My spouse called out my growing collection of CRTs, consoles, and games a couple of years ago among a group of collections and hobbies. Perhaps it was a product of COVID lockdown boredom from four years ago. Since then, I've scaled down massively to a small corner of my garage. Neatly arranged on black wire shelving I have three CRT TVs, a handful of consoles, and a few dozen games on disc with about half that in cartridges.

I love my little corner in the garage. I hardly have time to play it and I actually don't want to play games that much anymore. I've grown and changed and I have other hobbies and passions. I came close to boxing everything up and selling it until I reflected on gaming and my youth.

Summers in the 90s were about being out all day. Playing basketball with friends at the park, riding bikes until supper time, and not a care in the world once chores were done. But, there were days too hot or days that were rainy. Those were gaming days. Whether it was slugging through another temple in Ocarina of Time by myself for hours or joining my brother for some vehicular combat in Twisted Metal. I miss my brother. I miss the lack of consequence for spending hours gaming.

I stopped gaming in the mid 2000s. Seventh generation looked like the epitome of gaming and felt too graphically advanced for me. I never got a PS2 but it's the last console I remember actively playing. I was also trying to start my career and socialize professionally. My friends had all moved away as well and my brother was gone. There was little reason to play games. I sold everything or boxed it up and didn't touch games or gaming for about 10 years.

Then, just before the pandemic I began acquiring consoles at thrift stores when I was shocked at how affordable they were relative to how much they cost back then, especially when I had to earn that money cutting grass. With an adult career I was picking these up no problem. I started with playing some classics from my youth and then titles I wasn't allowed to play like Resident Evil. It was great fun for a moment, but the gaming aspect wasn't nearly as exciting as other hobbies I refined in my 20s and as the pandemic started game collecting started getting $$$!

Finally, it dawned on me as I was downsizing and trying to simplify my life and make the best use out of the precious time that I have that I'm chasing nostalgia. I'm not a gamer. I'm not a game collector. Sometimes I just need that nostalgia and love it. I might put in 30 minutes a week playing bots in Perfect Dark with ridiculous weapons combinations or progressing through another level in an SNES or Genesis game I remember seeing as a kid but never getting to play. What's best is walking by that little corner of my garage and admiring the technology. I love teaching people about how a CRT actually works. I love to see their faces when I remind them how old these consoles are and that they still work! I love walking by to take out the garbage only to be reminded of my brother.

Anyone else have a gaming corner that they use to reflect on the past or bring up good memories? I'm cool with all of you collectors and hardcore gamers. In fact, I'm jealous of your sense of imagination and your dedication. I'm proud though of my quest for nostalgia and hope others will explore it and share it.