I've found that one of the easiest ways to entertain the kids is to venture over to Dave and Busters. And that's exactly what I did last weekend at the cavernous Palisades Center Mall in Rockland County.
Fueling up monetarily for the heavenly game room used to require quarters. But that was a different era. Many years later, tokens became in vogue. Now, technology has dictated that the most efficient way to quickly run through your money is by using declining balance swipe cards. This system is ingenious. Instead of visibly counting coins or tokens, you're blind to how much you actually have left, so before long, you're back to buy another card. No surprises here when I report that I easily blew through 4 cards before I could blink.
But I didn't mind. The games were great. They had horse races, dance contests, basketball, soccer, skeeball, and even a version of Fruit Ninja. I almost bought a game card for myself, but will power won over. So, the kids got busy in a hurry, running from station to station, more excited by each one.
This gave me a chance to sit back and watch the dynamic in the room. Hundreds of kids, carrying plastic buckets, and collecting tickets. I took a closer look at the games. There was one that resembled a slot machine. Another "game of chance" involved a ball that spun around endlessly until finally landing on a number that you hopefully pre-selected. In other words, roulette. The horse race game looked like a real race track with individual horses.
After each game, tickets spewed out of a small slot. I never understood the algorithm of how many you actually win, but my kids were tearing them off like paper towels. So, I watched all of this collective ticket collecting, with the volume getting so high that many spilled over the buckets and onto the floor.
It wasn't until they were finished and time to cash in those tickets that I realized that they were nothing more than mere substitutes for casino chips. Holy crap. This is gambling!
I don't remember exactly how old I was when I first became exposed to gambling. Although, I do have some vague recollection of going with my grandfather to pick my uncle up at an OTB. My grandfather used to call him "Uncle Nearly", instead of Larry. When I asked why, he said, "because your uncle always says he "nearly" won. This didn't exactly entice me to gamble.
Many years later, my father took me to Atlantic City where I got my first taste of a real casino. But my exposures to gambling were few and far between, and to this day I rarely go to Vegas or Atlantic City to throw my money away. I stay close to home and do that on iTunes.
But back to Dave and Busters. These bastards have actually set up a casino for children. This isn't my old arcade. This isn't Chucky Cheese either. This is gambling. And it's perfectly legal. More importantly, my kids love it. So this will be hard task to wean them off.
Fortunately, there is one saving grace. The prize counter. It doesn't matter how long you stay at Dave and Busters or how many tickets you accumulate. By the time you get to the prizes, you realize that you've won a sticker and rubber ball. OK, maybe it's not that bad. You may also get a skin tattoo.
Inevitably, you walk away disappointed. A lot like how you feel leaving a casino. Maybe this place does have some redeeming value after all.
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