Fun and Games

IN THE DRIVER'S SEAT:  We had to be in Seattle proper on Monday afternoon for a presentation the kids were part of, so we went up to the Fremont neighborhood early to check out a place we've been curious about. Called "The Ice Box," it's a relatively new arcade right behind an old Allied Ice Company building. 

Walking in, it felt like home for us. We just love the sights and sounds of old arcade games and pinball machines. 

Ice Box had a nice assortment of games, including a couple I'd not seen before, including a "Strange Science" machine, made by Bally in 1986.

The main attraction for CJ was the fact that the arcade has an F-Zero AX game. Apparently it's pretty rare. I'll have him tell you more about it.

F-Zero AX is a racing video game released to arcades in Japan (and, to a lesser extent, in America and Europe) in 2003. F-Zero AX is the arcade counterpart of the GameCube game F-Zero GX, also released in 2003. GX and AX represented the first major collaboration between (previous long-time industry rivals) Nintendo and Sega, and is/are widely regarded as the last "great" installment(s) of the F-Zero franchise (which has been dormant since the Japan-only release of F-Zero Climax in 2004.)

Less than a month ago, a post appeared on the F-Zero subreddit advertising the appearance of a "deluxe" (meaning it has a tilting seat) F-Zero AX cabinet at The Ice Box, an arcade (named after an Allied Ice business it is connected to) between the Ballard and Fremont neighborhoods of Seattle. I've wanted to play F-Zero AX for around three years now, so this annoucement was very exciting.

On 5 November 2018, my family went to the Ice Box, and I spent all of my quarters playing F-Zero AX. Somewhat worryingly, the machine lacked the seatbelt that it came with, but I played it anyway. The machine takes three quarters per play.

F-Zero AX deluxe cabinets are notorious for inspiring motion sickness in players, even those wearing seatbelts. At one point while I was trying to navigate through a racetrack, I felt like I was about to fall out of the seat (I didn't, thankfully.) According to the man working at the desk, F-Zero AX's memory card functionality (allowing it to connect with F-Zero GX) was not currently working, but they had gotten to the point where they purchased a GameCube from a local thrift store in order to cannibalize its Memory Card workings.

PLANNING AHEAD: One week from today, we'll be helping host a luncheon for over 100 guests. Called "Empty Bowls," the event is a fund raiser, where dozens of different soups are donated and people donate to sample one or more.  Leftover soup will go to Tent City near the school where the event will be held. Money raised will go to the Ballard Food Bank and Teen Feed.

One of the things we're doing ahead of time is making decorations for the tables. Those include folding a couple of hundred paper napkins into hearts. It takes some time, but it's kind of a relaxing activity.

FAMILIAR FACES: The latest newsletter from Birthday Dreams, a Renton, Wa., based business that provides birthday parties for homeless children, appeared in my inbox today. Imagine the surprise when I saw a photo of CJ and Annabelle included. It was taken when we dropped off a cake for a 17 year old girl who had requested a Pokemon cake.