Do you play in your daily life? What says “playtime” to you?
Today’s prompt kind of made me laugh, as it cast my mind back across millennia to the mid-1990s and being released from classes to run around the school field, pretending we were in Arnie movies or playing with Pogs or something…
It’s just not a word adults tend to use around here. Okay?
Anyway, let’s dig into this one a bit, shall we? The above is certainly one version of what “Playtime” means to me, but the most literal version in my adult life has got to be video games! Right off the bat, when I was but an 8-year-old whippersnapper with a Sega Master System 2, video games have been the go-to medium for fun, escapism and challenge. Sure, I like movies too, but gaming always juuuuust pips them to the post.
Anyway, my love of video games went from Sega to PlayStation (still the best console ever), and then to Xbox, back to PlayStation 4 and now back to Xbox Series X. I used to play games daily, when I came home from school/college/work I’d kick back and play some Final Fantasy VII, Oddworld, Deus Ex etc.
But then I became a Thirty-Something, and things seemed to slow down a little. This is, I am led to believe, normal. Apparently being a responsible grown-up means that you spend more time thinking about work and money and less time sitting around playing video games, after all! While in my twenties I spent most evenings doing just that, but these days I play for a couple of hours here and there, making sure to share the TV with my wife!
The one defined time I really have? On Tuesday and Thursday nights, when I usually jump online with my brother and my dad to play DayZ or World of Tanks. It’s always fun training the old guy in gaming (he was a beast on the Master System, but that was 1992) and he’s getting pretty good at arcadey tank warfare!
I guess that answers that one, so there you go!
What’s your definition of “Playtime”, and when do you find the time to practise it? Lemme know! Yes, I sometimes remember to fish for comments, look at me I’m practically an influencer!
Craig Rathbone - Writer 
Wow! I remember having pogs when I was a little kid! Besides that, I usually played various board games, played outside with friends, Sega Genesis (or Mega Drive to those outside America and Canada) and Dreamcast, as well as Pokemon cards.
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Nice! I was a Mega Drive kid too, until the PlayStation! I got a Dreamcast later in life too, lovely little console! I did play some board games as a kid, Hungry Hippos and that strange Pac Man one are the ones I remember the most!
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That’s great. Nothing wrong with liking PlayStation! Good on you for owning a Dreamcast later. That is one system I should play again. Funny enough, there’s an arcade half an hour away from where I’m from that had a cabinet with several games there and they had Marvel Vs Capcom, Capcom Vs SNK, and Garou: Mark of the Wolves among several games. Hungry Hungry Hippos was fun even if that was noisy playing that.
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You’re right, those Hippos sounded like an out of control steam locomotive when you got going, must have driven my parents insane! I may have to retrieve my Dreamcast from the attic soon, Marvel Vs Capcom sure sounds appealing! I found out I could run copied discs on it very easily too, seems it’s a gen 1 model and can be easily duped!
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That is a good description of the Hippo sounds! Sure thing and I got to find my Dreamcast and plug it into my TV. The first game is fun and the 2nd one is just bonkers while still great. I remember when they announced the 3rd one back when I was at university and I made wish lists for new characters to show up on which side as well as speculating who would return. It was a massive surprise to see some of my choices actually showing up!
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