Dave & Buster's

I had my first Dave & Buster's experience a short while ago. The food wasn't too exciting, very much in the line of Uncle Moe's Family Feedbag, but the atmosphere was interesting. It came off to me as being a Chuck E. Cheese for adults and I found the scent of Peter Pan syndrome to be in the air. And while they had a sizeable arcade, most were the first-person shooters that I've never gotten into. I was able to play some of my favorite video games, like Space Invaders, Galaga and Donkey Kong, but the selection of such quality games was limited.

I eventually found my way to a multi-player trivia game that would dispense to winners tickets that could be exchanged, carnival-style, for gifts. While it was a relief to finally let my overeducation find me some profit, it was short-lived. I won a whole lot of tickets right off the bat but the game was prepared for my type and began making the questions incredibly obscure: in a few rounds it went from asking about Madonna's first #1 single to asking who makes John McLaughlin's guitars. But I had won plenty of tickets by that time to get me a handsome glass mug; obviously the machine wasn't about to let me win any real prizes.