Mini-golf, video games and memories: Getting nostalgic for '90s Albuquerque

Editor’s note: In this monthly column, comedian Zach Abeyta looks at life in New Mexico through a humorous lens.

Last week I went to a local video game store in Albuquerque called New Game Plus. You could play video games in-store, from retro to modern.

The store is even complete with a fully furnished ’90s-style basement game room with tube TVs and funky couches. I felt like I was teleported back to my Super Nintendo-filled childhood. To a simpler time before paying rent, before social media, but not before losing 100 times to Street Fighter 2 at the Tilt arcade in the Winrock Mall. I probably lost months’ worth of lunch money in that arcade.

While taking in the nostalgic feelings around me that night, I began to think of all the places in Albuquerque that made my childhood and growing up so special, that aren’t around anymore.

One of the places that had the biggest impact on Albuquerque youth and bare feet, when I was a kid, was The Beach water park. Where Topgolf stands today is where Albuquerque once had a scorching aquatic oasis. Where the wave pool tested your strength as it would pull you in deeper with each wave. The lazy river was where you could relax and float downstream for hours, and was way better than my bottom scraping the Rio Grande during a float experience I had in college. You could see the giant waterslides all the way from Interstate 25. They were the ultimate way to prove your toughness to the rest of your middle school class.

While you would go to The Beach water park during the day, at night, the best event for youth had to be “Dance Dance Dance: It’s a Teen Thing.”

Triple D, I, double T, before viral dance trends and YouTube. If you wanted to learn the latest dance moves, you had to do it in person. Horrifying right? I remember having so much fun dancing in middle school in our oversized jerseys and Anchor Blue jeans at foam parties (that I’m pretty sure just used Dawn dish soap), but it didn’t matter as long as you were grooving.

My earliest birthday party memories go back to Planet Fun. Being only 10 years old, the expansive jungle gyms and ball pits felt like something out of “Indiana Jones.” But instead of giant rolling rocks and snakes, you had to worry about cooties and losing your shoe in the ball pit that felt like quicksand. Also, why were we always so worried about quicksand as kids? After 36 years of living in New Mexico and seeing a lot of sand, none of it was even close to “quick.”

When I think of ultimate arcades as a kid, I always reminisce about Block Party. This was before Main Event, and way before It’z, if you even remember that. It was the first arcade in the ’90s where I remember seeing virtual reality. The few times, I remember going there as a kid, I felt like I was being transported to the future.

Right around the corner was another childhood favorite my grandmother took me to often called Putt-Putt. It’s still standing today, but it is just a shadow of its former miniature golf and mom-and-pop arcade glory. My grandma never held back and beat me many times on that 18-hole mini course, turning into Happy Gilmore once we got there. She had no problem showing me who the boss of the family really was. Yet she was always sweet and shared a Coke (any soda in New Mexico) and would let me hit the last ball before we left.

What I would do for just one more round of mini-golf and memories.