Children have incredible imaginations. Ask them to picture anything and give them a little time to think about it and they will surprise you. Last night at the AMF Bowling Centre in North Strathfield, while their parents were bowling a few metres away, the kids were happily in the arcade, having a fantastic time - and you could see from the light in their eyes that they were seeing the world as a brighter and shinier place than grown ups ever can.
Arcade Heaven
As adults, we can forget how brilliant those flashing lights and noises were to us as children - but not these kids. They were so excited, exploring the arcade and winning prizes, looking around with wonder as if they were at the Royal Easter Show.
For just $10, you can get 13 arcade tokens which give you the chance to play electronic quiz games, basketball games, driving games - in teams or solo - and with most of the games, when you get a good score, a long roll of tickets come spurting out of the machines like spaghetti! Then you can redeem the tickets for actual prizes. Many of the prizes are intended for kids, so most of the adults who we saw playing the games did what we did and gave the tickets they had won to the children. The look on their faces when they were handed all those tickets was priceless.
Of course, not every game gives prizes: there are a few of the traditional shoot 'em up arcade games that were more interesting for teenagers. Even though kids can play on their home consoles nowadays, there is a lot of added excitement from being out in the atmosphere of the arcade with other people having fun around you.
A Cavewoman Suddenly Appeared
And then we spotted what we had really come into the arcade for.... air hockey! That simple disk floating on a cushion of air brings out a competitive spirit in even the most well mannered city dweller.
Until the puck started to whizz across the table at roughly the speed of sound, I had no idea that my girlfriend, a high school teacher, was actually a cavewoman, capable of the kind of fierce competition that would have seen her hunt down a fair-sized woolly mammoth and drag it home for tea. For the true fan of air hockey, we can tell you that the tables in AMF centres have a very satisfying noise factor when the puck hits the sides with a metallic 'WHANG!'...and yes, the cavewoman won, but only by one goal, I promise. I'm planning to get my revenge next week.
After I recovered my pride and cavewoman had stopped smirking, we looked around at those kids in the arcade again: they weren't glued to a TV or computer screen - they were out with their families having fun. And that's got to be a good thing.
For school holiday activities or one of the most fun things to do after school, come and visit an AMF Bowling centre. And don't forget to check out the special offers and online deals!
