Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview: #1 Romero, who was 11 at the time, jumped onto his dirt bike and went to the local arcade. He knew he wasn't supposed to be there, but he couldn't help himself. That was where the games were. He tapped the control buttons as the rocks flew toward his triangular ship and the Jaws-style theme music blipped in suspense. #2 John Romero was born in 1967 in Arizona. His parents had married only a few months before, and his father had taken a job in the copper mines. The work was hard, and his father often came home drunk. But Romero loved going to the arcade with his stepfather. #3 Dungeons and Dragons, a pen-and-paper role-playing game, was the hottest thing going in 1972. It was like a computer-game version of the game, and it attracted many adults who lazily dismissed it as geeky escapism. But for a boy like Romero, it was much more than that. #4 The computer gaming industry was dominated by arcade machines and home consoles like the Atari 2600. But computer games were accessible, and the people who had the keys were not authoritarian monsters, but dudes

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