#obsessive systems

This "month" I focused on revisiting the cheapest and oldest games, mostly arcade, because I was in the mood again, and because they cost a dollar now. I thought I'd go ahead and save up some money, but it actually made it a bit harder (most of these games can be played for 3 minutes tops). Next month I'll probably drop a higher amount on one of the "just released" titles right away...

1) Moon Patrol (1980, Irem) - Arcade - $30 - 30 min.

This was one arcade game that fit well in this for once. You can credit feed this game, and it has a pretty hard second pass. Which means I was able to entertain myself with it for a solid 30 minutes, a full fourth of my time! It also has baller music that is really catchy.

2) Shuffleboard (1978, Midway) - Arcade - $1 - 22 min.

I guess I'm old at heart because shuffleboard has always appealed to me. I'd like to play it in real life, I won't lie. But for now I spent over 20 minutes trying REALLY HARD to beat the AI at this stupid 70s shuffleboard game. It cheats so hard. But I eventually beat it in both modes. It took 20 minutes.

3) Sprint 1 (1978, Atari) - Arcade - $1 - 13 min.

I can't remember if Sprint 4 or Sprint 8 were in last month, but if they were, this is Sprint 1, the version you play if you don't have any friends. In 4 and 8, the other cars are taken over by AI, but you're also locked to one track for the duration of your play. In this game, you get to new tracks the longer you can keep passing laps, and an extended play (!!!) if you can get 150 points. Apparently all this content kept me entertained for a smooth 13 minutes.

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This month I reworked my pricing fall-off to make it more gradual, but essentially, if it's current month, it's $60. 1 year old = $40. 2 years old = $20. 3 years old = $10. 4 years old = $5. Older = $1 (no free games!!! If I completely game the system, which I will do because I have a problem, I'll ruin all the things it's supposed to help me with!)

I'm toying with the idea of adding thirty minutes to the required time every year. Eventually games will be complicated enough that killing 2 hours won't be so hard. We'll see!