A quarter slips its way into the cogs of a Ms. Pac-Man arcade machine. After a frenzy of competition begins, a group of 3-4 college friends in the 2000’s scrawl scores onto scrap paper and receipts. If they were lucky, they would see the score appear on the top score screen.
“We knew who had what score, and knew who could beat it,” Barry Morrison, Education Support counselor, said.
Arcades have started declining since the 2000’s, but there’s no denying the value they once had.
For Morrison and his friends, arcades were once the thing to do back when hours of fun only required change and a 10 minute drive.
“All friends would get dropped off by their parents, and everybody would meet because a lot were in the mall, or the bowling alley… It was a good time,” Morrison said.
8bit characters started moving away from arcade machines to Gameboys in 1989 and eventually the Switch in 2017.
“It has changed the whole need of an arcade. You can have the XBox, a PS5, a computer, a phone and play 90% of those games,” Morrison said.
Despite this, arcades haven’t completely died out. In fact, junior Ben Brinkman returns to the Mid Rivers Mall arcade every six months with a friend he had once met at that very place.
Arcades may not be around as much, but it is clear there’s still something special in the social entertainment.
“I suspect they’re going to become small businesses… but just being in an arcade brings me joy,” Brinkman said.
