The Arcadia Electronic Skeet Shoot Game System

The best gift I have ever received, and likely will ever receive, is the Arcadia Electronic Skeet Shoot Game System. 

I received this gift when I was 10, and prior to Christmas that year, I had no idea this game even existed.  None of my friends had it, I had never seen a commercial for it, so the look of surprise and confusion on my face was most likely priceless.  I was clearly excited, because what 10 year old kid doesn’t love to have a plastic gun in their hand.  After seeing that all the presents were opened, and making sure Santa had gotten his fill of milk and cookies and his reindeer were satisfied with the carrots we left by the fireplace, I knew that the first thing I had to do was rip open this box and shoot some animated ducks.  I also got another cartridge to shoot at fighter jets, but I didn’t really use that too much because who wants to shoot at jets when they can shoot at ducks.

            In order to really enjoy the game, you need to find a good wall.  A good wall is one with no pictures or anything to create a glare.  Now of course my mom, or Santa, had given me this gift in hopes that this game would be played in the basement.  Well, with the many pictures on the walls in the basement, this just wasn’t possible, so I took my talents upstairs to the family room, where I had already scoped out the perfect spot to shoot ducks.  The wall next to the TV was the best wall in the house, with nothing hanging on it and high ceilings, I knew this was where I could do my best work.  This didn’t last for long because the sounds the game emitted were too annoying for my parents.  This prompted my dad to rearrange some pictures in the basement. 

            I pointed the Arcadia projector at the wall, put the cartridge in, and went to town on those ducks.  Now this game was difficult because the ducks pop up randomly.   Sometimes they’re on the right, sometimes they’re on the left, sometimes they’re up top, and sometimes they’re on the bottom.  Since it was cold out and there was no snow on the ground, this was the new activity for my friends and me.  We would have competitions to see who could shoot down the most ducks in the allotted time.  Soon after Christmas, my friends were telling their parents that they also wanted an Arcadia system, so all of my friends ended up getting them, and the competitions continued at other houses.