Video Game Memories pt. II: A Golden Palace.

Malibu Gran Prix. Showboat. P.J. Pizazz….and of course, Chuck E. Cheese.

The late 70s and early 80s were the Golden Age of Video Games. Innovation was the pulse of the newly birthed industry.  Yes, the technology was improving year after year, but the distribution also had to grow. After Nolan Bushnell sold Atari, he envisioned what we would come to know as Chuck E. Cheese/Showbiz Pizza. Perhaps miniature golf courses and bowling alleys were around before the video game explosion.  Chuck E. Cheese showed that when you combine arcade games with other activities, a family entertainment center congeals (like the cheese on pizza) into a digital Cibola that beckons all gamers.

I loved the arcade rooms. Games standing side by side, wedged next to each other like houses in old NorCal neighborhoods.

Some games were already immortally famous. Several Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and Galaga machines stood sentinel over games that only perhaps a few have heard of.

These were some of my favorites during this time:

• Popeye
• Congo Bongo
• Jungle Hunt/Jungle King
• Gauntlet
• Star Wars (cockpit version)
• Zaxxon
• Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator (cockpit version)
• Ladybug…that’s right. Ladybug.

One fact I’ll admit…I was and still am terrible at playing computer games. I was awful at pretty much every arcade game that I laid my hands on. But man, oh man, I loved the abuse.  Admittedly some of the games even scared me…yes, scared me.

I remember being freaked out playing Sinistar (RUN COWARD RUN!), Gauntlet II and Dragon’s Lair. Sometimes it was the loud sounds or the visuals (watching Dirk the Daring disintegrate was traumatic), but that rarely stopped me from checking out what experiences awaited me in those cabinets.

There are of course, two main types of places: The kind that centered on sort of activity (mini-golf, Lazer Tag), and the self-contained playspace (Chuck E. Cheese). I used to work for a now-defunct Lazertag arena called Lazerstar in Glendora,CA. I mostly worked the arena and weirded-out the guests with my instructional briefings. No kidding. The owners liked my enthusiasm (they wanted me to train new people), but hated the eccentric condescension of my tone.  The local chain has since gone under and the remaining location in Camarillo changed ownership.

In the 80s heyday, my mother also used to work part-time for a place in West Covina called PJ Pizazz (Now BJs Restaurant & Brewpub) , she used to sling pizzas in the kitchen. The place rocked. No gimmicks. No talking robot animals. Just pure gaming bliss in its nice-sized arcade room. She wasn’t there long, I’m sure it wasn’t bliss for her. I used to periodically make pizzas and work concession at Lazerstar: not the best job to be had.

If you lived in Southern California, those two were combined in a wonderful place in Upland, CA  just off the I-10.  The place has changed ownership and themes (remember Bullwinkles?) over the years, but the main attractions have somehow remained intact. There are two indoor miniature golf courses, which makes sense being that the original owners were from the Pacific Northwest. There were also two outdoor mini-golf courses, bumper boats, go-karts and batting cages.

My first time there was at a time when I was still new to California at the age of five. I went there with my family as well as my godmother, whose adoration for me was mutual as I also was very fond of her. However, in years to come, we never went back there. The entertainment center was something that must have been in another place, in another state…maybe another universe. In my younger years, I tried to get back there as some men try to return to the womb somehow. I believe that it was happenstance (or a date with a girl), that I rediscovered the place when I was in my early 20s. The indoor courses are what mattered. Both were still there with the same themes. One was a fairy tale/nursery rhyme-themed course and the other took on a Redwood (not a big surprise given its origins), mining motif. The decor was a bit worn and the artificial grass was scuffed from thousands of footfalls and putts. However, I took back this little piece of my foggy past (I guess some details are worth forgetting) and my date and I headed for the arcade to do some gaming.