Chicago has some pretty great arcade bars. Headquarters and Logan Arcade, in particular, are pretty fantastic with a pretty solid selection of old school games. I'd love to make a trip to Galloping Ghost in Brookfield as they are supposed to have an amazing collection.
We have a 1-2 in my area. They're pretty fun if you go at the right time. If you get there a little late, it turns into college town and this 45 year old Grandpa-to-be feels old af. If I'm ever able to get the empty lot behind me, I want to build a mancave and have a game room with pinball machines.
There’s a candy/tchotchke store in Omaha that has a pinball room. We’re talking old school, 50’s pinball machines. I played one game for fun, but I could easily see myself getting hooked there for hours.
I wish I did, truly. There's some *tiny* mom&pop places but nothing like the shady sprawling shitholes of my youth. Just cabinets, smokey air, porn actresses on every wall, kids playing hooky and adults playing unemployed. RIP Playland on 47th.
The arcade bar downtown here all the games are free. It is a blast. They even have an original Playstation and Xbox set up. First started on Ohio State's campus and they have like a dozen of them around Ohio and surrounding states.
Here's another automotive change: Crew cab (four door) pickups. When I was a kid, it was pretty rare to see one, and they were ONLY available as 3/4 or 1-ton trucks. Then in the early '00s, Ford launched the Supercrew F150, and a couple of years later Chevy and Dodge followed. These days, the majority of new trucks are crew cab, and it's getting rare to see a regular cab.
Cant even afford a new truck now a days. But if you do have one probably cant afford another vehicle. So you move your kids around in that.
I despise the death of true compact trucks like the old Toyotas and Hardbody Nissans. Just simple, efficient and reliable trucks. I probably miss my '93 Nissan more than any vehicle I've ever owned. My friend still has his '95 Nissan he bought new for about $10k, it has nearly 500k miles on it. Four cylinder, manual transmission, his was 2wd and mine was 4wd. Now, Tacos are the size of, or bigger than, old 1500 Chevys.
I dont think i could ever buy a Dodge no matter how much i love the cummins. Sold car parts for to long to even consider a Dodge, but that cummins our ISB6.7 go 3 to 4 THOUSAND hours between services and just keep kicking.
If I recall correctly, some of the truck-fuckery began when vehicles over a certain weight were a tax write-off. The massive Mercedes SUV was another example of this. Also, Ford had to produce lower-emission vehicles to offset them, thus the Ranger and presumably Maverick. They sell you a six figure (!) F250, you write it off as a business expense, and they make obscene profits, and to make the gubmint happy they sell a Ranger or a Maverick pretty much at cost.
I’ll throw sports betting out there too. Used to be a third rail for broadcasters and the realm of seedy smoke filled bar degenerates. “Fantasy” was a big gateway. Ohio just legalized it, with Pete Rose taking the opening bet, and I’ve noticed how ubiquitous it is. Top couple of sports stories now revolve around the line for this week. I mean I get it, it’s hundreds of millions of dollars in potential, if not billions, but it is sort of hypocritical how so many used to crow about the integrity of the game being sullied by gambling.
As far as i know F250 are more popular in America because the F350 is consider commercial and you pay more tax on it. In Canada the F350 is consider commercial so you don't pay the extra tax like you would in america. But yea as corporate you have to have a certain emisions across our line up. That is way in the mid 2000's you had Astonn Martin had a little 2 door Toyota yaris looking car.
Rare to see a regular cab. How about extinct for a new GMC product and all but extinct for Ford and Mopar.
I kind of get it; If I'm paying 60k+, I feel like being able to haul more than 2.5 people is mandatory. Those 5ft beds are the real joke. Good luck doing anything other than pick up your wife's mulch with that. I feel like there's a market for just a stripped-down Truck. New engine/Frame/Body, but just basic-as-hell inside. if you could put that out sub 30k-ish, I'd be interested.
For some context, I have the 5'7 rambox bed. The rambox essentially gives me flareside bed space, with functional side panniers. In those I keep a first aid kit, a bugout bag, an e-tool, a folding snow shovel, 2 collapsible 5gal water jugs, 4 folding camp chairs, a tool kit, breaker bar, a 12×8 tarp, 2 8ft braided bike lock cables w/padlocks, a gallon of windshield washer spray, trashbags, a roll of tp, and a few random other items depending on time of year. All of the above would fill my back seat to the point there's nowhere to sit. A toolbox in a regular bed would also work, but that would leave me with a less functional bed space. I've had zero issues hauling a cubic yard of dirt/gravel/mulch, 4x8 sheets of plywood, 12ft 2×6's, 16ft pieces of trim, 700sq ft of old carpet & padding, my bike(s), camping gear, etc. A cubic yard is about one skid stear bucket. The only thing they have to do differently is dump it in at an angle instead of dumping with the bucket parallel to the bed. Sure, I need to drop the tailgate for the lumber, but I'd have needed to do the same with my old quad cab's 6ft bed or my dad's old regular cab with an 8ft bed for the 12ft 2x6's.