As a young child in Tucson, Arizona, young John Romero discovers the magic of arcades. Whenever he can, he drops his quarters into the machines and, to make the experience last as long as possible, he concentrates on being good, really good. By the time the family moves to Rocklin, California, his initials, “AJR”, are on the top of every machine’s leaderboard all over town. That love of games leads to a love for programming, and by the age of 11, Romero is making his first game. Nearly four decades later, he is still making them. From arcade to college mainframe, from the Apple II to the Apple iPhone, from Dangerous Dave to DOOM, Romero’s career has both followed and forged the industry as we know it. In this talk, Romero explores the industry through the lens of his career, past and present, and speculates on the its future.