I had to
People often asked me how I played hundreds of games growing up, the answer is simple — rentals. Well, that, and the fact that my best friend’s dad and my uncle were both big PC gamers with massive LAN setups, and an endless library of games. But on the console end, it was all rentals, baby.
Growing up my parents didn’t have a whole lot of money, and since Blockbuster was “too expensive,” we gravitated towards a local rental joint called Power Video. Every other week I’d head in for their “Two for Tuesday” special, where I was allowed to rent two games for $3 (coincidentally, my chore allowance) — a tradition that carried on most months from the NES to the PlayStation era. Eventually the clerks starting to get to know my folks, and shaved off some fees. It was a perfect scheme for my parents, as they basically just spent a few bucks for me to be entertained for weeks at a time and do housework, and my relationship with video games was able to freely blossom.
Eventually I did get a job at 15 (which I used to buy my own used car and pay for college), partially funding my gaming habit. It was perfect timing too, as that’s around when all of the rental places started having problems. By then, I could afford Blockbuster and another local chain called Hollywood Video (they were one of the only places that still carried SNES games, and for some reason, always had Biker Mice from Mars in stock) on my own.
There was something special about rental places if you got that one clerk who actually knew what they were talking about in gaming arena though. I got my first recommendations for Dynasty Warriors 2 and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night from Blockbuster employees, events that I can still vividly recall happening to this day.
Oh, and I could never forget the Blockbuster Video Game Challenge event, even if I never moved on to the next round. These people didn’t make a commission, or didn’t have thousands of dollars of WB influencer money — many of them did it because they loved movies or games, and cared about sharing those experiences with others.
The rental industry still carries on with things like GameFly and Redbox, but with the advent of cheaper digital releases, it’s markedly different. But now that you know my story, I want to hear yours!
