Oct 23
Finally, the relaunch of The Final Score Podcast. This is not your normal video game show…not by a long shot. Rather than explain it here, tune in and see for yourself. I give you, “Arcade Youth”.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
|
Direct MP3 Download |
 |
iTunes Subscription |
 |
RSS Feed |
Loading ...
Woohoo.
Moohoo!
Your iTunes Subscription link above points to ExtraLife Radio, but can’t wait to listen to this!
Whoops! Fixed.
Hey Scott,
I really enjoyed listening this episode. It really took me back to when my dad brought home our first Atari. Good times indeed.
Thanks, Nicole! Really glad to hear you liked it. This is a bit of a heart and soul project for me.
Woot
Wow at first I had a flashback to the old ELR solocast days, but this is great. You were always a great storyteller in my opinion and I am happy you are exploring this. Non-poo stories, too! Amazing.
Simply put, that was awesome.
Great show Scott. I feel like I know so much more about you. I’m a bit young for that time when arcades where the only way to game, but I do have many fond memories of my old NES.
can anyone else say, This American Life? That’s a compliment, by the way.
Wow, that got me all sentimental… You really seemed to have loved your dad, Scott. I hope you guys had lots of good times together before he passed away. Great podcast.
Dood. That was emotional. Thanks for sharing. And your Mum rocks!
Don’t look now, Scott, but your inner documentarian is showing…
…seriously, that rocked.
I haven’t listened to it yet, but I’m SO glad this to see TFS back in action! w00t!
Great show! Glad to see Final Score return. I think your approach to video game lifestyle is a terrific idea. It got me thinking about my first foray in arcades in the late 70’s and early 80’s. Good times.
Scott I really enjoyed this episode, please share more stories from your youth in the arcade world. Heck you could even write a book about it and I would read it. Keep it up
All I can say is “Wow”. That was almost an emotional piece for me. Although not in the arcade business, my father was the greatest influence of my “geek” lifestyle. I cannot watch Star Trek, read a comic or play a video game without thinking of him. Thank you for this Scott.
Hey Scott……..that was really fun…….you are so good at what you do. A couple of the dates were off a little but
I’m the only one who would know. It was emotional for me…..I cried………
I miss you….hearing from you and having good talks, etc. You said you miss some things that you now can’t talk to Dad
dad about…….I’m still here ……..and we CAN talk before it’s too late. I have always felt a certain emotional
connection with you because of your sensitivity and creativity….I love you soooo much!!
Scott, not only are you an amazing artist, you are also an amazing writer! That was beautiful on so many levels. Had me crying when you were talking about your dad. As I watch my folks get so much older, I know my time with them is fleeting…and I look at them and see all the geekly influences from the both of them, the wonderful times we’ve had…
I agree with Chris above, these stories could be a wonderful book…you had a unique life growing up, a special one. One I’d love hearing about. If nothing else, I can’t wait to hear more stories like this. Your heartfelt words and speeches go right to the core of this geek’s soul. Thank you!
Great job scott! Can’t wait for next one!
Scott, this was great!
I just turned 25–but I can remember the arcades, and what fun they were. It was where I was first introduced to mario, and donkey kong, and the Belmonts of Castlevania fame!
It’s thanks to video games, and arcades, that I found my love for storywriting, so this story ment something to me.
Excellent episode – the production quality and your music choices were fantastic. I’m sure it took a while to produce, and the more of these you do, you’ll get faster and faster at it. Absolutely awesome, Scott.
As a kid, I’d ride my bike to one of several different arcades around the neighborhood, but my favorite was the Shooting Star on Olde Wadsworth. If you got there a little bit before noon, when they opened during the summer, you could help them open the arcade by sweeping the floor, taking out the trash, checking the bathroom, etc. For that, they’d open a machine and ring up 50 or so credits for you to play (what could last back then) a whole afternoon. If I was the lucky child laborer, I’d usually pick Tempest – my favorite arcade game, even to this day, but I’d also load up a pinball machine on occasion (Superman, with its extra wide load, or Black Knight with that awesome double-level playing board).
Another great arcade memory was the Old Chicago in Boulder. Yes, part of the pizza chain, but back then it was 75% arcade, 25% pizza parlor. I went there with my uncle for an evening of (what else) Tempest, and the arcade manager had locked himself out of his office. Being one of the smallest kids there, he asked if they hoisted me up into the ceiling, if I could crawl above the acoustic tile into his office, climb down on the filing cabinet and unlock the door. It all went well until I put my knee on the wrong part of the ceiling and came crashing down through the tile into the office, landing pretty hard on the floor. I did manage to get the door open, and for months, if that manager happened to be working, I’d get to play whatever I wanted for free.
A couple years ago, I bought a Tempest machine for the basement. I love it, but the simple graphics don’t really do much for Tristan, who has been spoiled by today’s graphics and cutscenes. But man, hearing just the noises from that thing take me back.
