My son surprised the crap out of me today!

disjaukifa

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Hey Guys,

My son is 3 1/2 years old and if he behaves for my wife during the day, I'll take him done to my arcade room in the basement and we'll play some games before bed.

My most recent addition to my collection is a Centipede Cabaret that I had gotten way back in January but it took me near two months to actually go pick up. Wasn't planning on keeping it honestly, but at the time the price was too good to pass up and it's a classic as well.

Anyway my son has been playing it pretty much every since I got it, he loves the trak-ball on it. I've probably had it here with him playing it for maybe 3 weeks total, probably he has only played it 10 separate occasions maximum.

Usually when we're done playing, I'm playing Berzerk and he's playing Centipede, he loves hearing the Berzerk machine talk, and he says what the machine says constantly, its really cute honestly.

Anyway he and I were playing like normal, and I turn my head to ask him if he's having fun, and I just guess I assumed he'd just was spinning the trak-ball and hitting buttons randomly, but when I turned my head I noticed his score was 5,800ish points. Nothing record worthy, but still you have to have some concept of the game to get a score over 1,000.

So I stop playing and I tell my son I want to watch him play a game. So he starts playing and to my utter amazement, he hits player 1 start, then proceeds to hold the fire button down and use the trak-ball to move his player around the screen and he is actually aiming for the centipede and spiders on the screen! I'm watching not really believing what I'm seeing. The game only last like two minutes, but his ending score was 10,061 points!

I could NOT believe it! I was seriously contemplating trading that Centipede for something else, but now I'm keeping it, its my son's favorite game and he's getting really good at it . . . and he's not even 4 yet!

Ok end of story, just had to share that with everyone!

Thanks
Disjaukifa
 
WOW!! I cant get that score on centipede after playing it for like...1min because i suck at the game!!!
He can be a world record holder in 10 years probably less!!!
congratulations to him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
G12
 
lil mr do

give him an ipad and you will be shocked to see what he can do with it. kids are great. love to see my kids enjoying the baby pacman. always nice to see the kids play the oldies!
 
That is amazing. He'll probably be good at sports because he has already developed a hand eye coordination that is above his age and second I love the fact you and your son can share in some bonding time together just the men as my wife says "boys time". Thanks for sharing a warm heart felt story.
 
That was a cool story. My son is going to turn 3 and he also likes the trackball...for crystal castles. But he did amaze me with cocktail pac man. Actually started to get the "up", "left", right and down. He'd get stuck but I could tell he was kind of understanding it. And he loves my iphone, kindle and youtube.
 
That's amazing. I don't think I could get that high, at least because I haven't played it with a trackball.

Now you have a reason to keep the Centipede! ;)
 
My little one likes Centipede also. He was turning 4 also when I showed him he could just hold down the button and it'll keep firing. I don't recall the score but he did clear the first wave without help.

Ahhhh, Centipede, one of the games that EVERYONE can enjoy. :)

Hey Guys,

My son is 3 1/2 years old and if he behaves for my wife during the day, I'll take him done to my arcade room in the basement and we'll play some games before bed.

So I stop playing and I tell my son I want to watch him play a game. So he starts playing and to my utter amazement, he hits player 1 start, then proceeds to hold the fire button down and use the trak-ball to move his player around the screen and he is actually aiming for the centipede and spiders on the screen! I'm watching not really believing what I'm seeing. The game only last like two minutes, but his ending score was 10,061 points!

I could NOT believe it! I was seriously contemplating trading that Centipede for something else, but now I'm keeping it, its my son's favorite game and he's getting really good at it . . . and he's not even 4 yet!

Ok end of story, just had to share that with everyone!

Thanks
Disjaukifa
 
Awesome story. My kids do the same thing, they adapt quickly and play pretty well. My 6 year old daughter averages about 3500 on Sea Wolf. Hell that better than most adults can get.
 
great story right there!

my three year old also loves the trackball games. all he asks for now is to play marble madness, crystal castles, and get this.... major havoc!! mh is one of the hardest games of all time. the kid loves it, eats it up!
 
Where is Adamdiz when you need him? His usual post would be fitting here for once
trollface.png


On a more serious note - that's freaking awesome. But I suck at Centipede, and therefore hate it.
 
