Grandma Gamer. in Whey and Sonic Screwdrivers.

Picture it, Upstate NY, 1988. You’re visiting your Grandma. It’s 40 acres on top of a hill. A barn, a chicken coop, two dogs, a pond, a back field, some woods.

In the middle bedroom, there’s orange carpet. You’re five years old, and The Adults are making a fuss over something. They’d recently installed something. Something to supercede the Atari 2600. They’re noting that if you press a certain button, a pixelated red blob on the screen jumps. There’s a sense of triumph when the red avatar makes it over the first green pipe.

So yeah. We had an Atari 2600, but my first association with gaming is going to Grandma’s and seeing a Nintendo for the first time.

And to get to the point, I am always confused that this isn’t the association for everyone else. What do you mean you’re olde? My Grandma played Nintendo!

So, I collected some tattoos last year. One has inadvertently turned into a Roschoff Test Most people just plain like it. Some mistake the phoenix/Ramia for a similar Zelda symbol. And some few recognize them correctly as Dragon Quest symbols.

You either recognize the slime, or you don’t. If that little slime doesn’t make you smile, there’s something wrong with you. (Only one person has guessed it’s anything other than something positive.)

Anyway, one older woman commented on it, not knowing what it was. I said it was from Dragon Quest, a video game. She gave the “Oh, I’m in my sixties, I don’t play video games.”

Yeah. That’s… not really an excuse anymore.

We’ve got generations raised on games who are breeding, and some are probably olde enough to be grandparents. Time is a factor in not playing, but I don’t see why anyone should actively stop playing, ya know. Who turns thirty and says “Whelp, I’m olde, time to not like things.”

Don’t you want to be the Gaming Gandolf. “Oh? You look like you’re having trouble. Let me show you how to speedrun 8-1.”