Hey everyone, at the very beginning of this year my wife and I went to Columbus for a new American Girl Doll release, and with the release of the Harry Potter clothes we decided to go again. We also made sure to get the same hotel that we did last time because of the awesome arcade. Mskate is pretty into Harry Potter and wanted to make a character doll (maybe Ginny), so we planned on maybe buying a doll in addition to the accessories. With all that we planned on purchasing I bought some gift cards through swagbucks to get the cash back. Since this was a new release they had some promotional give aways and we wanted to get them. Mskate was being kind of pesimistic though, basically saying "I know we won't be making it, so we don't need to even try, we'll sleep in and don't worry about it," but I said "no, we're going to try, we'll get up early and go there to make it."
Saturday was the day. We woke up at 6:30 but didn't leave until about 7:30, and that was OK because the give aways were for the first 50 people who bought things. I drove the first leg and it was good, then mskate drove the second leg. I was getting hungry and wanted to get McDonalds because of the Pokemon toy promotion, but it was too early since they were still serving breakfast. Once we got to the mall I pulled out my camera and was ready to take some video, but I neglected to charge my camera and the battery was dead, so I had to take video on my phone.
The store was pretty cool. Since we had been there earlier this year there weren't a lot of things that were super new, but there were some cool displays. One thing mskate pointed out is that there were many displays made of card board, and some of them looked really good. You can see them in the video above. The Harry Potter stuff was really well made. There was a trunk that came with an owl, birty bots every flavor beans, chocolate frog with wizard card, wand, and acceptance letter. There was also the sorting hat with the nimbus 2000. This was a funny story, there's a "classic witch" costume that's available as well and mskate thought the broom that came with that set and was on display was the Harry Potter broom, and I pointed out how it wasn't. There were also school uniforms and house scarves, and mskate wanted to get a Griffindore so we could make a Ginny, but of course being the house of the main character it was sold out. We almost got a Ravenclaw so we could make a Cho Chang, but decided against it. Instead of a doll for a Harry Potter character, we got a Courtney doll. She's the 80s doll and her story is awesome (because it's all 80s pop culture, with a love of Pacman and Care Bears).
Now for some interesting things. They have blind bags with little accessories from sets that didn't sell well, typically foods or home supplies (like we kept feeling shampoo bottles and bracelets when feeling these bags), and we were only interested in the cell phone and smart watch set. A lot of other people must have been interested in it too because we felt all hundred or so bags and no cell phone set. It would be a little bit of a scene if it wasn't that everyone does it. Oh well, in the past we successfully found the cheese and cheese grater, milk and eggs, and syrup and pancakes sets.
After the shopping we went to eat lunch at the mall food court. I was going to maybe get Shake Shack while Mskate got Bibibop, but we both ended up getting Bibibop. I got a salad bowl with broccoli, steak, potatoes, and teriyaki sauce. We sat at a table that had outlets so we could charge the camera and my phone, but the camera wasn't taking a charge and my phone barely got a charge after sitting there for maybe an hour. Oh well.
After lunch we went to a game and puzzle store that was in the mall, and I bought a pikmin 3 puzzle. I played the coin dozer games that they had, and I thought they were close to payout but they weren't so I lost a dollar. I had fun though. After that store we went to the legoland gift shop and played "I got that one and that one and that one" since mskate's dad likes to gift lego. We managed to find something we didn't have and kind of need for our holiday display table, a black cat and mouse in a pumpkin display piece for the fall display. We went to the lego store after that and didn't find anything but still played "I got that one and that one and that one."
After this we drove to the hotel. I checked us in, unloaded the stuff, and packed the car while mskate took the stuff up to the room. I caught up to her quickly since there was an open parking spot. We got situated and just rested for an hour or so. We also explored the hotel some and went down to the pool. At the pool we found this funny bit of conflicting information in the signs. Mskate also played with her new dolls, and we got all set-up. Here I am with Courtney.
For dinner we ordered mskate sushi from the local sushi place and I got McDonalds. I got 2 happy meals because I wanted the pokemon toys. They tried to give me scooby doo toys, but I pushed them and asked for the pokemon toys (and they gave them to me). The McDonalds was pretty interesting, it wasn't like a normal building that matches their style. After the McDonalds we went to get mskate her sushi, which is also right next to the barcade. They have tinted windows and mskate thought they might be out of business, so when I went to get the sushi I also checked (they were open). We went back to the hotel where I finished my McDonalds and mskate had her sushi, and I had her wasabi and other spicy thing they give with it (I just ate it straight, and I felt the heat of the wasabi in the back of my nose). A little while later around 5:30 I went to the barcade.
