Annoying Arcade Games

As a kid travelling to the arcade was like, THE BEST THING EVER! The games, lights and sounds were enough to keep you entertained on the arcade machines for hours.

It didn’t matter if you won or lost (which was more likely), it was all great fun and maybe at the end of the day you would even win a little slinky toy for all your efforts.

Now fast forward to adulthood and those same arcade games are still buzzing, flashing and drawing in the crowds but the thrill is not as… well, thrilling. It’s actually frustrating and pretty damn annoying.

Here is a list of the five most annoying games at the arcade that you loved as kid but loathe as an adult. Enjoy.

THE CLAW

A childhood without the failure at a claw machine is incomplete. But it’s ok, it’s not your fault. A peek at the instruction manuals of some claw games has found a rotten discovery; the machine grabs the things only when its profitable. BOOO!

The machine does some quick maths, calculating whether or not it’s financially responsible to go “full claw” and grab your stuffed toy. So basically, it will only let you win if it’s already made a profit. Yep, now I know how I wasted so much pocket money on that stuffed unicorn.

PINBALL

As a kid, pressing the two side buttons on the pinball machine used to be great fun. One friend would stand on one side, you on the other, both hammering away at the buttons as the little ball bolts through the machine, making all the lights glow and the “ting, ting, ting” and “zzziiiuuuppp” when you hit the double-points section. It was thrilling.

Now, as an adult, the sheer frustration of that little ball slowing sliding down the side of the game to the prongs, just so you can shoot it back trough the “pings” again is just boring, and downright frustrating.

THE BASKETBALL GAME

The aim is simple: shoot as many basketballs into the hoop as possible, win tickets and win a prize. As a kid, this was great, you just pelt that ball as hard as you can at the backboard, with no care in the world if it went in or bounced and hit you in the face “” actually, it was quite funny when it hit your friend in the face that time… As an adult, with the metal bars blocking your view of the hoop and you’re perfectionism annoyingly shining through, you stand straight, flick the ball like a pro… and still miss.

RALLY CAR

Race me? Oh yeah, you’re on. As a kid there was nothing more thrilling than jumping in the driver’s seat of Rally Car and racing your friend before the movies starts. Switching gears, foot flat on the pedal, hands gripped to the steering wheel as you make every sharp turn at full speed, staying in fourth gear, maybes switching to first, but who really cares. The car slips and slides across the road, you roll and it’s all, “ohhh, you should has seen that crash, it was awesome!” … and then bam, you finish without even completing a lap. Now reverse everything I just said, because as an adult when that darn steering wheel escapes your grip for absolutely no reason, it’s just cruel, mean and downright unsportsmanlike. Stupid game.

DANCE REVOLUTION

Please don’t do this as an adult. There is not much to say on this one apart from it’s impossible to look good, unless you have spent 1000 hours practicing at home, with nobody looking. The stamping of the buttons with your legs spread hip-distance apart is not flattering, neither is the little computer-generated girl who tells you to keep up, you’re not doing it right and,”here, I’ll show you, watch this”. It’s not worth it friend, just walk away and leave it to the kids, it doesn’t matter if they miss a beat. You on the other hand, will look like a dancing grandma.

Do you get annoyed and frustrated with these arcade games, too?