I'm going to spell it out plain and simple for all of you right now: Derby Owners Club is the greatest arcade game of all time. There really isn't anything remotely like it. It's an arcade RPG where you and up to 10 other players breed, raise, train and ultimately race horses. Originally a big hit in Japan, the international version can be found at certain well-curated Dave and Busters and other large arcades. The thing is absolutely enormous. Because it's apparently not a very popular game with today's uncultured youths, the game serves as a nice retreat from the cacophony of the arcade, a great place to post up with your crew, drink beers, feed your horse some carrots and chat while you prepare for the next race. The mechanics are simple yet nuanced, requiring dedication and hard work to take your horse from back-of-the-pack newcomer to legendary unbeatable champion. It's a game where your progress is carried over on a literal memory card that the arcade cabinet prints for you to take with you when you leave so that your horse is always with you, in your heart and your wallet. For the people who truly get this game, it's an obsession. No other arcade game inspires players to bring three-ring binders full of horse cards to the arcade (as I've witnessed on several occasions) and remains entertaining after hours of play. It's antithetical to the quick and disposable nature of most arcade games and an awesome way to spend an afternoon with friends. I just wish the machines weren't slowly growing rarer and rarer in the wild. It will be a sad day when you can't find one of these anymore, replaced by the likes of Fruit Ninja or whatever popular mobile game passes as an arcade game these days. (Shakes fist at clouds, feels old.)