When I was a child, probably no older than 5, my mom used to take me to a small arcade only to see since I was too
young to play. Since that place closed around 2003 if not prior my memories about that arcade are really, really
scarse. But I remember 3 things.
One, the location. It was next to a supermarket and on the top floor there was a radio station. Two, they had a
rocket and I always begged my mom to ride it (she always said no). And third and most important, a DDR cab.
Again, I was around 3 to 5 years old during that time so I never played DDR since I was too small. But I was
mesmerized by that game. I just knew you were supposed to play it by stepping on the arrows despite never seeing
anyone playing. But that cab was stuck in my head even after the arcaded closed its doors.
Years later while going to Lider (now Walmart but they keeped the name) I saw those plug & play dance mats and
inmediately I thought about that ddr cab.I begged my mom to please get one until she bought me one. Twice in fact.
Those dance mats were so crappy that they used to break all the time, but after the second one stop working we
started to call an electricist, friend of the family, to fix it and avoid buying a new one. This went on for a
couple of years until s cyber cafe opened next door.
Now keep in mind that I was 7 or 8 at that time so I can't remember when or how but, while my mom wes talking to one of the employees, the topic of DDR came out. The guy said he had a DDR panel and told my mom that, if I wanted, he could bring it the next day so I could play. And of course I said yes.
The next day I went to that cybercafe he had installed a wooden DDR panel in front of a computer, telling me to
walk in to calibrate it. After that was done is when the title of this entry comes to play.
During the 90's and part of the early 2000's some mobile companies sold their phones inside tall cans made of metal.
The most common one was Smartcom's orange cans.
The thing is, and I swear you not, this guy, this probably 20 something year old employee came from the back of the cybercafe with an orange Smartcom can, opened it and pull out from it wires and a very small motherboar and proceded to connected it either to the computer itself orjust the monitor. He plugged it to the wall and right in front on me in that small 4:3 crt computer monitor I had DDR ready to play until getting tired.
I played for probably 3 straigh hours until I come back to my home feeling dizzy, sweaty and tired, but that was my first time playing DDR on something that wasn't a crappy plug & play dance mat. I don't remember the version but I know it was DDR and not Pump it Up or In The Groove. But the question is, how and why he had it inside a phone can?
One week later that guy quited and since he was the owner of that DDR panel I never played it again until I saw a
DDR X2 cab around 2022. I still think about it since, you know, it was inside a can. How he did it and why. This was
around 2005-2007 and I know it wasn't Stepmania. No. Inside that can there was a small board with tons of
cables.
Eventually the owner of that cybercafe moved out and closed the place and I never saw that employee in town ever
again. But to this day I think about that stupid can...