Arcade

by Robert Maxxe

Something is capturing the minds of the children in this small town. When her son Nick becomes captivated by "Spacescape," a game at the new video arcade, and spends all of his free time playing his way to the game's elite levels, Mrs. Foster suspects that Nick has become a victim of the game's uncanny, malevolent influence and imagines that kids are being brainwashed by this electronic video-game. The heroine here is lovely young widow Carrie Foster, who runs a gourmet food-shop in a quiet, posh Long Island village--and becomes increasingly fretful about the new video arcade that recently opened just down the street. True, Nick's grades in school certainly aren't suffering. In fact, he's becoming scientifically precocious. But why do the arcade games seem to be so much more sophisticated than others? And why is there never any sign of the owner or manager? And why do the kids who play the games seem to be forming into exclusive cells, with ungifted players permanently barred from the machines? Even Carrie'ss new love, computer architect Lon Evans, can't quite figure out the technology involved. And then one of the barred non-players drowns--a possible suicide. So Carrie becomes convinced that Something is Wrong. She and a dubious Lon start tracking down the people behind the arcade--finding only a single entrepreneur in an abandoned factory, who offers an almost plausible explanation. But, with Nick refusing to give up the game, Carrie's surer than ever that "some unholy, unhuman" force is programming the kids. Furthermore, when she and Lon kidnap and dissect one of the machines, their suspicions are Lon finds super-sophisticated signs of 'biochips' & brain chemistry, organic soup--a way of feeding intelligence via the game's joystick! So who is behind it all? Well, says Lon in the hoary sci-fi " I'm not so sure this thing is evil".

Genres: Fiction

Paperback

Published October 1, 1986

About the author

Pen name of fiction writer Robert J. Rosenblum.

Reviews

[Oliver Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was surprisingly good. A mix of satanic panic style parental paranoia and SF. It really kept me gripped.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a nicely written book very easy to read.
The premise of the book is of an arcade coming to a small town and subverting all the children. In actual fact the star of the book is the mother of one of the children drawn to the games. We don't get inside the arcade properly until about page 125 and don't expect much in-game action.

This book was written in 1984 and it goes to considerable lengths to explain the concept of a dial up modem. Funny thing is any reader born after 1990 probably will need an explanation but for different reasons.

Nice easy read, good characters, a quirky little story. Perfect to pick up on the bus.

[Dessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was such an INTERESTING artifact from 1985 — basically a satanic panic over arcade machines because no one really Gets how computers work just yet and could they be Really Bad? Really intriguing to see the same talking points applied to computers (who know what goes on in the black box, who is programming it, It Knows Too Much, it’s taking human jobs) that are being (imho rightfully) applied to AI right now. Just a very interesting capsule of the era! Big cons tho: big misogyny, some very weird and sexual descriptions of a fifteen year old girl that a male author should not be making (and no this pseudonym is not that of a female author because I checked), VERY SLOW PACING for the first 100 pages or so. But also some pros, which ultimately (and narrowly) saved this from a two star review: a prettttty cool reveal of What The Machines Are Doing (even if it didn’t explain enough to be actually satisfying after teasing it the whole novel), but most of all a frankly poetic ending that felt literary in way that was very out of keeping with the rest of the book in a lipstick on a pig way…. But damn if that hog didn’t look cute with lipstick on.

[Bryan D · Rating 2 out of 5]

Arcade is an average book with great ideas. For those of us who were kids in the eighties there's a lovely nostalgic feel and the clever means to educate the 80's reader of computer technology were the main factors I enjoyed about it; now what's wrong with the book, there's too much stuffing which if condensed could have shaved off at least a hundred pages, my edition published in 1985 promised it as
"A Real Thriller" this may have been true back then but oh dear god this isn't a thriller by any stretch of the imagination and the deflated ending was disappointing.

[Michael]

It was a good book because it had a lot of mysterious action.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Review to come, but this exceeded all expectations.)

[David Stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book.
I read it when it first came out in 1984 and enjoyed it for the science fiction elements of the arcade games that I loved at the time - escapist fantasy of what I wished was real.
Coming back to the book as an adult, it is a fascinating glimpse back into a bygone age, with technophobia rife and quaint explanations of 'incomprehensible' computer jargon which are now everyday words.
More than anything, I am now more interested in the book for the story of the protagonist, the mother of one of the gamers, and her increasingly paranoid - or is it? - investigation into the secrets of the game.
A gentle, yet compelling thriller that can be read on so many different levels.

[Nicholas George · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is really a work of its time; that is, the 1980s, when computer gaming was spreading like wildfire, mostly appealing to the young. What if the whole phenomenon was the evil plan of an alien civilization to take over the minds of our kids? That is the tantalizing concept behind this book, although the actual story (thank goodness) is a both a lot more, and a lot less, complex. It's interesting in a hindsight kind of way. The encompassing story of its characters -- mother Carrie, falling in love after the recent death of her husband -- seems strained at times.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy and fun read! Even a little creepy now that it’s supposed to take place in the distant future, yet isn’t so far off from life these days.

[Anchit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book a decade back. One hell of a thriller! An amazing work of science-fiction. A new arcade opens up in the town and all the children are suddenly addicted to it. The parents are concerned (some are) and they try to investigate what to do about it. The children visit the arcade whether they want to or not.

[Killerkobra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. Really felt like an episode of the twilight zone or the outer limits.

[Bossyman15 · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story itself is good but felt underwhelmed by the ending.