Video Games

I first got introduced to Video Games while I was in 7th standard. Whenever we go to Trichy town, while walking around in the town, there used to one shop in the corner in Super Bazaar. Always crowded, mostly with school kids, and unusual noises used to come from the machines from that shop. Got to know that it was a video game kiosk. Father used to take us there,  once in a while. There were machines, almost of my height, with a TV monitor and some controls in front of it. My favorite was to the car race game, which had a steering wheel

Car Race Game

If we give one rupee to the man in the game kiosk, he used to give 2 tokens, which we have to drop in the slot in the car race machine, and we can play game. Our car will move from bottom to top on the screen, and lots of cars used to come from the  opposite direction. We have to steer left and right and drive safely without hitting the opposite cars. The cars in the opposite direction will come in random directions. The road also will be narrower as the game proceeds. I never completed that game, but I liked played it. More than playing, I like to watch others playing the game.

I first saw the hand held game console when I was in 10th standard. One of my classmate had brought it to the class. Her uncle had brought it from Dubai. I still vividly remember that game console. It was yellow in colour, about the size of our palm. It had some 5 to 6 small buttons, and a screen above it. The screen was similar to the one that used to be in the numeric digital watches, but this was a bit big in size. It had only one game. When we switch it on, it used to give a lenghy music and one guy used to appear on the screen. When we press a button, he will start walking to the right, and there will be snakes on the way. When we press another button, he will jump and thus we have to safely take him through the game.

Hand-Held Game Consoles

Hand-Held Game Console

In the next level, some eagles will come above his head, and we have to make sure that he doesn't jump when there is an eagle above him, else the eagle will catch him. The game console went around the whole class and everyone tried their hands at it. The moment it came to me, I got addicted to it. I kept playing, playing and playing. I completed all the rounds in the game. And that is the only one video game I ever completed in my life. I got so involved that I continued to play even after our Maths master entered the class. I didnt know how to make it silent or how to switch off all of a sudden. I quickly hid it inside my desk, and it continued to give the beeping sounds for 3 more minutes. There was pin drop silence in the class, with only the beeps and different sounds from the video game console.

Our master looked confused and understood that something was wrong in the class, and walked up and down, to find out what was happening. Though the sound was coming from my desk, everyone in the class looked at the girl, who was the owner of the game console. The master went to her desk and asked her to stand and asked what that sound was. I was in a terrible fear, since I may be caught anytime, and if caught, the master will impart a couple of blows on my back. She spontaneously said that its an alarm in her watch and showed her wrist watch. At the same time, the beeps from the game console stopped. The master said "ok" and started the class. She maintained her cool throughout the class. I was still in fear and didnt follow the class. After the class got over and master went out, I went to her, handed over the game console and thanked her sincerely. I never touched that game console again, but remembered every step of that guy, the snakes, the eagles for years, as it took me to an entirely different world. During my boring train journeys to my native, I wished that I had that video game console, so that I can pass time easily.

When I went to college, there used a section in the library called the CDROM library. I didn't knew the actual purpose of that CDROM library, but I have seen students inserting a CD into that computer and playing games. All the time, students will be playing a particular game, where men with guns will come from the opposite direction, and we have to shoot them. Later I learnt that it was the DOOM game. I tried playing that game once, when after sometime, I felt a severe headache and vomiting sensation, could be because of the quickly changing colors and sounds from the game. I confirmed this, when I got the same symptoms, when i tried to play the same game after a couple of days. I never played that game again in college. So, by God's grace, I developed a natural aversion for video games, which prevented me from getting addicted to video games.

DOOM

When we bought a color TV, I found that there was one option "Game" in its menu. When I tried that option, a game appeared on the screen. Droplets of water will fall from above and there will be a bucket, when we have to move left and right to catch those droplets. With the help of remote, I played this game, whenever I got a chance. In those days, almost all the colour TVs used to have one inbuilt game in it.

I also got a small hand held gaming device which had a couple of games in it. I tried my hands playing a few games in it, among which my favorite was the car game. Once I possessed a computer, I got access to numerous games. The Rash, the Kar, and I played many many games on it. I have killed many boring afternoons with those games. Rash is still my personal favorite, which still runs in my old Desktop computer and I still play it whenever I got a chance. I made numerous attempts to complete the Dave and Mario games in the computers, but I normally gave up after a few levels.

Dave

Mario

As I started possessing mobile phones, I started playing the various games installed in it. Especially I liked the one which came in the base model nokia mobiles.

Vintage Nokia Game

Once I installed a game "Call of Duty", in my new laptop. All the characters and the scenes in the game looked so real that I couldn't consider that as a video game. I disliked that game, and uninstalled it in a few days. I got bored with the video games over time. Thank God, I needn't shell out money on the Xboxes and playstations.

Call Of Duty

As part of my job, I even developed software for the gaming consoles - similar to the consoles in which I played games in the gaming kiosk, some 20 years back.

This wish of mine to pass time in the boring train journeys materialized 20 years later, after I got an Android mobile phone. During my last journey for native to Diwali, I played a game that was somewhat similar to the one I played in that yellow colored game console, some 20 years back.

Note: I invite Dhanesh Amma to write her experiences with the Video Games.
Edit: The post by Dhanesh Amma on Video Games is here.

-SPGR.