April 27, 2010

The Arcade

Teachers' Strike: Day 18,000
Weather: pouring rain
Outlook on life: bleak

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Yesterday, I took my children to a mall arcade with the vision that $10 worth of video game tokens would consume an entire afternoon.

In the time that it took me to tie my shoelaces, my boys had used up all of their tokens. They fed every single one into a machine with a motorized claw and a bin of high quality stuffed animals.

The bad news: the planned afternoon entertainment ended 3 hours and 58 minutes early.

The good news: we brought home a creepy teddy bear and an enormous lizard.


Every mother's dream.

17 comments

Chelsea said...

You're so lucky, it's a LeBron James bear!!

Natalie said...

That's funny! I am always shocked not only by how fast the money goes, but by how many tokens each game needs! Remember when we were kids and a game was a quarter...maybe fifty cents? Now it seems like most of the games are fifty cents or a dollar.
Hoping the weather clears up for you :) I'm a new reader, and love your blog!

Anonymous said...

ug, it goes way too fast, doesn't it. Good luck with the strike, what's up with that? Well, it'll make for some great blog reading on my end, I can tell!
Deb from MA

the thrifty ba said...

what are they even striking about?

Unknown said...

That's all any mother needs: more stuffed animals in the house!

happyfamily said...

That game is huge! I've never seen anything like it! Well done, boys, well done.

Amalie said...

never underestimate how fast kids can blow your money!

Emmy said...

Lol! Yes you are so lucky

Skubaliscious said...

At leaast they both got something....with my girls it would have been one happy with a large stuffed critter and one in tears without.

Cindy Stagg said...

So think of it like this: the teachers have to make up for the days they were on strike, meaning, they're prolonging the last day of school!

Karen Mortensen said...

I hate that when things don't last aas long as you think they should. I hope the strike is settled before you run out of ideas. Good luck.

mama rose said...

Some Sam's Club locations have claw machines in the exit lobby. .25 per game. Now there's a bargain.

Tiffany said...

Aaaaa! What is it about those machines? Do they have special magnets, hypnotic powers, or is that grimy joystick laced with crack?

Michelle said...

Over-sized lizards are the best.

lishajeanne said...

I am impressed that they got the claw to work. That is the makings of a mechanical engineer or 2. (My brother-in-law is one and he is the only person I know who can make those things work right.)

KB said...

Hey! Your kid is wearing an Angels hat! Glad to see you're teaching them right :) GO ANGELS

peacegirl said...

ah..so this is what I have to look forward to ahha