MaximRecoil
Well-known member
A typical '80s arcade was not a "nerd" hangout ...
... despite popular belief today, and/or the impression you might get from watching "King of Kong".
They were dark and smoky, like a bar or a pool hall, and they had little-to-no supervision. This made them a popular hangout for "druggies" and "slackers". Small-time drug deals were common, and fist fights were not unheard of.
Most nerds were at home doing their homework, playing Dungeons and Dragons, or frig farting around on their home computers. Arcade games of the time didn't really appeal to typical nerds anyway; in the same way that poker or pool is a lot less likely to appeal to a nerd than chess or Dungeons and Dragons. Plus their parents wouldn't usually let them go to an arcade even if they wanted to ("family friendly" arcades such as Chuck E. Cheese's don't count).
... despite popular belief today, and/or the impression you might get from watching "King of Kong".
They were dark and smoky, like a bar or a pool hall, and they had little-to-no supervision. This made them a popular hangout for "druggies" and "slackers". Small-time drug deals were common, and fist fights were not unheard of.
Most nerds were at home doing their homework, playing Dungeons and Dragons, or frig farting around on their home computers. Arcade games of the time didn't really appeal to typical nerds anyway; in the same way that poker or pool is a lot less likely to appeal to a nerd than chess or Dungeons and Dragons. Plus their parents wouldn't usually let them go to an arcade even if they wanted to ("family friendly" arcades such as Chuck E. Cheese's don't count).


