Generation Gaps

Isabelle started to get into video games about two years ago when Santa brought us a Wii for our family. We played it rabidly for about a year but have since slacked off on using it much. We were talking about firing it up recently after dinner one night and Ed & I started to tell her about the video games we played as kids. She loves to hear stories about what we did for fun growing up.

We just so happen to own an Atari 2600 joystick simulator game that you plug into your TV and play about 10 of the old classic games like Pong, Adventure, Breakout and Millipede. So we told Iz to try Adventure which is a game sort of like Brave where you have to get your guy through a castle to pick up keys and fight off a dragon and return the treasure at the end. She was very excited. Until we turned it on. LOL.

She was so confused looking at the screen. Ed and I couldn't help but laugh at a) the ridiculous-ness that the graphics were in 1980 and b) the look on Isabelle's face and how she literally could not even figure out where to begin.

So Ed told her "OK, you have to just start moving your guy and you'll find stuff you have to pickup".

Iz: Daddy, there is no GUY on the screen

Ed: Sure, he's right here (pointing at the TV screen).

Iz: Daddy, that's just a brown square.

Ed: Yea, well that's how they made our "guys" back then.

Iz: OOOOOK, so how do I move my square?

Ed: It's a "guy"

Iz: How do I move my GUY, then?

Ed: Just move your joystick.

Iz: What in the world is a joystick?

It went on like this for 20 minutes. It was comical and scary that such an easy game couldn't be figured out by our technologically experienced almost-first-grader.

So then we finally start remembering how to play and get around the castle. We eventually meet the almighty green dragon!!! Iz started laughing.

Iz: THAT'S the DRAGON? HAHAHAHAHA, he's not scary AT all. He actually looks more like a green amoeba.

Me: How do you know what an amoeba is?

Iz: Cuz we learned about them in school and they have no shape. And that dragon definitely has NO shape.

Lord help us! She's already smarter than us.