Andrew tried to reach down to massage his tingling legs, dropping his play card in the process. He was stunned by the realization that his entire body felt stiff.
He tried to right himself, and felt his spine become rigid and inflexible. In fact, every part of his body felt—wooden.
He strained to move limbs that had become steadily thicker. His jeans ripped at the stitching as his legs began fusing together. His arms pressed tight against his sides as they bent at the elbows, bringing his arms straight forward. His palms curled upward, the fingers becoming stubby as the tips discolored to a sequential red, green, blue, and yellow.
He gasped in amazement as his thumbs elongated, even as his stomach enveloped his hands. Electronic bells and whistles emanated from his voice box, now a computer chip connected to the speaker that had been a mouth.
His shirt was lost amidst the inward pressing of his torso and expansion of his shoulders. He could barely move his neck to see the shiny flatness of his chest.
His neck craned at an impossible upward angle, accompanied by the horizontal spread of his multi-colored face.
Andrew felt new contours and slots developing in his body, from the vents to keep his internal circuit boards cool, to the seams of the key-operated control panel. A thin cord snaked from where his coccyx had been, connecting him to the nearby electrical outlet.
He could not move, and was aware only of what he could see through his marquee, and feel by tactile sensation on his controls and cabinet.
The ponytailed attendant walked in his direction, whistling a random game tune as he inserted a key into Andrew’s coin box and opened the panel. He spent a few minutes adjusting the dip switches, giving Andrew alternating bursts of electronic emotions as his difficulty changed. From what he could tell, he was a 3D fighting game.
Eventually, the attendant closed and locked him again. “Told ya not to loiter,” he smirked, patting him on the top of his marquee head before collecting his discarder clothing and strutting off. He left the play card on the floor before him, for all the good it would do him.
Andrew wished video games could shudder, as he saw a group of middle-school kids excitedly approach him…