well I didn't pick up an NES till pretty late in its life cycle and i never really took to my sisters hand me down 2600 so through the late 80's and early 90's I relied on my C64 for gameing goodness. My dad didn't live with me and my mom but I was always excited to visit on some weekends because he had an Amiga 500 which I thought blew my C64 out of the water.

Anyways, between my moms house and my dads was the delapidated and dying urban center of Brownsville, PA. back in the late 80's it was pretty much as dead as it is now, but it did hold one glorious treasure. that treasure was a small VHS rental/pc gameing store that I could never remember the name of. every few months i managed to talk my dad into makeing the slight detour and takeing me there.

It was a small shop down by the river, acually I think it was a house with the downstairs converted to a shop. when you first entered it was your standard fair 80's VHS rental shop. the owner was the typical chubby "comic book" store looking guy. in one small corner of the shop was a wall of a few brand new PC games, C64, amiga, apple ect.. marked at $40 and up. Of course my dad was far to cheap to buy me a brand new game. but thats where the real magic of the place came in. in a small room next to the main room was a dedicated computer room. I don't know maybe this was acually common for these places back then but its the first time I ever seen anything like this. the room was lined with multipal Amigas, C64's, Apples, and various other popular computers of the time. the owner had several sons who basicly ran this room. there were a TON of games (copies) in those floppy holder cases. I remember spending hours just flipping through those floppies and trying so many games out. I loved that place and always threw a fit whenever my dad was ready to leave, in retrospect though I think he was more then generous with the time he let me hang out there.

So whenever I would find a game I enjoyed i would add it to a pile which he sold for i beleive something like 50 cents to a few dollers eatch. I remember being stuck on maniac mansion and on my next visit I told this to one of the sons. on hearing about me being stuck in the game he loaded it up and played through the whole game for me, showing me how to get through it.

That store has some of my fondest and earliest gameing memories. sometimes I still wonder if the place is still around as its been well over 10 years since I visited. I'm sure it would never of survived in any form through the changes in the industry and the general decay of Brownsville but every once in awhile I get the urge to brave the streets and try to retrace my scetchy childhood memories to that beloved place.

or I suppose I could just ask my dad about it...but wheres the challenge and mystery in that?