Galaga in Kuantan

Kuantan is a city and the state capital of Pahang in Malaysia. As a child, it was the place where a beach resort was and where I went on one of my earliest trips across the causeway. I believe it's still pretty popular among Singaporean tourists looking for a short getaway.

I didn't understand this need to "get away" at that age and why we drove for six hours just so we could swim in a pool. Well, the pool was kinda cool, I suppose, since you could swim right up to an attached bar to order drinks and food. The water at that beach was also much clearer than what we had at East Coast Park. Of course, all that didn't matter when I discovered the video games room, much to the disappointment of my parents.

You can swap the word Kuantan out with any holiday location I've ever been to. I've heard all the iterations. I just love my video games. And the games room at this Kuantan resort was awesome. It had many titles that I had never played before back home, including Guerrilla War, a special version of 1943 called 1943 Kai, and Galaga '88, an upgraded sequel to Galaga with better graphics and music.

Imagine looking at a machine housing this game in 1988. There was absolutely no contest when it came to choosing this over swimming or sunbathing!