P1: Girls’ Night Out to…the Arcade?

What’s in an arcade for three millennial chicks? A lot, it turns out. Last Saturday we visited Pinstack, a modern, adult-friendly trifecta of old-school entertainment (bowling + restaurant/bar + arcade).

Of course, there’s a strange sterility and over-polished vibe that detracts from the aspect of bowling alleys and that I, personally, yearn for.

But this was more fun than I expected. 

As I think about why, there’s the first, obvious fact that we’re tapping into nostalgia his did more than just remind me of things from past times. Seeing these games jogs old memories. Like Skeeball - my mom’s favorite), a gigantic version of Pac Man and Space Invaders (like Galaga kind of?) and a row of Pinball machines (a staple at many pizza and hamburger joints growing up).

Whether it’s a break from the shiny, homogenized on-screen experiences to something simpler or a bittersweet indulgence in a childhood past time; The magic of games is different today, but magic nonetheless.

Amidst a mental rabbit hole in the days since, I’ve pondered things like

• What kinds of entertainment really resonate with us now? Why?
• Is this how it feels to satisfy the post-ish pandemic itch for sensory experiences or being among large groups?
• What does this say about what could come next?
• What role does technology play in all of this? 
• And what about the role of things like our American norms, our collective soft spot for nostalgia and ache for simpler times, and - do those factors play a role, too?
• Does modern escape look like LESS advanced technology as much as it looks like super-high tech?

P2: What Lasting Games Say About Us

Super-manual “games” like MASH feel like related territory, so I’m going there. If you don’t know, MASH stood for “Mansion, Apartment, Shack, House” (which seems to be a lot less specific list of housing scenarios than did as a kid). It took a single sheet of notebook paper, a gel pen (optional) and a handful of the names of everyones’ crushes for the part about who you would marry. But ultimately it was a silly game of predicting you and your friends’ futures using relevant context. It reminds me of the explosion things like astrology and angel numbers and personality classifications and colors on social - and the way many of us relish in the ability to sift through and find ‘your’ star sign’s Girl Scout Cookie or meme for how you react to a first date. 

For example, the other day some meme astrology account posted an array of slides suggesting what each sign would do in a specific scenario. Upon scrolling past my own, I immediately thought - hmm, that doesn’t sound very Virgo. But also laughed at the idea that even thinking about this being wrong was ‘Virgo’ of me. I found tons of comments by fellow Virgos expressing the exact experience, confirming myself and them and “relishing” in a couldn’t-be-more-random, tiny yet widely collective, experience.

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It’s almost like MASH pioneered a bit of today’s personalized predictive algorithm, like we see on social media. In MASH, groups of relevant people, places, jobs, schools and other things central to your life stages are whittled down to deliver a one-pager on your now-decided future. 

It all sounds simple, but wouldn’t that be nice? There’s a sweet spot between the lasting games of our youth and our wishful imagination that glimpses into our personality type and future lives could be boiled down to symbols and colors and 1-word answers. If only!