Apple II gaming today: an anecdote

["N.N. Thayer" <nnthayer@hotmail.com>]

In 2001, I had just finished college and was sharing a house with five
others, a mix of friends and acquaintances. Then, the guy that owned
the Nintendo 64 moved out, and we had zilch left for gaming - except
the Apple II Plus I had stowed away in my room.  My roomies were
desperate, so they were all "Get that thing down here!"

Perhaps it was because everyone was tired of adrenaline-pumping action
games, but the very first game requested was... chess. I was
surprised.  "Well, I think I have Sargon III here somewhere."  "Is
that - "  "Chess, yeah."  They proceeded to take turns playing against
the computer, for hours.  I got a little anxious about how hot the
motherboard might have been getting, since I had no System Saver at
the time.

Eventually they went to other games such as Archon, Paipec,
Ballblazer, Carmen Sandiego, Mario Bros., Pieman, and Flip Out.  Flip
Out was especially well liked for its vindictiveness - after you ran
out of balls, you could screw with your opponent's as you saw fit.
Paipec became an obsession for one of them due to its aggravating
simplicity.

A couple of them commented on how they'd never seen games like these
before, and such was the demand that they requested instruction on
basic system operation so I wouldn't have to always be around.  For a
period of three months, the heart of the summer, this then-22-year-old
computer was the heart of the living room.  While others would drink
and watch movies or go out, we'd drink and run electrons through
ancient circuitry.  It occurred to me more than once that we may have
been the only house in the country, perhaps the world, with residents
of that particular age group doing this.

Then one of my roommates decided to introduce a little competition.
She brought back a Commodore VIC-20 that had been stored in her
parents' closet.  It didn't get nearly as much play as the II Plus,
due to the much smaller game library that had accompanied it.  Still,
they were both a veritable phenomenon: a college living room, in 2001,
with not one but TWO vintage computer systems providing the primary
electronic entertainment for the residents.  If we were a rarity
before, we were now a statistical impossibility.  The VIC-20's tour of
duty lasted for a couple of months, the II Plus's for over half a
year.  I've never been so proud of my heritage.

Fast-forward to today.  The guy that was nuts about Paipec was in my
fact my best friend, and has since that time expressed his fondness
for that game and others on multiple occasions.  "Do I need to get an
Apple II?" he said once, and we laughed.  The answer, as everyone at
csa2 knows, is yes.  Via FedEx today I shipped him a platinum //e,
DuoDisk, joystick, a fine set of games, and a page of operational
tips.  It will arrive two days in advance of his birthday.