Page 30 - Old School Gamer Magazine Issue #42 FREE Edition

that fall into this category that you can purchase from Arcade 1-Up or used from someone on Facebook Marketplace, eBay, or maybe even your local Walmart if you’re lucky.
HOW TO CURATE YOUR SPACE
The full arcade ambiance is a tricky thing to replicate as one size does not fit all. What I would say here
is that anything that makes you nostalgic is what needs to be in your arcade space whether it was
in your arcade or not. Red bumpy cups from Pizza Hut, shiny vending machine stickers, Super Mario question blocks, arcade marquees, old video game magazines, CIB New Kids on the Block dolls (those are my wife’s... I swear!). Shoot, if you have the room, you can even make your own prize counter! The sky’s the limit and with companies like New Wave Toys and their line of scaled-down Replicade units, you can even make a fully functional scaled-down arcade if you want. These truly are amazing times my friends.
No matter how you slice it, you have options. So many options! But it all starts with what makes you feel nostalgic for arcades in your past. You really don’t have to go the extra mile and light some vintage MERIT cigarettes in your arcade like a stick of incense, but no judgments here! INTERVIEW
Tristan Ibarra (TI): What is your occupation?
Aaron Gum (AG): I create TV/radio commercials and get to wear a lot of
fun hats professionally and personally, like record producer and film director.
TI: What year is “back in the day” for you?
AG: Hmm, don’t think
I really have a set
year, but ‘89 is quite memorable with UHF, Batman, and Back to the Future 2.
TI: What’s your earliest arcade memory?
AG: I vaguely recall how dark and mysterious the ‘old mall’ arcade seemed to me... and the sounds... loved the sounds. I remember being dazzled by the vector graphics of Atari Star Wars at the mall theater. I also have faint memories of chili dogs and arcade tokens at W.C. Franks.
TI: What was the first arcade game you remember playing?
AG: Most of my early arcade game memories are from playing home versions of arcade games. We had
a TI-99/4A, and it spoiled me with playing decent ports of Qbert*, Popeye, Pac-Man, and Donkey Kong.
TI: What’s your favorite arcade memory?
AG: My favorite arcade-adjacent memories are more recent things like finding games, the adventures, and the people you meet along
the way. My favorite video game memory of all time is programming a Frogger clone from a magazine. My dad stayed up all night doing the actual programming, and we saved it to cassette. I wonder if that tape still exists somewhere?!
TI: Where did you grow up, and what arcade did you go to?
AG: I grew up in Council Bluffs, Iowa. We lived up the street from the Midlands Mall. There was an older early arcade there I don’t really remember, and a later one I think called the Machine Shop. I
feel like the arcade was one of the first things to go when the ‘new mall’ opened across town with an Aladdin’s Castle. But by this time, everybody had an NES, and most of my video gaming was at home or over at a friend’s house.
TI: What’s the most unique arcade game you got to play growing up? (There’s one in particular I hope you got to play back in the day and that you mention)
AG: Probably Dragon’s Lair? Seems like almost a stereotypical answer these days, but there was literally nothing like it at the time. Later,
I had Space Ace on a Commodore Amiga 500 and remember it taking forever to load from several floppies and always dying within seconds... but it felt like the closest thing
to Don Bluth laserdisc gaming at home. Space Ace’s first screen joystick movements are forever seared into my brain.
TI: What made you want to have an arcade in your home?
AG: I figured that I would make
an arcade cabinet of some sort
at some point, and that would be the end of my wanting to own an arcade game... but fate had other ideas. When I bought my first arcade cabinet, the seller had a nice basement arcade and a few pins. Up to that point, it never dawned
on me that you could actually buy and own a pinball machine... This chance encounter made me realize that not only could I have a home arcade, but I could fill it with pinball machines! Plus, I work from home, and pinball is a great motivator to get away from computer screens.
TI: What’s the most difficult thing about maintaining your arcade?
AG: It’s always something. Games randomly act up all the time. I enjoy the repair and maintenance part of the hobby but always dread when games won’t start.
TI: I know of at least one custom arcade piece that you worked on
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