Page 46 - OSG Presents Classic Gamer Magazine #6

I I store, the boy looks to his right and through his quarters. They
turn and say goodbye to the
sees... MS.PAC-MAN!!! WOW!!!!!
n addition to tons and tons of classic
SHE'S GOT A BOW IN HER HAIR,
home video game consoles, I also col- LOOK AT THIS!!!!! A NEW MAZE!!!!! grandmotherly woman running
the store, and upon returning
lect the full size coin-operated models. I cur- AND... COOL!!!! THE CHERRIES home, the boy rushes to his
rently have six machines crammed into a ARE BOUNCING AROUND!!!! For a room, gets out his coloring
small "game room" in my apartment. One of second, the boy is snapped back to pencils and sketch paper and
these, and the one that gets the most play reality when his father reminds him begins to draw the fabulous
from visitors, is Ms.Pac-Man. that he forgot to say hello to the new video game his father just
But this isn't your average run of the mill kindly grandmother who runs the took him to play.
Ms. Pac-Man. This is a cabaret Cabinet, store. Once the boy corrects this As he draws, he reflects
also known as a "mini-upright." It's about oversight, he is rewarded with a few that the Ms. Pac-Man machine
two thirds the size of a normal full size up- quarters. is shorter than any other ar-
right, sports a handsome woodgrain finish, cade game he had seen up
and is played on a bright 13" color monitor. until that point. Certainly
Why a cabaret? Well, I'll tell you... shorter than the large yellow
Pac-Man cabinets he was
used to, and even shorter than
The music starts, NEAT!!!! A the squatty Missile Command
BRAND NEW THEME!!! Suddenly, cabinet to its left. He thinks
Ms. Pac starts to gobble up the dots. The boy that maybe Midway is trying to save
literally drinks in the experience. The sounds manufacturing costs by making the ma-
Picture it. Sicily. 1933. Your grandfather of the dot gobbling are higher pitched than chines smaller. He goes back to draw-
and me... "regular" Pac-Man. The ghosts look the ing his sketch again.
OH WAIT A MINUTE!!! I slipped into a same, but the maze itself is much brighter Fast forward to the late 90's. The
"Golden Girls" flashback! My bad! Here's and filled in with an orangeish-pinkish-tan boy, now a 24 year old man with a full
what I meant... color. The "T" shaped walls directly beneath time job and a townhouse he shares
Spring 1982. A neighborhood in South- where Ms. Pac starts the game look just like with a friend, begins to look for some
ern Maryland named "Cliffton on the Poto- the ones in Pac-Man, but flipped upside arcade games to start his collection
mac." A sleepy Sunday morning, around 10 down. HEY! There's that bouncing cherry! In with. Always looking for bargains, he
a.m. or so. An eight year old boy is enjoying a frantic attempt to run down the escaping gets a Kung Fu Master for $50, a Two
his breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast, prize, Ms. Pac-Man is intercepted by Pinky. Tigers thrown in with that for free, a
the latest issue of "Electronic Games" Ms. Pac-Man rolls over a few times, disap- Trivia Whiz for $100, and a few more
opened before him. His parents are milling pears, and her replacement starts in the cen- here and there. Several times, the op-
about, doing whatever it is moms and dads ter of the maze again, just south of the mon- portunity to purchase a full size Ms.Pac-
do while their child is oblivious. Dad comes ster house. Man or one of those cocktail table cabi-
into the room and announces that he will be nets presents itself, but he passes each
back in a few minutes as he's leaving to get time. He wants that same size and style
the Sunday paper. They know he won't be of Ms. Pac-Man he first saw. They
gone long. A small family owned general prove to be much more elusive than
store is about a mile away, at the edge of he'd expected. Then, one day he logs
the neighborhood. Moments later, the boy The boy then notices a familiar sound to onto the Video Arcade Collecting news-
finishes breakfast just as Dad enters the his left... the six-tone siren of a game of Mis- group on the internet at the right time,
front door. sile Command starting up. His attention is minutes after a seller in New Jersey
Dad tells his son that the store has two diverted for a moment, just long enough to posts a mini upright Ms. Pac-Man for a
arcade games now, Missile Command and notice his father trying his hand at the Missile very reasonable price. He contacts the
something new called "Ms. Pac-Man." He Command machine sitting next to the Ms. seller, and the following weekend, he is
further explains that Ms. Pac-Man has a dif- Pac-Man. The father looks at his son, and playing that little woodgrain Ms. Pac-
ferent maze than Pac-Man, and she seems smiles. No words are needed. The father Man in his own home.
to move faster than her predecessor. The rarely plays video games and tends to get He thinks back to that Sunday morn-
boy is skeptical at first, as his father is quite annoyed at his son's constant discussion of ing, 18 years prior, when his Dad took
the master of the wacky story. How foolish! them, but this simple and powerful moment of him to play his first game of Ms. Pac-
A GIRL Pac-Man???? But nevertheless, father-son bonding will stay with the boy for Man, and ended up playing a game of
youthful curiosity overtakes him, and he the rest of his life (though he doesn't know it Missile Command alongside his son.
asks his father to take him to go see it. The yet!). The young man smiles, and decides to
two climb back into Dad's Ford Ranger to The father manages to defend his cities call home and tell his father...
make the short drive. well enough to survive a wave or two of mis- "Thanks," and that he loves
Upon walking in the front door of the siles, just long enough for the boy to play him.

Classic Gamer Magazine Spring 2001 46