Here's the business model of this barcade, the drinks are inflated but most of the arcade games are free. Skeeball, pinball, and some new arcade fighters cost money, but every video cabinet that is over 10 years old is on free play. It's a great place. When I got there I started a tab and started with a Galaga; a purple drink made with rum, gin, vodka, and raspberry liquor. This was a good drink, I highly recommend it. Then to start, I went with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Turtles in Time. Someone had left 40 credits on Rafael early in level 1, so I played as Raff. After the time warp I decided to start filming some lets plays with my phone, holding the phone in my left hand while I controlled Raff with my right hand, joystick in my palm and attack with my middle and ring finger. I don't recommend playing like this if you are spending money since dodging requires the jump button, but if it's on free play it's an interesting challenge. While I was playing the 2020 level a boy that was probably 7 or 8 came up with his mom and asked if he could play with me. I said sure and he pressed the credit button for Leonardo and Michelangelo and we played together some. I was very careful with how I engaged with them, because I wanted to let his mom know I wasn't mad that he jumped on but I also didn't want to be a weirdo at the bar talking to children. It was cool though, because at least according to Irate Gamer 4 random kids playing the TMNT arcade game together was what you did back in the day. He got kind of bored after half the level and ran off, so for a little while I'm moving 3 turtles around the screen so I could advance the level, and then let them game over so I could continue playing as Raff (though I did play some as the other turtles just to try them out, because why not). At the last level I got all the turtles on the screen because at the end of the level if there were more than 1 turtles on screen they would high five, and I wanted to have all of them at the end. I eventually beat the game and because I was taking a sip between each level I finished my drink, but because I didn't start from the very beginning I decided to play through until I got to a part where I walked in, so I played through the entire game. As I explained in the other blog and in the lets play, I have a history with this game, so every time I come here I'll probably spend an hour or whatever beating it because 9-12 year old me never was able to.
After Turtles in Time I went to the bar and got a Frogger; a drink made with coconut rum, pineapple juice, melon liquor, and orange juice. I was drawn more to the pineapple and didn't see the coconut, and if I did I probably would have got something else because I don't like coconut, and it wasn't for me. Since I wasn't getting any trouble for filming the lets plays with TMNT, the next game I played was Maximum Force, a light gun game I could play with 1 hand. I don't have a history with this one partially because I wasn't allowed to play light gun games as a child (my mom was pretty anti-gun), and I for sure wasn't allowed to play this because when the bad guys got shot they kind of blew up. I also didn't see this in the arcades I frequented as child, so even if that was permitted I wouldn't have had the option. Regardless, it was fun. The fun thing was it had FMV human enemies and low-texture 3D graphics. I let's played the first 2 levels, but the 3rd I did without the camera because I wanted to dual wield, and that was a fun way to play. I took some sips between levels, but not too much and still had plenty of drink after I finished the game. After Maximum Force I decided to play Frogger while drinking a Frogger, but I was a little buzzed by then and while I'm normally a wiz at Frogger (at least enough to get halfway through the first level), but I wasn't even able to get my first frog in the end cave. I also gave the original Donkey Kong a try, but failed pretty hard at that as well, not being able to get past the first screen.
After failing at Frogger and Donkey Kong I went to play The Simpsons Arcade game. The button layout was pretty similar to the TMNT button layout, so I decided to play as Lisa and do lets plays as well. I filmed one before my phone had a super low battery, so I only got one video. This is another game I have some history with, because I would play this sometimes at the Chuck E Cheese and the Caesarland by me, and I watched the demo screen very well because I would watch it all the time pretending to play. One of the cool things about this game is that if 2 characters stood next to each other motionless for a few seconds they would work together for a super attack. Bart and Lisa would hold hands and hit the enemies, and Marge and homer would do something similar. If Bart or Lisa stood next to Homer, he would pick them up and they would deal double damage. If it was Marge she would pick up the kid and throw them like a projectile. Because the combo attacks just required 1 joystick input (Bart+Lisa and Homer+Marge), there was some time where I just put all 4 characters on screen and controlled them simultaneously, but that eventually became too much to handle so I just played 1 character at a time. I ended up playing as Homer and Lisa primarily (Lisa because that was good for lets plays, Homer because I like playing as him), and I ended up getting 2 high scores because of it. It was another game I beat, and I finished my Frogger while playing it. I had seen the end of Simpsons Arcade a couple of times because there would sometimes be a kid or group of kids that were determined to beat it, but it was fun to beat it all by myself.
