It was probably inevitable. I spent most of Valentine’s Day at an arcade, and ended up just playing Asteroids until I set the high score for the day. (A paltry 15,000.) Sure, I spent a fair amount of time dabbling, playing a game or two of pinball, a few other games, appreciating the wide variety of obscure or ancient games I’d never encounter again, watching my friends playing other games they’d grown to love when they were young. Watching the people, exploring at whim.

When I was young I never spent much time at the arcade, but I did enjoy Asteroids. It was a simple concept with a brilliant execution that I was, of course, utterly abysmal at when I was younger. It’s one of few arcade games that actually has nostalgia value for me. When we set it up at my place in Seattle, I spent far too many nights playing (setting, by the way, the house high score multiple times). Then it was gone and I moved along–but here at the arcade I saw the machine, part of a long line of other, less interesting machines, quiet, unobtrusive.

It didn’t take me long–I think the scores must reset daily–before I got it. I could have had fun without it–but even when I’m dabbling, wandering, exploring, I want something to conquer. Having done so, I’m more than content to sail wherever the wind takes me.