FUN_LOCK

In the 80 and early 90s there were arcade games and pinballs everywhere. Every mall had at least one pure coin-op arcade packed wall to wall. Shopping centers had at least one store or restaurant with 2 or 3 random games crammed in somewhere. The tiniest hole in the wall pizza places having game rooms larger than the restaurant.

Kid me was on an eternal quarter hunt to make sure I'd always have a pocketful ready. Pennies were rolled and cashed in at the bank. Couch cushions were inspected daily. No change cup or coat pocket was left unsearched. I was always on the lookout for more hidden caches.

I was a 10 year old Indiana Jones and these treasures were too valuable to be hidden away in the back of a filing cabinet. "These belong in a museum Double Dragon!" And that's the story of how 2 dozen rolls of silver quarters my mom stashed away in the 60's were liberated.

Almost 4 decades later I still remember the first time I reached the final fight on a machine in the back of the local pizza joint. The anticipation building as I dodged around looking for openings to chip away at his health bar. He only had a sliver of life left when he knocked me out but I had a pocketful of quarters. The taste of final victory was on my lips as I reached into my pocket only to have it ripped away as dad declared it was time eat.

Pizza never tasted so horrible. I'm still mad.

a pretty comprehensive error.

Is this an auto-correct? It doesn't seem to make sense with the rest of the comment, but I'm coming up blank on what it could have auto-corrected from. Maybe I'm behind on terminology.

In pinball the base score required to win a free game starts low and adjusts over time based on the average score over the last several hundred or thousand games. When someone wins a free game the score required temporarily doubles but drops back down to the current base score after a loss.

Skilled players mostly avoid round 1 because the advanced features are almost always broken and are never fixed. Newcomers and casual players don't notice because the deep rules are complicated and it all seems random.

The one upside to this is that the base score is usually at or close to the factory default. If you're moderately skilled and lucky enough to find the occasional machine that isn't secretly broken you can last all day off 20 bucks because you'll get 2 or 3 free games for each paid one.

I have no illusions I can compete with the greatest documentary ever made but thank you for the compliment.