Ok going to respond to all the post in on post


WOW!! I cant get that score on centipede after playing it for like...1min because i suck at the game!!!
He can be a world record holder in 10 years probably less!!!
congratulations to him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
G12

Yeah I'm not all that good at the game honestly, I've gotten 42K but most games I'm lucky to get 16K ~ 18k, trak-balls just aren't my thing!


give him an ipad and you will be shocked to see what he can do with it. kids are great. love to see my kids enjoying the baby pacman. always nice to see the kids play the oldies!

Yeah I've seen what he can do with our iPod Touch's! Its amazing how much of it they understand!


That is amazing. He'll probably be good at sports because he has already developed a hand eye coordination that is above his age and second I love the fact you and your son can share in some bonding time together just the men as my wife says "boys time". Thanks for sharing a warm heart felt story.

I can't agree with your more! I really cherish the time we go to the arcade and play! Its funny, you ask him what does Berzerk say and he says in a robotic voice "Coin Detected In Pocket!"


That's amazing. I don't think I could get that high, at least because I haven't played it with a trackball.

Now you have a reason to keep the Centipede! ;)

Exactly, that is what I told my wife, I knew I would be able to trade it but now I'm kidding it! If I could just find a Nibbler now I think I would be set! I saw my daughter playing a nibbler like game the other day on my wife's computer, now I want to find a Nibbler for my daughter . . . though she isn't quite 2 yet!


My little one likes Centipede also. He was turning 4 also when I showed him he could just hold down the button and it'll keep firing. I don't recall the score but he did clear the first wave without help.

Ahhhh, Centipede, one of the games that EVERYONE can enjoy. :)

Thats awesome! I know I will alway keep that machine now because of the bond it's forming between my son and I!

Awesome story. My kids do the same thing, they adapt quickly and play pretty well. My 6 year old daughter averages about 3500 on Sea Wolf. Hell that better than most adults can get.

Yeah I know what you mean! I know I haven't done that well in Sea wolf! It always amazes me what kids can accomplish!

great story right there!

my three year old also loves the trackball games. all he asks for now is to play marble madness, crystal castles, and get this.... major havoc!! mh is one of the hardest games of all time. the kid loves it, eats it up!

I've got a Missile Command . . . maybe I'll see if I can get it working tomorrow and see how he does on that one!

Where is Adamdiz when you need him? His usual post would be fitting here for once
trollface.png


On a more serious note - that's freaking awesome. But I suck at Centipede, and therefore hate it.

I agree with you on my skills at Centipede, I got it more for the trading value of the machine, but I certainly don't hate it anymore thats for sure!

That's awesome. Thanks for sharing!

Your welcome! I couldn't wait to get my kids in bed tonight to share this, I was bragging about it to my wife when we can upstairs after playing!
 
Video! Or it didn't happen.

So I stop playing and I tell my son I want to watch him play a game. So he starts playing and to my utter amazement, he hits player 1 start, then proceeds to hold the fire button down and use the trak-ball to move his player around the screen and he is actually aiming for the centipede and spiders on the screen! I'm watching not really believing what I'm seeing. The game only last like two minutes, but his ending score was 10,061 points!
 
KIds can become good at video games quickly...I started playing as an arcade rat when I was 4 in Vegas at casinos and arcades but my circumstances were a bit different...gambling grandmother raising me...I definitely played a ton of arcade games and had a bunch of the older teenagers watching me playing games back then...this was 1980-1985...still have a hard time getting some of those scores I put up back then....Spy Hunter 200K at age 8, Mario Bros 540K at age 9, Mikie 180K at age 9 (that one was really hard, the stupid joystick was ALWAYS messed up because they converted Mikie from a freaking Dig Dug and the switches were always needing to be adjusted because of how fast and precise you need to move in that game.
 
That is awesome! I have to drag my 2 year old out kicking and screaming from the bowling alley where they have a 60-in-1. I have a 17 games in the basement but he loves that 60-in-1. I guess I need to pick one up for him as they are now $65.

My 5 year old surprised me I turned around and he was playing Propcycle.

I recorded video of him playing I need to upload it.

My 8 year old doesn't care about the arcade games, she plays her DS instead. And the 7 month old is too young.
 
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Sweet story. My kids love Centipede/ Millipede as well. Here's a pic of them playing my Millipede cocktail when she was 5 and he wasn't quite 2:

Kids-Millipede.jpg

layneonmillipede.jpg
 
That is awesome and certainly one of the perks of parenting, watching my kids learn and progress has been one of the greatest things in my life.

My sons are 13 and 15 now, but here's a pic of them when they were around 2 and 4, they pick up things so quickly at that age it's almost scary:

Aug1728.jpg
 
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