When I was in grade 12, just before my December exams, I saved up enough money to buy my first handheld gaming system. I got a
Game Boy.
The store that I purchased my monochrome Game Boy was
Consumers Distributing. It was essentially a catalogue service. You'd mark the items that you wanted on a piece of paper, and you'd then hand it to staff who would go into the warehouse to find your item. This store has since disappeared, as has the original Game Boy.
Here is a page from a Consumers Distributing flyer that likely caught my eye back then:
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| Courtesy: Forum Vancouver |
By the way, I also purchased the rechargeable AC adapter later months later.
Well over a decade later, I decided to get another Nintendo handheld gaming system. I went with the
Game Boy Advance SP. I purchased mine in grey. The screen was colour! You could fold the system in half.
On the weekend, I went to Shoppers Drug Mart to get a few things. I was mainly there to buy a jar of peanut butter. The Nintendo 2DS was on sale for $100. I had $170 worth of points to spend at the store. I decided to ask whether there were any systems left.
The nice man working there said that he'd check in the warehouse. It reminded me of being at Consumers Distributing as a teenager. He asked me what colours I would like. I said blue. Otherwise, any colour would do just fine.
Five minutes later, he came back with the sea green colour, which is also white. I was pleased. It looked nice. I was sold. There is nothing like a few gaming system.
I am like a little kid sometimes. I went to Best Buy to browse games afterwards. I found a used one that was half price. It was Tetris, which is reminiscent of the first game that came with my Game Boy. I bought it.
Naturally, after my purchase, I went back to my car, opened the Tetris box, took out the cartridge, opened my Nintendo 2DS box, powered the device on (it had a full charge!), placed the Tetris game into the slot, and played the game for an hour. Yes, I played a game in my car on a rainy afternoon.
Although many would say that I am mature for my age, it's nice to not act my age on the weekend. It's nice to relive how I felt about playing an arcade game. It's exciting. It's challenging. It sparks my sense of wonder and fun. It makes me happy.
It will be interesting to tell my guy about my purchase. We are similar when it comes to games. We like puzzle and word games more than anything, but we both love pac-man.
No wonder we get along well.
