Growing up in New Orleans allowed for a very broad and eccletic upbringing. A lot of which was at the PennyLand arcade on Royal St. just off of Canal. One of the earliest lessons was; the "Red Hots" that served as the foundation that the "prizes" rest upon in the old wooden framed claw machines are NOT for human consumption. I can attest that if you ever had that opportunity and passed upon it, you have not missed out.
It was there that I first played EM pinball machines. There were even a couple of Bingo machines which at the time I found utterly pointless, the whole concept of gambling was alien to me. The most memorable of them were the card game and racing car themed machines. High Hand, Stock Car and Card King were all grouped together. The target games were a bit too high up for my very short stature at the time, so I used the wooden box they had to stand on to play the game. Later in my adolescence I would stop by after music lessons at Werline's music store. Its was all I could think of towards the end of my lessons, my hand juggling the quarters in my pocket. Of course I would walk to the lessons rather than take the streetcar in order to use the money at PennyLand. The cacophony of all the games ringing and clacking were like an orchestra to me.
