Wednesday, October 12, 2022

#WorldsFair64: The New York State Pavilion and Its Second Chance at Life


This architectural oddity from the New York World’s Fair still stands today.
by Rich Watson 


Flushing Meadows-Corona Park hosted two World’s Fairs, in 1939-40 and 1964-65. Evidence of their existence remains, but as a kid growing up in Queens, I didn’t recognize it as such. 

Later in life I learned about the Fairs. I discovered the New York State Pavilion, one of the 1964 Fair’s biggest attractions, was being resuscitated from obscurity.

Wednesday, September 28, 2022

Crossy Road Stands Tall Over Other Free-to-Play Game Apps

The mobile game that broke the mold for free-to-play games is also a lot of fun.

by Rich Watson 


Crossy Road is one of the few mobile video games for which I feel any affinity. The design is deceptively simple, the gameplay even simpler. 

For someone who grew up with eighties arcade games and still identifies with them, it feels like the right kind of transition to twenty-first-century gaming.

Wednesday, September 14, 2022

Coleco’s Pac-Man Tabletop Game Brought the Arcade Experience Home

 


The eighties passion for Pac-Man led to the creation of this miniature arcade game version—part of a series.
by Rich Watson 


In 1982, during the height of the Pac-Man craze, Coleco released a tabletop home version of the immensely popular arcade game.

I had one because I was as much into Pac-Man as everyone else at the time.