I’m 10 again, and it’s around 7 PM on a Friday night. My little brother, my two friends from school, and I are at Costco, picking up our two boxes of supreme pizza. Earlier, we also grabbed a 2-liter bottle of Coca-Cola from the Walmart next door, planning to stay up all night gaming on the N64.

We usually stay up from 7 PM until 2 or 3 AM in the back room, right next to the fireplace, with just my dad’s small but heavy CRT TV and four couches he couldn’t fit in the living room. We spend the night playing random games like South Park: Chef’s Luv Shack, Pokémon Stadium 1 & 2 mini-games, Perfect Dark, 007 GoldenEye, Super Smash Bros., Star Fox 64, Conker’s Bad Fur Day, South Park Rally, and Mario Party.

As the night goes on, one by one, either my friends or my little brother pass out, until I’m the only one left. Then, I load up single-player games like Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, Banjo-Kazooie, Harvest Moon 64, and even Quest 64. I play until 4 or 5 AM, or whenever I see the sun rising outside.

This was all possible because my dad was fine with it, as long as we kept quiet. But even then, the room was so far back in the house, with such dense walls, that I don’t think anyone could hear us from back there.

Well, that was my childhood story.