars and a few dozen hours playing. I also spent the same amount of time watching other people play levels I hadn't gotten to. I was mesmerized the first time I saw someone make it to the lair. The golden glow. I was glued to the screen but the person died. The following week I was at the very same machine. Dropped in a single quarter. I felt like the pinball wizard. The dragon was going down. 20 minutes or so later without losing any lives I stepped into the lair. I remembered obi wans instructions and all the right moves just came to me. Slamming that action button the final time and hurling the sword into the dragon's breast...  And Daphne was free. Oh the way she came bouncing over to me ...   OOOps. flashback,, It was then I turned around after the end and noticed a crowd of people that had been watching. They all started clapping :)

visitors.