On August 2nd, 2018, Gino purchased his first (mostly) working arcade game and asked a friend and his nephew to help lift it out of a nice lady’s basement and tow it home.  A game he used to extensively play 30+ years prior as a youngin’ while visiting his father working security detail at the Fashion Plaza in North Brunswick, NJ.  From this single game reminding him of his Dad and frequent trips to the mall had ignited a spark, that soon propelled him on this crazy journey he shares with you today.  This first game was Operation Wolf. 

For the past 7 years, Gino has been hauling, fixing, researching, restoring, learning anything arcade game related he could get his hands on.  He connected with great people in the arcade industry, engineers who share similar passions, artists who recreate reproduction artwork, game owners with incredible collections among others picking their brains any chance he could.  Many nights a week he would be found in the basement/garage/laundry room (any place his wife allowed him to overtake) learning to bring back dead games from yesteryear to their once brilliant, beautiful glory. 

Like many of us growing up, Gino loved the allure of arcades.  Any new place he would visit, whether it be a new mall, amusement park, boardwalk, or even a pizza place, his first thought was typically, “I wonder if there’s an arcade here.” He may not remember the first time he met some of his ex-girlfriends, but he does remember the first time he saw Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) at Fashion Plaza, Mortal Kombat 2 at Menlo Park Mall, or Street Fighter II: Championship Edition at Six Flags Great Adventure.  In high school, it was a weekly ritual of roulette to see whose Mom among his two best friends were going to drive them to Menlo Park Mall in Edison, NJ to hang out in the arcade (and see a movie).  Looking back at it now, the amount of quarters he’s pumped into games may have been enough to fund his college education.

The sights and sounds of these games brought such a sense of joy that is hard to describe to folks who didn’t grow up with the same interest.  It wasn’t all about high scores (mostly because he reluctantly admits his buddy Ed usually dominated at everything they played together), but it was more about the sense of positive reinforcement, self-accomplishment, and completing something that he started that kept him coming back.  Of course, the graphics and sound were vastly superior to any home console he had owned at the time.  While he wouldn’t be caught dead voluntarily raising his hand in class until his 20’s, the neon glow of an arcade allowed him to step out from his usual introverted self.  The thought of going up to a stranger to ask where the bathroom was petrifying to him, but the shy guy that he was had no issue working himself through the crowd watching someone killing at SF2 and putting his quarter up to have the chance at taking him down.  Before gaming became the $130+ billion industry it is today, gaming was simply just his best and most comfortable avenue interacting with people. 

Gino remembers when times were simpler – small town, family-owned establishments serving the local community.  We all had a pizza place, convenience store, arcade we went as a kid to pick-up candy, grab Garbage Pail Kids cards, or sink quarters into the latest arcade game.  This is what Shy Guys wants to be for the community.  Pulling from Gino’s own simple life experiences and taking all the things that he’s known to bring him joy, and somehow puzzle piece them together into one place and share with you.  This is his heart, his past, his time, his energy, and now our journey.  Thank you in advance for reading this and being on this journey with him.  

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We are the kids who remember the world without the Internet, the kids who recorded songs on a cassette tape off the radio, the kids who rode bikes until the streetlights came on, the kids who didn’t carry beepers or cell phones.  We rode in cars without airbags, occasionally wore our seatbelts, remember what folded maps look like, but eventually were tortured by printed Mapquest directions.  We remember the good times, the simpler times, the times of less worry in the world.  Come join us and enjoy a piece of those times again together.  Welcome back to awesome.