A few years ago I took my then 10 year old son out to dinner. While we were waiting I spied an old video console with Galaga on it, one of my favorites. I grabbed some quarters and made it to the extra credit round and scored 22,000. I challenged my son, the video game wiz, and promised him $20 if he could beat my score.
Off he went and he came back a little while later and proudly showed me his score of 24,000! Somewhat astonished I handed over a $20 bill and we went back to our table to eat. As dinner progressed my son became less talkative and even a tad morose. I asked what was wrong and he said "well, if you do something, and it's different than what the other person meant for you to do, is it wrong?"
It turned out he had only achieved his score of 24,000 by feeding the machine extra quarters to continue his game. While I hadn't said he couldn't do that, he knew it wasn't what I meant. He handed over the $20 and I handed him $5 for being honest about it.
We now laugh a good bit at this story. And classic video games can be a great way to engage with your kids. I can't touch him in his video world. But I can compete in these games. My son takes it a challenge to put me in my place when we play these games. It's something we can do together.
Next time you are out and about and see one of these machines. Bring out your inner-child of the 80's and bring your kid along for some old school fun!
