Wil Wheaton talks about the decline arcades

Wil Wheaton goes into discussion about arcades, the impact of arcades on a generation, the emergence of consoles and and what the decline in arcades may mean to those that spent all their hard earned allowance on those machines.



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While there was a mall like the one Wil described ("and every mall worth visiting had both a video arcade and an ice skating rink"), my most absolute favorite place to burn my allowance (what little I ever got...my parents arent that type) was the PuttPutt. I could (and would) spend all day alternating between the greens and the arcade. Id get a few dollars wort of tokens and then re-up on those sliding machines (where you have to drop the token so-timed that itll slide into a bigger pile and knock some more off) that everyone insisted were a huge waste of money. After that I usually made rounds between whackamole, skeeball, pinball, and a few others. Of course, during the time that PuttPutt had the Addams Family Machine, I spent more time there. I dont think I can describe the shock and horror that went through me as my tokens and I bounded up the stairs to play Addams.....and it wasnt there. It had made the rounds out. I remember searching for it, hoping it was only moved to another spot. But no. It was gone.
The PuttPutts long gone now. Replaced by...well, Im not sure. Last I saw it was an empty plot. Figures. Everything that we used to hold dear in some form or another is slowly going away.

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