Amazing podcast Scott! Enjoyed every moment. It threw me back to simpler times: two quarters, a Zaxxon cabinet and playing while trying to stand still on roller skates. Good times.
- over 30 and still gaming.
P.S. Now that I think about it… a podcast episode about a gamer’s life at the roller rink (the haven of children’s birthday parties, arcade cabinets and the dreaded “couple’s skate”) in the early 80’s might be interesting. Just a thought.
Wow, it really sounds like I’m listening to you read the audio book of your autobiography. Great stuff!
Scott, that was awesome. Im only 13 so I’m not all that ‘Fluent’ with arcades, but whenever i see one i beg my parents to give me 10 bucks so i can go play whatever they have in there. Almost always they barely have anything good. Mostly just some shooting games and a couple of racing things, no castlevania or games like that. Gotta say it once again though, it was a REALLY good story telling. You should do more. Or make a book.
P.S. Scott, am i aloud to ask how your Father Died?
Now I know what that e-mail I received last night meant…you are totally onto something. Great Podcast, you really know how to bring words to life. I even got a little teary eyed on the train when you were talking about your dad. Thank god no one was sitting next to me.
Amazing! Well done Scott, I’m excited to see Final Score back, love the new format and this “episode” was great!
This was a very good program. I downloaded it expecting something like ELR, something silly and fun and good to listen to and was blown away by the program’s depth thinking: “This is like a very geeky This American Life.” All and all, I’m looking forward to the next installment.
scott,
very good. i enjoyed this alot. keep up the good work.
Wow, I had to laugh when someone said that this was like This American Life, but I must admit that this show was wonderfully produced and organized. Definitely a keeper on my weekly podcast round up. I can see the influence of TAL in this show. Keep up the good work.
Wow, thanks for sharing your story Scott, and for casting me back to my own time passages when hitting the arcade was second only to martial arts practice. One of my best friends way back then had a small country store attached to the front of his house, owned and operated by his parents. Somehow, his father was able to get in a monthly rotating line of arcade games: Kangaroo, Joust, Moon Patrol, Defender, and Asteroids. They had to close the store at some point, but the Asteroids game stayed, much to our pleasure. We cracked open the back and figured out how to get game credits without using quarters, and we played that game probably at least once a day for nearly a year. I wish I had been of the proper mind to have done something to keep it, putting it in storage or something. Even today, at age 38, I still get ‘that feeling’ when walking up to the rare arcade game I happen upon. Got that same feeling listening to your story here. Awesome!
That was awesome. It left me sad but glad I listened to it at the same time.
Thanks for sharing Scott.
bout freaken time.
What? No poo?!? Who are you, and what have you done with the real Scott Johnson?
That was really great Scott. The filler music was perfect, set the sentimental feel of the story. Thanks for the stroll down memory lane.
That was a masterpiece of an episode, I think the emotional content is what did it for me. The music was perfect and fitted perfectly with the overall feel of the show. Can’t wait for the next episode!
I call it mood music, not filler at all. Everything there had a purpose. I’ve recorded 2 minutes of stuff and submitted it. My story fits perfectly with this episode.
Tempest was my 2nd favorite arcade game, and you’ll soon know which was my number 1 & why.
Yea took me back as well remember going to the local VFW and my dad giving me a couple dollars to play pacman, he would tell me not to tell mom since she never liked games. My dad died too in 2006 he was only 58.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane. Felt a bit like NPR but that isn’t an insult. Feel like you’ve hit a niche that no other gaming podcast is doing. It truly is a connection that many people share.
Thanks Again and keep it up.
Fabulous!! What a great way to celebrate being a gamer yet break the mold that so many game podcasts follow.
(what have I been playing > lets talk about the big game that is/will be released > industry news > mailbag)
Marvelous show… and I’m stunned by how cool your mom is and how young she sounds!
I never was much of an arcade guy until I got 16 or so, but we did have one of the first Atari VCS2600 in town (the real one, with the wood and stuff)… and the first games of course were Space Invaders and Pac Man… And, yup, I know about the popularity issues connected with this…
Anyway, I hope you’ll be able to pop out an occasional Final Score in the future!
I like the new format. It’s like This American Life for video games.
Very very nice. Very “This American Life,” in all the best ways. I hope you can keep this up, if not weekly, at least on some schedule. I’m really curious to see what this will become moving forward.
… you know, I know ELR kind of covers the “general geek” topics, but maybe letting this style branch out into other topics besides gaming could work, too. I’m sure there are some touching stories out there about comic books, favorite TV shows, music, etc.
Please give us more!
Very nice work Scott.
Damn Scott… I don’t think I or any normal listeners have learned so much about you as a person than in that 21 minutes of audio. Sorry to hear about your Dad. I lost mine when I was 15 so I know how world altering and crushing that can be. Anyways, great to see Final Score back and focusing more on the experience of gaming and less on the games themselves.
Oh and did you happen to put arcade machines in Dominos Pizza parlors? If so I may have single-handedly put you through college.