Page 25 - OSG Presents Classic Gamer Magazine #7

us into the heart of construction. We did As it turns out, he's some kind of Zen mas- all realize that we were extraordinarily hun-
make one small mistake -- we missed the ter at this particular variation of Street gry. At this point, the group split up for din-
parking ramp completely, even though it Fighter, and it also turns out that this par- ner, and the group I was with headed back
was no more than a block away. We ticular Street Fighter plays nothing like the toward Pinball Pete's. We went to
ended up parking along the side of the road Street Fighter that I remember. M. Bison Panchero's, a smaller chain of burrito joints
at a meter, wondering if we'd have to feed it was not nearly as handy as he should have that really do it right. The burritos were gi-
coins every hour or so. been, and to do some of the basic moves, gantic. Thank heavens they opened a
Pinball Pete's is not your typical ar- you had to throw in some extra joystick Panchero's in Grand Rapids.
cade -- it's bigger and better than the ma- gyrations. Most folks gave up on the short- At Panchero's I managed to put down
jority of arcades that I've been to in my life- lived tournament. After a bit more time in my wall scroll for a whopping five seconds
time. Pete's occupies the entire bottom the arcade, we decided it was time for the and lose it completely. I thought it was sto-
floor of an indoor mini-mall. It's huge, yet obligatory group photo. We crowded to- len, but Jess managed to convince the peo-
tightly compact, with row upon row of gether near an ATM just above the arcade. ple behind the counter that they did indeed
games. Pinball Pete's has every game My wife snapped a few shots for the people have my wall scroll and that I should have it
imaginable, from Tron to the latest Dance that brought their cameras. back. I was grateful for his intervention, be-
Dance Revolution. They even had a four- During the group photo, an impromptu cause I just assumed that one of the cus-
player air hockey table with a double wide plan to go to an import shop cropped up. tomers had walked away with it. As we
goal, for two defenders on each side of the Although I could've spent the better part of were finishing our meals, those of us inter-
table. Our little group met up with the lar- the day in the arcade, I love Japanese im- ested in trading games realized that we'd
ger group by the pinball machines (Pinball port shops. Shops like that have weird better get over to the parking ramp to begin
Pete's earns its name!). It was all the guys candy, and weird candy is good. This par- our trades, before the day was through. I
from Atari Age, including "WizDawg," ticular shop was called WizzyWigs, and had brought along my entire arsenal of
"bjk7382," and "Tempest." Although our was on the other side of the main campus. "garbage" to trade, as had a few others. I
initial meet up was with five or six people, The walk over proved to be a nice time, think that everyone there managed to get
between fifteen and eighteen people because we were able to meet and chat something out of their various trades worth
showed up at Pinball Pete's. Here's a with the people that came to the event. keeping. I, for one, managed to get a boxed
handy tip: when meeting with strangers, be WizzyWigs is a cool store -- if you find ColecoVision from "spoon" for the whop-
sure you're easily identified. We wore yourself in Ann Arbor, you should definitely ping price of "we'll talk about the specifics
video game themed head over there. It is large enough to have later." As of this writing, I have yet to figure
shirts -- geeky, but very effective. huge inventories of everything from DVDs out what I'm going to be able to dig up for
Although it was a gaming event, playing to candy to posters to action figures. I the guy, but if I have to, I'll pay cash -- the
games wasn't the most im portant part of ended up walking out of WizzyWigs with a system was well worth it.
the day. I played about an hour's worth of bag full of Japanese goodies. I picked up a The Ann Arbor meet up was worth going
arcade games, opting to talk with the folks Legend of Zelda wall scroll (which is a to. I'm glad that I didn't let my apprehen-
that had come to the event whenever pos- poster in fabric form), and a whole bunch sions about going get the better of me. I
sible. I did try to start up a Street Fighter of Japanese candy and treats. My favorite met some great people, had a great time,
Vs. Something Cool tournament, but Jess was the wasabi covered peas. Hot stuff! and made some great trades.
pretty much cleaned my clock, instantly. The first taste of Japanese candy made us