50 for 50: 1981

YEAR: 1981

AGE: Turned 11 on Nov. 6

LOCATION: Chicago, Rascher Avenue

DEPAUL BASKETBALL RECORD: 27-2

SONGS I LIKED: "Too Much Time on My Hands" by Styx; "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" by AC/DC

MOVIES I SAW: "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "Flash Gordon"

TV SHOWS I WATCHED: "Fridays," "Battle of the Planets"

In 1976, my dad bought a Pong console -- the kind you plugged into your TV, had two paddle controllers, and just four games and you had to play against someone else. Thus started my long-lasting relationship with video games.

My grandfather owned an Atari 2600, and eventually, we owned a Fairchild Channel F system in the late '70s that seemed to always not work on us (and, once, I swear a puff of smoke emitted from it -- the console wasn't known for its reliability). I liked arcade games, too -- I wasn't any good at Space Invaders, but my friends got me hooked on Galaxian, and Pac-Man debuted in early 1981.

Yet, two games in this year would take my interest in video games to a crazy level, where it stuck for a couple years.

The first game was Centipede, the arcade classic that was unlike anything I had played until then. Its trac-ball made it much easier to control than other games (I sucked at Space Invaders and Asteroids because they were all buttons), and the pace was just frenetic enough to be thrilling without being overwhelming. Centipede was so much fun.

By 1981, arcades were booming, and the Aladdin's Castle by my house took the concept to the next level with more than one machine of many games, all crammed up together. That summer, Aladdin's offered four Gorfs, three Asteroids Deluxes, three Missile Commands, two Wizard of Wors, two Scrambles, two Battlzones, two Pac-Mans .. and three Centipedes. It was paradise.

The second game was an Atari 2600 game: Adventure. We didn't actually own a VCS, and my grandfather didn't own Adventure, but a some neighbors on the corner did and let me try it. Adventure is different than a typical game where you shoot things -- in this, you explore mazes and dungeons and figure out a solution to winning the game. The shooting game were fun, but Adventure really captured my brain because I didn't necessarily have to be skilled, just smart.

We got an Atari 2600 for my birthday in November, and the first game I chose as a present was Adventure. Donkey Kong eventually replaced Centipede as my favorite arcade game, but every time I see a Centipede machine to this day, I drop a quarter in and play. And Adventure may still be my favorite VCS game.

All of 1981 was great. The music was memorable, my baseball team won the league championship, my friends and I played a lot of Strat-o-Matic, and life was still pretty much innocent. Even if a scorpion crossed the screen and poisoned a bunch of mushrooms, or if the bat stole the chalice and the red dragon started chasing you, something else fun still awaited.