Dumb Record is a record store in Springfield, IL that has an arcade in a hole the wall. It was the first time my 5'8 ass felt tall. But the arcade was actually sick. Super DIY, homemade vibe and packed with cabinets and pinball machines. It was a fun stop and inexpensive too, $5 for unlimited play.

Hydro Thunder slaps. The sense of speed is not quite as intense as other arcade racers, but the handling of the boat is still super scrambly and the force feedback when hitting other boats is still vicious. Racing around courses that do not have laps and are just long stages is more appealing than racing in laps to me because it means that I will not be able to predict what's coming; it made for much more aggressive and entertaining racing than I expected. The graphics are pretty dark though, so some stages are very hard to read.

Gunblade NY feels like what I think of when someone says rail shooter. The camera whips around all over the stage, too much so actually, and the gun recoils violently. The gun controller is fixed to the cabinet and the recoil is intense. The motors were by far the loudest thing in the arcade. I never felt like the gun was going to jump out of my hand, but I definitely felt some strain in my wrist afterwards. And playing two players at the same time is just the biggest power trip imaginable. The guns are so big and so loud and the explosions are comically enormous, it feels physically exhausting, but a thrill for sure. The explosions and low-poly models are some of the most video-gamey graphics around. This being a somewhat early 3D game, you can see when the game hits its polygon max and starts frantically de-spawning some assets. Gunblade is an odd Sega arcade game with few re-releases and not the kind of game that I would expect to find in many other arcades, it makes for a great sleeper gem.