A Tokens' Worth

 I found myself inside an arcade in one uneventful afternoon. There were flickering display of neon lights in yellow, pink, green and blue hues as a cacophony of buzzes, merry voices, and instrumentals play in the background of the scene. It was a world of entertainment that does not seem to retire as the sun sets. Everything comes to life as the machines are fed with stacks of tokens bought from the counter. Such a jovial scene brought about by a tokens’ worth.

With my 50 bucks at hand, I retired to indulge myself in the gleeful ambiance and bought two short a dozen tokens. I received the ten pieces of silver coins with my joined palms and placed them securely in the pocket of my age-worn denims.

I spent my first token, fumbled into my pocket and inserted a coin into the machine slot to play Tekken 6; those kind of arcade games that make use of those buttons to move your character aiming to inflict damage upon your enemy with blows and kicks until the status bar turns red then drops to zero. After two rounds, I lost to Paul, the character dressed in black, armed with lethal punches. Frustratingly, I dropped another token to continue my game and get a second change to crush him. To my dismay, I failed for the second time.

The next token I spent to play basketball, the one where you have to shoot balls in the moving hoop, hoping to get a higher score until the 60-second time limit is over. The fourth token I dropped was used to play a motocross racing arcade game, stepping on the left paddle to accelerate and stepping on the other to slow down during the course’s curved highways. After the sixty seconds, the race ended without me finishing the course.

Using the tokens left, I decided to sing privately in a KTV cubicle. I actually had an option to sing openly in a stage and be heard by an “audience” but stage fright kills me so I just went for the solo cubicles. Being a frustrated singer that I am, I resorted to singing a couple songs for the price of four tokens. There I was, singing my lungs out in the privacy of the four cornered cubicle singing to the lyrics as they change color from white to yellow.

With only a token at hand, I used the last token to fulfill my mindless desire for picking up a stuff toy using a crane. Although it may be highly unlikely that success shall come my way, I still gambled on my last token…my last chance. 

I failed after three attempts.

With no more money to buy more tokens, I walked for an exit.

P.S.

An arcade is made to amuse, a place to marvel about, to explore and try different things. It is filled with frustrations and happy memories. Like life, it is with countless frustrations where losing is more likely. Although you can never win against a ticking 60-second countdown in a basketball shoot out game or in a motocross racing arcade, you can make do and cherish every second given to drive your life into the right path and shoot as many aspirations you have.

Like in karaoke singing, never expect to be heard and appreciated by many if one would sing privately within the walls of a private KTV cubicle.

Like in a toy crane game where winning is very unlikely, planted efforts won’t always return and equal the tokens you have given.  

Life is such a big gamble.

Are you brave enough to use your tokens?