PixlBit

I have this problem. Every month the geomultidimensionalneonquartzalienlifeform in my back yard sends me to another time. Luckily, I don’t lose any time in my current universe. I just go out in the morning, get zapped, and return a moment later with a nice daydream in my head.

So this November, I was sent to 1977. I know it was that year because Star Wars was in the local theater. The first one. The one now called Episode IV. Nuts.

Anyway, the first place I went in my home town (apparently the location doesn’t change in these journeys, just the time) was the King of Prussia Mall because I wanted to see the very first EB Games. The one that eventually merged with Gamestop, and now we are all victims of the monopoly. It was called Electronics Boutique then and sold watches and tvs and stuff. Not too exciting, but historic. Had to see it.

Then I went and bought an Atari 2600. It had come out a month before I arrived. It was called the Atari Video Computer System. It retailed for $199. That’s $604 today. I balked, but I knew all my money would return to me when I got back. That’s a little law of time travel, in case you didn’t know.

I also bought Combat and Air-Sea Battle, my two favorite games from the launch. Combat was a tank versus tank game and Air-Sea Battle had you shooting planes and boats. Honestly, I played these about five minutes each. That's $300 (really $900) down the tubes.

Then I went and bought an Apple II pc. This cost a whopping $1298 (or $3945 back home in 2017). Darn thing didn’t have any games either. Seems Apple was kind of sour on games. This device was for serious people. Well, if I stuck around a few years I could probably play Zork or Akalabeth. Not a chance though, but I’d probably be back to those times if that geomultidimensionalneonquartzalienlifeform stays in my back yard. Darn that thing is creepy.

Then I found an arcade. I played some Space Wars, the first vector graphics game. Then I played Drag Race (I played the 2600 version in my own universe) and Triple Hunt, a light gun game with three different scenes: one to shoot witches, another bears, and lastly raccoons. I don’t know why those go together, but the witch’s scene was the best with a haunted house and lots of spooky sound effects – a novelty in 1977.

Well, I grabbed someone's bike (nobody can stop this time traveler) and tried to get back to my parents home to tell my 10 year old self to get with it, but on the way I faded and then popped back to my own time.

I don’t know if the geomultidimensionalneonquartzalienlifeform knew I shouldn’t contact myself in that universe or was just burping up another cloud of multidimensional gas, but I sure wish it would warn me. I was air biking when I came back and banged my knees on the ground.