Helping Frogger cross the road!

My laptop was slow starting up the other day, it needed an update, and I found myself thinking about the first computer I ever got to see up close. It was an original Macintosh 128K, the first successful mass-market all-in-one desktop personal computer with a built-in screen and mouse.

The computer showed up one day in a closest in our math class.  The system had a 9-inch monochrome monitor and a 3 1/2-inch floppy drive built into the case. You look at one of those old Macintosh’s and they look from another time. Back in the day though, they were state of the art. The computer came loaded with MacPaint and MacWrite and, and most important to us, the arcade game Frogger.

Our teacher tried to talk to us about the new field of computer science. We didn’t really care about that, but we did want to get our hands on Frogger. He told us that we could play on the computer at the end of class each day whenever we had finished our math homework. Of course, math came hard for me, which meant I rarely got a chance to use the computer.

Poor, poor Brian

However, the rule meant good things for my friend Darrin. He was the smartest kid in our class, and he was back there every day. He became the King of the Macintosh and, in turn, an expert Frogger player. Whenever someone finished and opened the door, I would hear Darrin and the blip, blip, blip of the frog dodging traffic on a busy road. As he got deeper into the game, the frog would switch to jumping onto floating logs and alligators on a rushing river. I close my eyes now and I still hear the blip, blip, blip ringing in my ears.

To make matters worse, Darrin would talk everyday during our lunch about how cool the game was and the smooth move he made to avoid getting clobbered by oncoming traffic. He would always say, “C’mon Brian, come on back and join me.”

D’uh, I would if I could. 

Getting my revenge

Of course, I was left out in the cold. One day I saw Darrin head on back and decided to take matters into my own hands. I scribbled down a few answers to my homework — I didn’t care if they were right or not, I just wanted my turn — and headed to the computer room. My teacher saw me put my book away and stopped me in my tracks. He asked to see my work. He took one look at what I had written down and suggested I reopen my book and try again. “Um, how about we put a little more effort into your work this time?”

In reality, I was giving maximum effort. Unfortunately he wasn’t the best in communicating his passion for math and explaining it in way that teenage brains could grasp, but that’s a story for another day.

Damn you Frogger.

Another day well into the semester, I finally finished my homework early with time to spare. I ran back to the closet and sat next to Darrin. I couldn’t wait for my turn to try the game. He went first and then another kid. Finally I was up. I started to maneuver the little, green frog and wouldn’t you know it, I immediately got hit and my turn was over.

Damn you, damn you Frogger!

Oh, heck with it, the decades have passed and I’ve gotten wiser. No Frogger for me now. Oh no, I’ll pass on the old school Macintosh and keep my laptop. If for no other reason, my laptop has tons more power and I never have to wait to use it.

Plus, the games on my Smartphone are more fun.

Take that Frogger! 😃