iPad Mum's Video Game Arcade Flashback from the '80s
After school on a Friday all the teenagers from the surrounding schools would head into town. The town was Coleraine, Northern Ireland and the year was 1980. At the bottom of Bridge Street, there was a cafe' and its basement was THE video game arcade, and by far the coolest place to go to socialise. Everyone was there!
Once inside the small dimly lit room the feeling was that you were safe inside a sanctified teenager's 'cave' filled with like minded souls grouped together with friends. This was one special place, and though we may all have been from different backgrounds, we all were connected... in the Arcade.
What was the connection?
Video games!
Space Invaders, PacMan and Phoenix.... at least these were the ones I played most often, seemed to gather groups of friends together to cheer eachother on.
When not playing, we sat together grouped around small glass arcade tabletops comparing schools (there were several schools in town) and video game scores!
There was no division in this special place, only friendliness and camaraderie.
I realise that having this 'safe' space to interact with people of a similar age made the cultural situation less confronting, and brought us all together to blast the little digital creatures that ran around the screens.
I loved to play these games... and now that I have my own iPad I realise I still do! It's a good way to engage my mind and relieve a bit of mental stress. It's relaxing and challenging.
iPad makes it easier to 'have a quick game' of what I want, when I can! I'm a mother of three home-schooled children, after all!
No longer do I have to head to a dark cave to play, (although I'd happily take a trip back down memory lane to relive those magical moments), but I now have a choice of hundreds of games to capture my imagination - and to challenge my mind right here on my iPad, wherever I go.
Now, all I need is the time to play them!
Here's a list of MY Favourite iPad Games (and a few other non-games I like) - or at least the ones I've written reviews about! Looking at my iPad now I can see a few that have to be added... but I'm still playing them!
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iPad Mum's Favourite iPad Apps:
Brilliant mystery 'Who did it?' game offering single and collaborative play! Up to four players can help to find the missing ring!
Stephen Hawking's intuitive educational app explains the principles that control our universe and facilitates learning via experimentation.
A beautiful, colourful, environmentally conscious games app created with crochet.
Fast action Aussie game where you need to control the cargo trains into the right stations...avoiding a crash!
Designing made easy - Make posters, postcards, photographs with text in this easy to use, well designed app, it's the one you've been waiting for!
Hypnosis to aid relaxation and peaceful sleep that really works plus more tips on de-stressing and self hypnosis.
The best iPad Tower Defence game now has a part 2...challenging battles, heroes, upgrades, power ups, towers, enemies of all sorts...Frontiers has it all!
Excellent new way to play chess against a chess champion opponent who amends their skill level to match yours after each game.
Great space shooting arcade game that's fast action, high definition and a lot of furious fun for older kids (and adults!)
Excellent and hilariously funny word game. Laugh while learning about verbs, nouns, adjectives and creating silly stories!
Learn how to massage with this excellently designed, comprehensive app featuring both techniques and full routines.
Your personal, informative, interactive yoga class made easy and portable!
Everything you need to know about the human body at your fingertips...or should I say your distal phalanges.
Excellent, easy to use animation studio with shapes, great educational and fun App for children of all ages.
Word solitaire, if you love Scrabble you will adore this game. It's clever, fun and challenging to the maximum.
Just when I thought it was difficult to replace Excel... I discovered Numbers!
This app is fabulous covering all aspects of learning to tell the time. It suits beginners through to advanced. Well thought out with every possible variation and beautifully illustrated with excellent features - top class App in every way!
Seriously awesome, making your own stop-motion movies is now possible!
An interactive particle app that responds to your touch creating delightfuly colourful and visually stunning images.
Create fabulous photographic montages in seconds with this awesome iPad photo framing App!
One of our favourite computer games NOW for iPad! Still great! Wahoo!!
Unique strategy sim providing hours of entertaining gameplay!
Creative and unique strategy simulation game providing hours of gameplay!
Watching leading speakers from around the globe give presentations on their areas of expertise all for free!
This Chess app makes learning to play chess easy and improving your game fun!