Maybe not so much stories, but perhaps some highlights:

- 1979 - My older brother took me on a tour of the arcades in the downtown core of the city I grew up in. At the time, it was a pretty glossy place, filled with book stores, music stores, movie theaters, indoor gardens, etc.... Anyway, the second I saw Tail Gunner on the second floor of the last arcade on our tour that day, I was HOOKED! That was the beginning of an obsession.

- 1981 - Walked past Space Fury and heard it speak. It wasn't the first time I had heard a game talk but it was easily the best quality synthesized speech I had ever heard (and to this day, along with Star Trek : The Strategic Operations Simulator).

- 1982 - saw Gravitar, Space Duel, Mr. Do, and TRON for the first time. Was blown away. Was so intimidated by the TRON arcade machine that I watched other players play it for over 6 months before giving it a try. Eventually racked up 450,000 points.

- 1983 - Laid eyes on Major Havoc. Was happy to see another vector game in a world of raster titles. Was pleasantly surprised by what would turn out to be the most ambitious vector game ever made.

I think the main thing was the awe-inspiring look and sound of the early arcades (music, lights, and dark labyrinths lit by the coin-op screens -- packed with neon and chrome). People everywhere and over thirty completely different types of gameplay. Along with that was a huge array of interfaces. It seemed like everyone was making totally insane custom cabs.

It wasn't until 1985 that I was to see an arcade cabinet that stole the show. And that was the deluxe hydraulic Space Harrier cabinet. I dropped a TON of coins into that one.

After that, the arcades started to suck exponentially. But they certainly did have their day, and it was great.