Sometime late November during the early 90s in Western Montana…

It’s late. I push my chair back from one of the desks I have set up in a spare bedroom. Not a proper office chair mind you, just a repurposed kitchen chair. It serves its purpose.

I glance at the clock sitting on the other desk. It’s red LEDs show that it a little after 3am.

I stretch and rub my eyes: I’ve been at this for a while. At least since 6pm after dinner.

I glance down at the CRT in front of me. Guybrush Threepwood is in the cannilble village. I just got done with the part where they capture me and I escape. It’s the fun part though. The part where you keep getting recaptured and the door keeps getting stronger. Eventually it turns into a high-tech safe door. It’s a funny sequence and I loved it. This is my first play through. I just got the game yesterday. This first play through begins a journey of a game series I absolutely adore. I will follow this game series for a very long time.

I am also playing it on my beloved Amiga 500. A computer system I fell in love with in the mid 80s when it was first introduced. I am a huge fan of the system. I bought an Amiga 1000 in 1986. It is still sitting in the closet. I got the Amiga 500 later. It’s my daily driver. Unfortunately the Amiga is falling behind tech-wise. The stodgy PC now has 256 color VGA and the sound cards are approaching Amiga quality. The charm isn’t there though. Amiga ooze charm. You could tell the designers who made it put a lot of love in the machine. Right now it sits in front of me waiting patiently for me to continue. Its disk drive hums and clicks in the most wonderful and familiar way. Those who have owned these machines know what I mean.

I stand up. I hear the familiar tune of Super Mario 3 coming from the living room. My girlfriend was playing it earlier. I grab my empty cup and walk to the living room. My girlfriend is sleeping on the couch. The game is on one of the map screens. I think it’s the giant land one.

I walk into the kitchen. I’m thinking of refilling my glass. I set it on the counter and peer out the window. It’s dark out but I can see the sodium vapor lamp by the road. I see big snow flakes falling slowly around it. Curious I go to the front door and slip on my snow boots. I open the door and slip outside. It is quiet. The snow is coming down heavy and the clouds in the sky are low and reflect the light of the small city around me. The snow flakes are large. I love nights like these.

After a few minutes I go back inside and slip off my boots. Lock the door and decide against filling up my glass again. I’m at a good stopping point in the game. Besides I want to enjoy it. Savor it. I walk back into the office, sit down by my Amiga and save the game. I then shut down the system and put the disks back in the box. I slide the box onto a shelf that has other Amiga games on it. ‘Eye of the Beholder’, ‘Defender of the Crown’, ‘Battlehawks’, Ultimas 4, 5 and 6; and more.

I walk back into the living room, wake up my girlfriend and tell her it’s bed time. I fall asleep with the familiar ‘Monkey Island’ tune running through my head.

It was a good day.