Relive and reclaim your childhood the Geeky way

It’s the end of another long day. Work has been piling up, bosses and professors are making your life hell, “free time” has lost all meaning and you’re poorer today than when the month started. How did you get here? Whatever happened to those carefree days when five rupees, a broken down bicycle and weekend mornings in front of the TV were enough to give life meaning? Well, welcome to adulthood, right?

Even though you know you can’t go back, wouldn’t it just be great if you could relive those blissful moments every once in a while? Well, you can – we take you for a stroll down memory lane where you’ll meet old friends, play old games, do young things and feel younger than possibly your current lives allow. Even today, it’s possible to kid around!

Disclaimer: All activities enhanced in groups of old friends!

Weekend cartoons

Set aside the box-sets of Game of Thrones and House of Cards that you’ve been meaning to watch. The fodder for office conversations can be wikied. Instead, logon to YouTube or any other streaming service, and go on a weekend binge of classic cartoon shows. Whether you were a Johnny Quest kid or a Swat Kats bloke – nothing is off-limits. Step into Dexter’s Laboratory, chase Racer X on the speedway, save the environment with Captain Planet, and learn to woo the ladies with Johnny Bravo. For the special weirdos out there – Ed, Ed and Eddy, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Dragonball Z, Sheep in the Big City and I Am Weasel can’t be missed. Reruns recommended.

Comic Book Geekdom

Sure, Nolan did a killer Batman (TDKR doesn’t exist in the universe of this article) and the Avengers have never looked hotter (we’re looked at you, you widow, you!). But there is something primal about experiencing them all in their original form – paperback comic books. Kickback your daily commute or night-time readings with the near-infinite range of comics books available. You can find them in second hand bookshops and raddi-walla shops for throw-away prices or order them online if you’re feeling like a splurge coming on. The classic artwork, the ridiculous story lines and the adult inside jokes you didn’t get as a kid – all are a simple way to time travel back to a period when 24 pages was all it took to ignite a universe in your own imagination. Not to mention get back to the “who will win between…” arguments. Answer: Batman, every time. ‘Cause he’s Batman.

Take it outside!

Okay, this one sounds lame… but stay with us. Was there ever a more thrilling moment than when you and your friends won a game? Any game that had friends and rivals – badminton, table tennis, basketball, football, a weird combination of body movements and balls that you invented (Muggle Quidditch, anyone?) – was legendary. The excitement of the physical, the satisfaction of the emotional and the glorification of cheating to win is a different experience in the real world. So why not book an indoor football court or a sports club for a weekend afternoon, get a few old friends together and go sweat it all out. If a fight ensues just call it WWF (Viva la Federation!) wrestling and carry on.

Board yourself indoors

These were the games when real blood was shed. Whatever your domain, be it the game of Life, Scrabble, Jenga, Clue, Bluff, Scotland Yard, Charades, Pictionary, Trump Cards or the most dangerous of them all: Monopoly – there was no dearth of ways to pass time on those blistering summer afternoons whilst holiday homework caught dust by the bedside. Organising a game night isn’t new but populating it with board games which you’ve altered to suit your evil purposes just might be. Drag unsuspecting friends into card and board games that defy all technology – no tablets, no phablets, no mobiles and no rules – no wait, some rules. Those written on the pamphlet that came with the game. Otherwise: Total chaos!

Mixtape Madness

Somewhere under that cold, crusty, cynical and calculating exterior still pumps the heart of an adolescent romantic. The same heart that heard love songs on the radio late on Rainbow FM AIR and sang rock-pop-thrash tunes under the covers before going to sleep. Go back to that naivety of youthful innocence and sit to make a heartfelt, cheese covered mixtape for the one that got away (or stayed and married, depending). And do it old school – none of this digital download-copy-paste-CD-burning riff-raff – we’re talking about the magnetic goodness of classic audio cassettes. It’s the only medium deserving the pangs of an angsty teenage heart. You might need to call up Indiana Jones to find the equipment, though.

FLAME, Cricket and Doodles

Not all pensive moments of youth require as much time or material investment – a pen and paper can sometimes be enough. Have a long boring meeting happening? A tedious office-organized seminar to sit through? Or just time to kill in-front of the computer before work ends? Why not pull out that ballpoint pen and get to doodling like you used to – wavy lines describing your innermost thoughts in post-post-modern abstractism. Go a step further and corrupt a few like minded colleagues and start a tournament game of Textbook Cricket. Or step away from Tinder and let the FLAME game tell you if the girl two seats over is your destined love. All proven ways to remember the long lost childhood desperation and boredom.

Call of Duty: Desktop Warfare

And finally, having gone converted a few co-workers and classmates to your cause by now, you might as well take things a little bit further. Clear up the desktop (the actual desk’s top, we mean) and use that conference table for an epic game of Pen Fight using whatever Mont Blancs and Cross pens you find. Have ongoing leagues and tournaments in the workplace where the might of finger flick-propelled projectiles battle for galaxy wide dominance of who can strike whose pen harder. Substitute the pens for coins if your cuticles are man enough and see how you fare in the circumference of doom. And for the truly adventurous – assemble a functional cross-bow after raiding the rubber bands the office supply closet. Ready? Fight!

Not geeky enough for you?

Fret not! We’ve got three awesome stories for you that’ll transport you immediately to that bygone era when you didn’t have a care in the world.

First up we have six 8-bit games without which your childhood would’ve been incomplete. And as a bonus they’re all playable right here in your browser window. Go ahead, let Dangerous Dave take you down memory lane.

Next we have six TV shows that defined your childhood. Growing up just wouldn’t have been the same without a little help from Kevin Arnold right? And last but not the least we have a celebration of adulthood.

Yes, these are indulgences you weren’t allowed when you were a wee youngun but you desperately wanted to.