Before the Wii, it was just we

In a tribute to times gone by, Lake and I camped out in Grammie and Pop's sun room for a tournament while in Dallas this past weekend. Some of my friends play tennis, some pool, and some card games. The only kind of tournament allowed at the Martino household includes none of those activities. Let me take you on a ride in my delorian with it's flux capacitor. How about an early 90's flashback to the old standby of Dr. Mario? Ah yes, the original Nintendo game. While Duck Hunt was my original favorite, the chuckling dog starts to get on your nerves after awhile and I think PETA banned the game eventually. If they didn't, they probably should have.

Grammie and Pops bought the Nintendo, I assume, in an effort to keep up with the times and show the grandkids how "hip" they were. And they really were hip as Pops would practice while we were in school and when we visited on holidays, he would kick our trash! There is nothing more degrading than losing a video game to your grandpa. For you young ones out there, Nintendo was the first really big game console. and even our parents didn't know how to play them, so props to Pops (we should so make that a slogan!!) for learning it! The only predecessor was Atari and you can only play pong for so long. As a side note, before video game consoles, you had to play on your computer and who remembers Frogger?!?!?

Come to think of it, I don't ever remember us not having some kind of video game. I remember when we had an IBM that had a black screen with green type and a printer with paper that had green and white lines on it...any who, Dad got us this plastic keyboard that you plugged in and could play Muppet games on. Good times. Then there was good old Mavis Beacon typing game who taught me to type. Not the most fun game, but effective nonetheless. I guess in a way, I owe this blog to ole Mavis.

Okay, back to Dr. Mario. If you are so young you have never heard of Dr. Mario, I'm sorry for you. This is possibly the best game ever. Not only do you have to manipulate your pharmacy choices (could this be the stem for all the prescription drug abuse these days?), but you have to kill germs. This alone can get boring. The best option is the 2-player option. You race against each other to kill all your germs first. (Perhaps the stem for my germophobia?) But the single best part of the 2-player game is that if you kill more than one germ at a time, your opponent gets "rained" on with random pills he doesn't need. As it "rains" it plays this annoying little tune that I only wish I could convey over a blog. But I can't. Use your imagination, I know it's in there.

So during our tournament, I quickly remember why I NEVER play against Lake...he always wins! And I would like to point out here as a side note, and a bit of a jab towards Lake, that we only ever owned one video game he couldn't beat. Yep, just one. And it was the only game that was mine. Neither of us could ever get past the second level. What is this intriguingly difficult game, you ask? It is none other than Barbie. Yes, Barbie. We figured out how to dodge all the flying shoes and hats in the stores, but we never could get across all the mall fountains without dying. Sigh. Now you understand why I consider the mall a workout. Okay, sorry Lake (not really), but back to my story.

I realize quickly I am not going to clear my germs faster than him, so I decide to take a different tactic. I wonder if this is how our political leaders plan war...? If I can't beat him, then I'll just torture him. To my advantage, he forgot about the dreaded drug rain. Mwuahahahaha! I finally got him with a really great rain and he jerks out of his chair, jumps in the air, and screams with no intonation, "You just da da da danted me!"

I will never figure out how to play Dance Dance Revolution or Guitar Hero, and even Wii can't improve my tennis score, but I will always be the evil scientist in Dr. Mario who poison's your pharmacy. Da da da danted that Lake!!!!
p.s. I love you!!!!!!!