For my 3rd and final drink for the night, I was going to get a Stonewall (8 different liquors with a splash of sours, orange juice, and sprite in a souvenir tumbler), but they were out of tumblers so I got a blue bomber (blueberry vodka, blue curaco, lemonade, and blueberry redbull; a very good drink). I decided to give Tengen Tetris a try, the arcade version that is very Russian. I could only use one rotate button because the other was sticky and I didn't want to deal with sticky. I did pretty well with it, getting to like level 5 or 6. After Tetris I played Area 51, another lightgun game that while I never played (gun game and kind of gory), I did see in arcades all the time, and on the demo screen I'm pretty sure one said "used to help train law enforcement." I did pretty well considering I was 2 drinks in and tired. The next game I played was Q-bert, and I made it to level 2 before getting the game overs (I think I played 2 games because the first one didn't "feel real"). I also played Ms. Pacman until I game over'ed, and didn't want to try much because I have a Ms. Pacman 35th anniversary cabinet at my house. The next game I played and failed at was Donkey Kong Jr, it was much harder than the NES port I have (and the 2.5 cocktails and fatigue didn't help). I also played the original Punch Out, and got to the 3rd boxer despite not really knowing what I was doing on top of the other challenges.
One of the last games I played was Tapper, a game I have some history with. When I was in 5th grade Shockwave.com was the game site we frequented, and they had classic arcade games available to play, one being Tapper (or "Rootbeer Tapper," the "kid friendly asset swap" that replaces the Budweiser logo with a generic root beer logo). Even though I nearing my end, I could still beat the bar setting and bonus stage with ease, then I got to level 8 which always got me as a kid (I'd either serve too many mugs and lose the life that way, or a customer would get to me because I didn't serve them fast enough), and this is where I bit it again. It was now a quarter to 9 and I only had enough in me for 1 more game, and I played another game that had a lot of nostalgia connections from Shockwave, Rampage. This was a modern version but still Rampage. I played as George and made it to like level 4 before I basically gave up on (but I still made it to a game over). I cashed out at this time and the final bill was $32. That was a good price for 3.5 hours of arcade games and 3 drinks. If I counted 50 cents for each time I pressed start it probably would have been more than $32. After the arcade I went back to the hotel. Mskate was in bed but not asleep, so I was able to tell her how the arcade went. I showered and had some snacks, and that was it for the night.
Sunday morning was pretty chill. As I said in the other blog, the hotel doesn't have a free breakfast, so I had poptarts and pistachios. We just relaxed some in the morning, before packing up, checking out, and going to church. The mass was interesting because there were a lot of small children, and they were a little distracting. The church was in a cute little town, with some cool old style architecture. Mskate drove the first half of the trip, and then I drove the other half. So, we filled the gas tank before going on the trip and that should have got us pretty much the whole trip. However, with the traffic that we ran into the gas tank was running on empty and I wasn't sure we would make it home (the car was driving a little different than normal), so I stopped at a gas station like 5 miles from our house and got 2 gallons, and that was more than enough to get us home. We unpacked the stuff and then just enjoyed the rest of the Sunday.
Overall, great trip. While American Girl Doll isn't really my thing, I don't dislike it (we got Courtney mainly because I love the 80s and she's an 80s doll). Then there's Level One Bar and Arcade, an arcade with free videogames. The only way it could have been better is if my camera wasn't dead and they had the Griffindore accessories. Next time we go (because there will be a next time), I'll make sure I have enough charge on my phone and video camera so I can take more lets play videos. I was a little hesitant because if people don't want you taking video they REALLY don't want you taking video, and since was a bar that wasn't in a tourist place there was a decent chance that they wouldn't want me taking video, but I took video in front of the employees and they didn't say anything, so next time I'll be sure to be prepared. I also won't have 3 alcoholic drinks; maybe 2 and a non-alcoholic drink (like a Pinky or Donkey Kong Jr.). I also will play some other games that I haven't played yet like the big buck hunter and X-men game, but I'll always play TMNT because that was as much of a draw of Wheels Inn as anything else there. Well this has been Pokematic, signing off, and bu-bye.
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