Reflections of an Arcade Clerk: 'Cabinet Punching and Gut Punching'

One behavior that arcade staff dislike is 'physical attacks' on the game cabinets.

Things like punching or kicking the cabinet.

Some people think it's fine as long as they don't leave a dent, but the reason you can play games on these cabinets is because there is a circuit board inside (the 'PCB police' would be pleased), and to explain what a PCB is in simple terms, it is the actual game console inside the cabinet and is, without a doubt, a piece of precision equipment.

I have very rarely had people tell me, 'The joystick is being rattled around anyway, so the cabinet is designed to be vibration-resistant, right?'—a 'that's just your opinion' kind of argument—but even if it were resistant to impact, there is no need to go out of your way to do that.(How about an equivalent exchange of a cabinet punch for a gut punch?)

To use a forced analogy with cars, it's like saying, 'Jeeps and Hummers have sturdier bodies than regular cars, so it's fine to kick them, right?'

Well... it is precision equipment after all, so when it's time for it to die, it dies. Especially those old circuit boards that you never know when they'll meet their maker.

I've actually witnessed the moment they ascend to heaven, so it's no laughing matter.

That said, they don't break that easily, and if by some chance a board were to ascend to heaven from the level of vibration caused by normal play, that would be an act of God, so everyone can feel free to enjoy the games without worrying about it.

While I've called cabinet punching evil, on the flip side, it's proof of how absorbed you are in the game, and you could say it's the result of getting caught up in the match.

That's why arcade staff, unless it's something extreme, actually tend to turn a blind eye to it.

Sometimes, customers who seem to be of a different 'caliber' as living beings will bash the cabinets, and we might overlook it, but please don't blame us... I value my own safety, and the pay is really low (；´Д｀) (Though they usually stop when I say something like, 'Hey, that's bad, man')

<I've written about that kind of stuff here too!>

Now, regarding those cabinet-punching episodes, the arcade I worked at didn't become a lawless zone because the staff would frequently call people out on it. Even before that, I think the atmosphere was very good because some of the regulars understood the 'reasons why you shouldn't kick them' and would look out for each other within their groups.

One such day, when I stopped by the store on my day off, a regular was playing while looking quite irritated. Usually, he iscalculatingintellectual and gentle, but today he seemed different. Perhaps because there was no one he knew around, he was uncharacteristically letting his emotions show. And then, his irritation reached its limit... and in a moment I couldn't have imagined from his usual self, he kicked the cabinet.

I was surprised by the rare sight, thinking, 'Oh, I don't know what happened, but he's really frustrated.'

Then, he suddenly came to his senses... and had a guilty look on his face. Judging by the awkward atmosphere, he must have just let his foot fly.

Since he's someone who is usually careful, I had no intention of saying anything to begin with, but seeing that guilty look actually made me a little happy.(It's not about having a sadistic streak or anything!)

And then, as if he remembered, he checked his surroundings... and checked... oh crap, we made eye contact (；´Д｀)

We were both looking at each other with very awkward, or rather, troubled expressions. He's probably misunderstanding the situation, but for me, it was already a closed matter.

I gave in to the awkwardness and called out to him.

'Ah... please be careful! (ゝω・)v tee-hee'

It was really awkward (ﾟдﾟ)

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I am writing down real-life experiencesand fiction from my time as an arcade clerk as I go (ﾟ∀ﾟ)