Spent *tons* of time at the arcade as a kid...

My mom tells me this story about when I was five... it was 1977, and after having been give my weekly allowance and having gone out to spend it, I apparently came home, walked in the house, and said, "Mom, I'm addicted to pinball. I get my allowance, and I just can't help it; I have_ to go play!" I had a sad, shameful on my face, and my mom tried her hardest to not crack up laughing... here was this 5yr old kid, who took is 25c allowance, ran off to the arcade, and played his two 10c games of pinball... lol...

As I got older, the local mall had an arcade, but they weren't even allowed to be open until school was out. Found that out one day when I tried to play hookey and sneak in for a game or two.

Then in high school, the arcade/pool hall was just a block down the street. "The Sting", in Richmond Hill, Ontario. Spent *HOURS* in there...

Spent soooo_ much time there, in fact, that the owner relied on me and my friends to help keep the riff-raff out. He bought us our own pool cues (which no one else was allowed to use but us), regularly dropped coins into the juke box for us, and was just an all around good guy. Funniest part was that as the place changed hands several times over the years, *every* one of the owners was named "John".

When I wasn't there playing vids or pool, I was at work.... at "Shooting Star Comics" down the street a few blocks.

And on weekends, if we weren't working then we just about lived at the arcade. Sundays were always good days... the old Greek/Italian guys in the neighbourhood would come in to play pool and try to be all machismo. We'd start off playing "a buck a game", but things would quickly double their way up to $10 or $20 a game. That's when we'd reach behind the counter, take our (straight) cue from John, and then clean their clocks. Paid my rent for more than a few months by doing that....