Wednesday marked our second successful voyage north to Springfield, Missouri’s 1984 Arcade. This time, several of my online Digital Press/Atari Age friends met me there, including Phosphor Dot Fossils (TheLogBook.com), Icebreaker (Particles.org), Crossbow (OVGE.com), and Gapporin. You aren’t a real geek until you have your own domain name. (I have several.)

This time Mason made the 300-mile trek with me. I tell ya, that kid’s a trooper. His little bladder leaves a little room for improvement but his is growing (and mine’s shrinking) so in another year or two we’ll be on the rest stop schedule for sure. At some point in time I decided it would be a good idea to drive to and from Springfield on the same day. This poor decision was compounded by a late start. The end result was a five-hour road trip, followed by a four hour stay at the arcade, and a four-hour return drive. (Mason slept.) Before we hit the road Mason and I stopped by Wal-Mart and picked up a portable DVD player. I’ve been wanting one to keep in the truck for a while now. For $119 I got a 9″ screen and a DVD player that plays everything from DVDs to CDs to MP3s to JPGs to who knows what else. Mason worked his way through the stack of movies I brought while I drove.

The 1984 Arcade was as kick ass as I’d remembered it … which, seeing as though I was there only a month or two ago, isn’t really that surprising. With more of my friends there it felt more like we were hanging out at a friend’s place rather than just at some random arcade. It was neat to share gaming stories with fellow nerds, comparing geeky memories about old arcades or old arcade games. It was also fun comparing high scores as well. Ice and Gapporin got into a friendly highscore battle on 1942, while I ended up with the Moon Patrol record for the night.

Our visit was over too soon. As much as we all hated to part ways, I knew I was looking at a four-hour road trip ahead of me. With the GPS in the passenger seat, a Vault energy drink in one cup holder and a Diet Coke in the other, Mason and I hit the road around a quarter to 10pm, and pulled into our driveway at exactly 2:30am.

Although I made it to work Thursday, Susan told me I “wasn’t worth shooting.”