Love this thread. Great stories.
My story goes like this. It was 1984 and I had just finished mowing 3 lawns in the neighborhood. After collecting my pay, I put it with my past earnings and realized I had enough…Fianlly!! I begged my mother to take me to Toys R Us so I could get a game for my… Colecovision. She of course refused at first, but I would not be detered. I bugged her and begged and offered up many options of additional chores I would do if she would just drive me to Toys R Us. My Colecovision was calling my name and wanted a fresh new game to be plugged into it. My mother relented, and off we went.
I knew the game I wanted. Frontline! I’d been eyeing that one for months now.
We arrived at the store. I could barely wait for the car to stop so I could jump out and run in, grab that little piece of paper, run to the register, pay for the game and collect it at the game security booth (those of you old enough know what I mean). I entered the store. Took the all to familiar right, then left turn. Walked right past the wall of board games. I didn’t look at them. No sir. I was a video game junky. I hit the Colecovision aisle. Found the box for Frontline. Went to grab that piece of paper from the little blue pouch…EMPTY!!! What!!! Empty!!! Surely there must be some mistake. Frantically I looked around for a Toys R Us associate. There must be one close by. There’s one. I raced over to him and asked in an anxious voice if they had more copies in the booth or in the back. He told me he’d go check.
Minutes felt like hours…Then he emerged from the swinging doors that lead to the storage area. What did he have in his hands!!! Was it Frontline??? No, it couldn’t be. It was much to large a box.
He walked up to me and said how sorry he was, but they were out of stock. The emotions!!! My stomach felt empty. I went numb.
At that point, the associate said, “Hey. Do you like boardgames?”
I told him that I wasn’t a boardgame type kid. He told me that was too bad because the game he was carrying just came in that morning and it looked like fun. He handed me the game he was carrying. It was big and blue and said Axis and Allies. I flipped it over and looked at the back.
Oh!!! I thought to myself, look at all the pieces. That could be a blast. My brother played risk, but this looked better. I wasn’t sure though. I’d mowed so many lawns to get Frontline. Could I spend that money on a game I’d never heard of?
Then, good old Mom jumped in. “You know you have lots of video games. Why don’t you try this?”
Seemed logical at the moment, so I bit. Went home and opened the box. Talked my brother into playing with me. Had a blast.
I eventually did go back and get Frontline, but it sat unused mostly. I was hooked on Axis and Allies. I have bought every version since and introduced countless numbers of friends and family to the game.
I use to play 2 or 3 times a month, but now that I have my own child and can’t seem to find other players as easily in this busy world, I probably play once a month. But I can promise you, I will play until the day I die.
