As a kid in the nineties, it seemed like I was always looking for more time to play some video games. Summer wasn’t just an opportunity to race my bicycle around in the sun, it was also a chance to rent games from the local video store and try to binge through them in a two day rental period.
My parents both owned small retail businesses, so my summer reality was as much about working as underpaid part time labor for them as it was playing games. I ran the cash register for a rubber stamp store. I collated thousands of sheets of paper for printing clients. I spent a bunch of time reading books or draining the battery in a Game Boy in back offices while waiting for business to happen.
Summer always seemed like it would be an amazingly immense and never-ending oasis of fun, but reality would so often get in the way. Only one other magical time perfectly blended freedom from school with potential freedom from work expectations: Christmas break. This was two whole weeks of time right there at the end of the year. That’s basically as long as summer! How could I not try to fill it with as much gaming goodness as possible? Surely all that family stuff, and unpredictable weather, and unfortunately-timed homework wouldn’t get in the way, right?
