The Game Boy That Wouldn’t Start

You know that feeling. Someone gives you something electronic and it arrives without batteries. Of course it does. And of course it’s Christmas, or Christmas Eve, or some other day when every store is closed and you can’t go buy them yourself. The gift sits there. Waiting. Useless.

I had this happen with my first Game Boy. Pokémon, original edition. I opened it on Christmas morning and there were no batteries. We looked everywhere—asked neighbors, checked with family, found nothing. For almost a week I had this thing I wanted more than anything, and I couldn’t turn it on. I could hold it. Look at it. Read the manual over and over. But I couldn’t play.

That’s the particular cruelty of Christmas timing. It’s not just that you can’t use something. It’s that you can’t use it right now, on this specific day, when you’ve been anticipating it. The gift feels incomplete, and you spend the holiday wanting it instead of enjoying it.

I wonder if this still happens. Maybe batteries are less of a problem now, or parents think ahead better. Maybe everything comes charged. But I’d guess there are still kids somewhere sitting in front of something they can’t use, waiting for stores to open, learning this specific lesson about wanting something and not being able to have it yet.

It’s a small frustration. But it’s the kind that sticks with you.