I love the 80s!!!!

It is becoming a tradition in the company where I work that a person leaving receives a grand send off.

Friday evening, about 30 of my fellow co-workers and I gathered together at Dave and Buster’s in Maple Grove to wish Nicole a fond farewell. I arrived at about 5:00 pm, figuring I would socialize, have a few Diet Cokes and then head home at 6:00.

What is it they say about the best laid plans?

What I learned about D&B's is that it is a combination sports bar/restaurant/carnival/video arcade! Yes, for $15.99 I got a double cheeseburger, fries, all the Diet Coke I could drink and a $10 card to redeem at the various games. After eating and socializing for a while I ventured over to the game area. After several games of skee ball and shooting hoops, I decided to check out the video arcade.

As I may have mentioned a time or 2,000, I have quite an affinity for the 1980s. As I looked for a game which I could play I all of a sudden heard the hallelujah chorus echoing in my head. There they were. Pac Man! Donkey Kong! Centipede! Space Invaders! Galaga! I thought I was going to hyperventilate!

Now it wasn’t quite like the olden days. I had to slide my game card through the card reader as opposed to dropping a quarter in the slot. But once I heard that Pac Man theme, I was 12 years old all over again! From the various gyrations while playing the game to slamming my hand on the machine upon being eaten by ghosts, I was partying like it was 1981!

Once I used up my game card I looked at my watch to see that it was 8:00 pm. Time to head home, call my girlfriend and talk about the latest episode of Solid Gold to try to guess what will be the week’s #1 song. Whoops! Sorry, I got a little too caught up in the 80s nostalgia. Anyhow, I hadn’t seen my wife all day. I couldn’t wait to get home and tell her about this cool place I found to take our teenaged nephews for food and fun.

Yep, I’m going back for the kids next time (Yeah, right).

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