Chapter XXX: Toki

It’s easy to look back with nostalgia when it comes to arcade salons. A room filled with big colourful machines capable of delivering a video game experience unlike anything you could have at home and easily accessible by just a few quarters. Well, “easily accessible” is arguable, since in my country you needed to be at least sixteen to get into one.

Chapter XXIX: Legend (aka The Four Crystals of Trazere)

Having a sister six years older than me meant that my musical tastes were quite sophisticated for such a young boy. By the time I was in third grade, Appetite for Destruction was not only my album of choice but it was also the only music that mattered. After I went to fifth grade, Guns n’ Roses have gotten huge, and so every kid in school was humming Knockin' On Heaven’s Door all the time. That really bothered me. How come these dumb philistines have the guts to smear the best rock band in the world? And so it was that the hateful seeds of hipsterism were planted in the mind of young Ricky Skegg.

Chapter XXVIII: Quiksilver Pinball

Until recently, I had used Pizza as an example of a thing that even when it’s bad, it’s better than just standing still and breathing oxygen. I had to let go of the Pizza analogy when eating at a canteen of a workplace some years ago. What they offered as “Pizza” was just pre-made frozen dough, of the most rock-hard variety, covered in ketchup. So I had to come up with a new analogy instead, and that was Pinball.

Chapter XXVII: Lothar Matthäus (aka European Champions)

“Men are born for games. Nothing else. Every child knows that play is nobler than work. He knows too that the worth or merit of a game is not inherent in the game itself but rather in the value of that which is put at hazard. Games of chance require a wager to have meaning at all. Games of sport involve the skill and strength of the opponents and the humiliation of defeat and the pride of victory are in themselves sufficient stake because they inhere in the worth of the principals and define them. But trial of chance or trial of worth all games aspire to the condition of war for here that which is wagered swallows up game, player, all.” 

Cormac McCarthy - Blood Meridian 

Chapter XXVI: Speedball 2 - Brutal Deluxe

While I was growing up, I had a close circle of friends who used to play games in my house. One of the main habitués of these gaming sessions was a friend of mine called Louie FC. I had specific games to play with each one of my friends, tastes differ and all that. Every time I and Louie couldn’t decide which game to play, it was already established that Speedball 2 was going to be that game. It makes sense, it’s a fast and action packed competitive game which brings immediate satisfaction while playing.

Chapter XXV: Joan of Arc

Why do night clubs exist? Is there any reason to be in a closed, dark and claustrophobic place with deafening music? Well, we all know reasons vary between crazy people that for some reason like to dance (like Seinfeld, I don’t dance because “it’s stupid”), and other equally strange people that think that’s the best place to meet other people. I don’t like nightclubs because I reached the apex of that particular experience as soon as I was 9 years old.

Chapter XXIV: The Manager

While I was always a good student during my formative years, there were two classes that spoiled my grade sheet like a dog taking a shit can spoil a good day at the beach. Those were the art and workshop classes. When I was in sixth grade, I and my friend Earl Piranha had a plan that could help us with our grades in art class. And that plan included a particular videogame.

Chapter XXIII: Wings

Going to college must be one of the most exciting times in the life on any man. Gone are the embarrassing stories from high school which we had to carry for so long, and all the episodes of heartbreak and drunken stupidity we all had to endure. Sure, getting to college meant much more heavy drinking was on its way, but at least we could do things right this time, and for at least a short while, pretend to be much cooler than what our past showed. But best of all, it was time to meet new girls which weren’t attached to the small town mentality that I was used to.