An addendum to the first Death of the Arcade article:

When I was younger, about 12 or so, I was talking a summer class in cartooning at a grammar school on the East Side of Santa Cruz. Both my partents were working, so I was given bus money to ride home to the West Side. This was $2.00, for the two buses, one to take me to the terminal downtown, and another to take me back to my house. However, instead of actually riding the bus, I would walk the 2 miles or so to downtown just to spend the money on a couple games of Ninja Gaiden or Tetris at the small arcade near the bus station. Sometimes I would even spend both dollars and walk the entire way home.

Now, if the games at this arcade had cost a dollar or even fifty cents apiece, it wouldn't have been worth it for me to make the effort to walk all the way downtown in the summer heat, but as it was, I felt it was not that big a price to pay (plus, if you've ever ridden a bus in Santa Cruz, you know it's not always a pleasant experience). So kids these days are probably just taking the bus home, and not getting the exercise that I got when I was younger. All thanks to overpriced arcade games!