Frogger.

For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, chances are you are a lot younger than I am. For those of you who do, you probably know I am referring to a video game that was very popular a long time ago about a frog that tried to cross a busy highway. As a player of the game, I can assure you, the frog had many lives lost to the speeding cars that whizzed by; in other words, I was not very good at the game.

This past week in our sales meeting we saw a presentation of a video game coming out in the fall that takes a player from their daily playing lives and places them right smack dab into the video game. You can be sure if I don’t know much about Frogger, I would never stand a chance with this game. It does sound kind of amazing thinking that you literally are in the game as a player---and you are a complete interactive piece to what’s happening in the game. All I can say is, “whatever.” (Just what you would hear from the age of the players this game will attract.)

While we were in the meeting we started talking about video games the company still owns that they use for props as part of the experience they put consumers through to get them to try or sample a product. They have PacMan, Pong (yes the original), Asteroids and more.  I was shocked, but the reason they have them is for a project that was done that took people back in time---they used the video games as part of the experience. Confused? E-mail me and I will explain. Actually don’t, I am not really sure of what they did with them.

When I was a kid, I loved Pong; we would go to the mall, that’s where you found the games, and we would pump quarters into the machine. I put more quarters in than the other people because I often lost and the loser paid. However, when we would go to the bowling alley, I would get my money’s worth back by playing pinball. I was not just okay at pinball---I was actually pretty good. Every so often we will see a pinball machine and I will play but since they are so rare, my talents are lost to the video games I can’t play. Oh well.

I really like looking back in time; that’s probably why I loved movies like Back to the Future, Mad Men, and other movies and shows that take us back in time to the days that molded us.

The photo above was taken in New York a few months ago. Like the game “Frogger” I watched as cabs, cars and crazy people whizzed by not even bothering to notice the color of the stoplights. I am happy to report this family made it to the other side---unlike the frogs who I controlled in the game Frogger who were not as lucky.

Thanks for stopping by.