=You drive into the parking lot, and you see lights coming from a building. You get out of the car, and through the glass door, you see lights, children, teens, and some adults conversing. You walk in, you hear noise beyond noise. You go to a coin machine, pop in a dollar, get 4 quaters, and stare, wondering what you will do. Folks, you are looking through the eyes of a person in one of the greatest things ever to be erected, an Arcade. Wall to wall gaming is with in the building, so I think youll need more than four quaters.

Getting Started

Ok, first things first. If you are planning on spending a good chunk of time at an Arcade, arm yourself with two $10 bills. Most arcades have machines that give you 40 quaters(or tokens for real fancy arcades), and that enough to bowl you over. Now, put the quaters in your pocket, and look around, its gaming utopia. Now, what to choose?

Selection

Now, the first rule here is, obviously, dont play the same thing the whole time, because when you've used up all of your tokens or quaters, and you are walking out, youll more than likely say "Damn, I wish I played that!" about 7 or 8 times(its happened to me before. Thanks for the memories, Pac-Man). Now, play something once, and if you like it, as soon as you get game over, make a mental note to come back to that machine. Trust me, this will help alot!!

Enjoying Yourself

Rule numero uno above all other rules. Your there to have fun, so have fun. If you win, and you feel like yelling out a roar of triumph, go ahead and do it(i have..). If you want to jump into the foam pit with the 7 year olds, do it. If you want to play kiddy games because they look fun, do it. Just remember your there to have fun. Now, heres where this rule comes into full play.....

The Audience Gathers Around

That has happened to me alot, espically when I play a Benmai(dancing) or fightting game. If you are doing extremely well in a game, when people walk by, seeing you dominate it, they stop to stare, some more people see the first group starring, so they stare and are amazed at your skills, and the pattern continues. Now, although you are getting charisma, remember, you are there to entertain yourself, not the on lookers. Now dont get me wrong, entertaining the people is what I do best at arcades next to the gaming, but seriously, the kind of crowd you want to avoid is the crowd that dosent want to see you have fun, but wants you to make them satisfied, only having you pay atention to them, not your gaming. That is a whole different crowd, different than the one I always get, the crowd that see me doing good, cherrs me on, and if i lose, gives me a pat on the back, says "good job/try!" and takes a crack at the game themselves. Now the crowd that you should avoid(they are mostly composed of pre-teens or arrogant adults whove mastered the game), expect you to make them happy, and when you lose, youll usually get a round of "You suck", "Stupid Newbie!!", "Go play in the ball pit!" and other nasty phrases. Remember, your there to enjoy yourself, so just ingore them, and they'll eventually go away. If they stick around, say this to them, this always works for me.

"Look, I really dont care if im not good at this game, all I care about is that im having fun, so go waste someone elses time and leave me alone"

That always, and I mean ALYWAYS, hits them where it hurts. They will just walk away, and you can continue gaming.

Benmai - Watch Your Step

Ahh, my favorite thing about the arcade, Benmai. To those who dont know, Benmai are all the musical and dancing simulations you see in arcades, and boy are they fun! So far, the most popular one is Dance Dance Revolution, the dancing simulator of epic proportions. Now, looking at this game may be intimidating, but above all else, DONT BE AFRAID TO PLAY, it so much fun!! Now, heres what makes DDR a WHOLE lot intimidating, and its a real killer for people who just want to play for fun......most arcades set up benches around DDR, and there are always tons of people sitting on them, waiting for a show. By show I mean someone plays who is ultra good and can do tricks while playing. Now when I was a DDR newbie, I stepped up to an "audienced" DDR machine, and I stunk. I was booed right off of it, and a couple of people threw balls of paper(really). Sorry for sounding negative, but it really makes me sick to see this, when arcades turn this great game into a showcase. People play this game to have fun, not to entertain others. For all I know, if they make DDR into a showcase, they should, like, pay or give something to people who play IMO. Now, time for another quote. If you play DDR and someone gets all loud and in your face just your arent tricking, say this:

"Hey, Im playing this game for MY entertainment, not YOURS, so lay off!"

They will keep quiet, trust me on this. Ive been in this situation before, and once I had to get loud at an ENTRIE crowd who game me a hefty round of "You Suck!",(and they meant it) just because I played the simplest song at a slow pace, and because I felt like doing it. Remember the golden arcade rule, you are there to entertain YOURSELF, not others(but if a nice crowd comes by[read the audience section above], play the game, theyll enjoy it!)

Fighting Games

Ahh, the fighting games, the proving grounds. Now im gonna get this into your head ASAP.....DONT BE A BUTTON MASHER!!!!! Button mashers(predominately children) are people who dont try to do moves or combos, instead, all they do is thrust the joystick all over and slap thheir palm all over the buttons. Now, people if you are trying to find a good opponet that tries to win with combos and special moves, look for people who are playing first, and look at what they are doing. The second thing to do is literally, listem. Listen for this"

Thump-thump-tap-tap Thump-Thump!-tap-tap-tap

Try to avoid this:

THUMPA-THUMPPP-TAKKITY SLAP!! TAKKITY TAPTAPTAP THUMPA THUMPA THUMPTHUMP SLAP!!!TAKKKTAKKTAK TAKTAKTAKSLAP!TAKATAKTAKSLAP!!!

More coming soon......