Arcade Fever the Fan's Guide to the Golden Age of Video Games

Arcade Fever is not a perfect book, but it's still quite good. A number of reviewers have taken the author to task for the book's shortcomings. Lighten up! It's a fun book about a fun topic. Don't be so serious, you'll get an ulcer.First off, the book is subtitled: The Fan's Guide to the Golden Age of Video Games. As a "fan's guide" it works well - it's less a doctoral thesis in the field of Arcadeology than a simple overview of games the casual 1980s arcade visitor would know and likely love. If you want obscure references and arcane knowledge, this is definitely not your book.Second, whenever I get together with my brother and sisters I revert to the maturity of a late teenager (my wife hates this). It seems that Sellers has reverted to that same level of maturity in his commentary, and probably for the same reason: It's fun to go back in time and try and relive our favorite moments. Cut the guy a break and get in on the fun. If you can read the word "poopy" without grinning, you're not ready for this book. If the Beavis and Butthead voice in your head says "he wrote `poopy'...cool...heh heh eh heh," you're ready to dive right in. Third, I like the year-by-year history snippets. It provides a context for what else we were doing when not playing the games. Was it necessary? No. Does "Who Shot J.R.?" have anything to do with video games? No. Does it help get you back in the mindset of The Golden Age? I think so.Fourth, I like the mix of games in the book. There are games you loved, liked, and hated. There are the popular games and the sleepers. Are one or more of your favorites neglected? Probably (I'd have liked a page for Tailgunner or Omega Race, myself). I wish Sellers hadn't ragged on Bosconian (but I was an English major, so that's probably why I like it so much). I liked Cliff Hanger more than Dragon's Lair, but I can concede that DL deserves the full review, CH the snippet.Finally, the sole purpose of a book like this is to kindle the feeling of nostalgia in its reader. I had forgotten some of the things in the book: some of the games, some of the trends - I had totally forgotten about putting quarters up on marquee lip to reserve the next game. I feel better for having remembered them. If you were born in the late-'60s/early-'70s, no longer live in your parents' basement, and enjoy a fun, light read, you'll probably like this book too.

Mr. Sellers has compiled what is essentially a time capsule packed with vivid recollections of adolescent indulgence laced with ribald wit. Clearly an homage, Arcade Fever is transcendant. The feel of thick carpet, black light, Sbarro's pizza and pocketfulls of quarters fills the synapses while the pages turn. Replete with nostalgia, this title is perfect for anyone who skipped class to shoot B & W rocks or navigate a corpulent carpenter upward a steely skeletal edifice. The only drawback-- the realisation that scenes from Flynn's Arcade in Tron have ceased to exist. The games are harder to enjoy now-- victims of changing tastes and a market that dried up seemingly overnight. There are no downers though, and as a love letter (which this text obviously is) it didn't end badly at all. Now excuse me while i scrounge a quarter or two and find the nearby Asteroids machine at my local movie theatre...

Sellers arbitrarily picks 50 arcade games he considers to be classics or of note. He does a fantastic job, reviewing these machines from the eyes of an eager kid growing up in the dawn of the video game age. The writing is factual, but punctuates with sidenotes and stories of someone who lived through it all. This in itself makes this a priceless book. You can feel his enjoyment and excitement come from the pages. Sprinkled throughout are fantastic pictures of the games *and* the machines that housed them. Throw in some great anecdotal tales from the people who made the games and you have a true fanatic's book here!!

This is the ultimate guide to the byegone era of when your social status was determined by whether or not your initials were listed as the high score on Bubbles at your local arcade. The author has not only taken a very informative look at some of the seminal arcade games during this era, but has also provided an informative timeline of game innovations and milestones. For example, not only are the first of the very first games profiled, but the author has also pointed out why these games were important - which was the first to incorporate vector graphics, continue play, etc. Instead of being a tired listing of obscurities and the descriptions of these games, he reminds the reader of what a tremendous effect these games had on popular culture as well as a humorous timeline of the happenings of the years in which this phenomenon overtook the US. Pac Man cartoons, movies about video games, songs about video games - all were spawned by the incessant need to pump every cent you had into these electronic ... pipes, and John has provided the entire package in this great book. While the author does have some unnatural obsession with the game Pooyan, as well as use the word "titular" enough to make me think he had a pubescent Beavis and Butthead moment each time he wrote it, this is an excellent read for those of us who were (and still are) caught up in the Wokka Wokka craze. Thanks, John.

I've spent a great deal of my life collecting, preserving and protecting the history of videogames through our museum exhibit VIDEOTOPIA, so I always hope for the best but fear the worst when a new videogame book hits the shelves. Arcade Fever, despite a silly title, is a FANTASTIC book.We had the pleasure of assisting (very slightly) in the production of the book and this guy knows his games, and more to the point, he knows what made us LOVE them.This is a fun and very visual walk through some of the greatest videogames of the classic era. If you are looking for the rush that you'd get walking into a great 80's arcade - this is the best way for you to get a good dose of a great golden-age arcade. Close your eyes and you can hear the sound effects!Great book, great fun. Don't miss it.