Posted on 05/01/2014 10:38:34 AM PDT by JoeProBono
32 years later, Marshfield lets Pac-Man return to town Residents at town meeting voted to overturn a 1982 bylaw banning coin-operated video and arcade games from Marshfield businesses. email print
Get your quarters ready, kids, because Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and Tron could soon be coming back to town.
Residents at town meeting voted to overturn a 1982 bylaw banning coin-operated video and arcade games from Marshfield businesses. The vote was 203-175. The measure required a majority vote.
The proposal was brought as a petition by resident Craig Rondeau, who said the ban on arcade games never made sense to him, even as a fourth-grader.
“I was sitting thinking, ‘why is this illegal in my town, to have fun with my friends,’” he said, recalling a visit to a Hanover arcade as a child.
Believing that coin-operated video games robbed children’s piggy banks and brought an undesirable element to town, residents passed the ban in 1982. The prohibition split residents and threw Marshfield into the national spotlight as the law made its way through the state’s legal system.
The debate ended in 1983, when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from the business owners who were forced to pull the plug on Pac-Man.
Voters upheld the ban in 1994 and again in 2011, when an appeal was placed by petition on the town meeting agenda by lifelong resident George Mallett.
Rondeau said video games help children learn social skills when playing with friends, hone their problem-solving skills and encourage creative thinking. He said the games also allow those who don’t enjoy sports to experience a challenge.
Advisory member Thomas Scollins said his board unanimously voted against the proposal.
After hearing officials’ argument that there was no support from businesses to overturn the ban, Rondeau found six businesses that signed on to the petition.
“They want the opportunity to choose,” he said. “Let’s give them back their right to choose.”
Opposed to the proposal, resident Sue Walker said she likes to go out to dinner with her children so she can sit down and eat with them without the distraction of video games.
“There is gaming all over the place, and there’s nothing fun about it,” she said, adding that children running around restaurants is disturbing.
But rather than debating whether or not residents like video games, voter Dave Will told people to consider whether they want to live in a town that bans them.
“Do we want the town to make the decision for restaurants, for where we go to eat, or do we want people to decide where we eat?” he asked. “I don’t like the idea that the town is telling establishments and people what they can do.”
Resident Nicki Boutiette said gaming is alive and well – she noted that she met her husband through a college video game club – and parents who don’t want their children to play should simply say no.
This is what qualifies as a major gain in personal liberty in the People’s Republic of Massachusetts.
This happened around the time Hollyweird was making Footloose to show the nation how closed minded religious leaders outlawed dancing and rock and roll in small southern towns...
You really want to stop children from running around in restaurants? Ban sugar packets and candy or else institute a leash law.
OMG! I cannot begin to tell you the hours and quarters I wasted on that game...
Proud owner of a sit down Ms. Pac Man w/ Jamma 64 game chip and a new lcd monitor. Oh, and 2 old Gottlieb pinballs (Super Score and Surfer).
When you have a tough day at work, there’s nothing like banging out games on an old pinball or even taking down the damn monkey in Donkey Kong.
About the only arcade games left are nasty old Golden Tee machines next to the mens room in bars. Talk about a biology project, people I know refer to them as Golden Pee...
I have a 60-in-1 cocktail table. Best purchase I ever made.
I'm also a big fan of the documentary "The King of Kong", which I think was excellent stuff.
For me, it was Galaxian, then Galaga. I enjoyed Berzerk, Tron, Star Wars (the Death Star Destruction), and several others. There was one game I almost played as much as Galaga, but I can't remember the name. You had to fly a ship around a space station, shooting at targets on the space station, while the station used point defense and sent ships out after you. Can't recall the name. Early-mid '80s release.
I guess that’s what mine is 60, not 64.
I need to add a button to my rig in order to play a few of the games. One game I like, but can’t really play w/out another button is Gunsmoke.
“OMG! I cannot begin to tell you the hours and quarters I wasted on that game...”
$10 most every Friday night my sophomore year in high school.
Funny how boring that game got once I had my driver’s license.
tupac-man?
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