[brundolf]

My fondest Blockbuster memories were around video games. The very best weekends were when my mom would take us there on Friday after school and let us each pick out a game. My sister and I would fight for turns with the TV all weekend.

Just getting to explore a new game for a little bit and then try something else next time was so much fun; you never knew what you were gonna get, just going off the box art. Even better was during the cartridge years, when you'd take a game home and it might already have a few different saves on it from other people, and you'd get to visit their characters and worlds, jump in at different points in the game, and try to imagine how it all fit together.

There was a gap of many years between Netflix killing Blockbuster, and game subscriptions becoming a thing where you could try them out casually again. Though of course even then, all the same physical nostalgia is missed; browsing the aisles, scrutinizing the boxes to try and figure out what it'll be like when you take it home, etc.

[downrightmike]

Or getting hooked on a game and hoping that you get there quick enough to check it out so that no one else played or erased your save.