Its 1981, I’m 10 yrs old and i’m on holiday in Spain with mum, dad and sister. They’re on a day trip to Venice and I managed to cry and moan my way out of the trip so I can spend the day in the arcade. They have the latest konami classic ‘track and field’ and my friend and I had managed to find a way to work together to complete the 100 meters in 7.8secs! It was my greatest achievement so far; entering GBR on the daily high score number 1 slot became not only a matter of national pride but also a way of sticking it to the Spanish on their own turf. Unbeknown to me, the game industry was a wild toddler, a cutting edge technology, an interactive entertainment with mindboggling potential and I was perfectly placed to witness the beast evolve into what is now the number 1 form of entertainment on the planet.
Most kids knew, way back then, that those small green pixelated invaders harnessed the power within their monochrome 12x8 digital dots to change the world, and that they certainly did.
It wasn’t too long before the arcade had lost its attraction, Eggheaded Sir Clive Sinclair nerding to work in his C5 was soon to invent a machine that would have kids all over the uk glued to their bubble screened cuboid portable tvs and going mental when a pirate copy of the latest ultimate game crashed after 7minutes of loading...
