Will you help me remember the title of this book?

July 21, 2007 6:28 PM

Please help me remember the title of a particular fictional, young-adult book from the 80s or maybe 90s.

I've been trying to find the title of this book off and on for years. I've googled/yahooed/amazonned it to no avail. I've also asked the question on other answer sites with a similar lack of success. Here is what I can remember.


- The main character's alias is ZOZ. This is the name he uses when he gets a high score on an arcade game (because of the three letter limit of the high score lists).

- The book is centered around the town's arcade. There might be some sort of conflict where the parents of the town try to, or do, shut it down.

- The characters are all teenagers. The main character, Zoz, loses his virginity to one of the female game players. This part of the book happens at the beginning of a chapter and is written almost like a concrete poem.

- I think there is also a fight between Zoz and another one of the boys.


Thanks in advance.

posted by poopdbq to grab bag (5 comments total)

Could it be Game Over or Worthy Opponent? Or maybe a book from 1983 called Video War?
posted by iconomy at 8:43 PM on July 21, 2007

This storyline sounds familiar to me too. Video War certainly has that concrete poem you mentioned.
posted by hot soup girl at 6:25 AM on July 22, 2007

So, poopdbq...any comments?
posted by iconomy at 10:32 AM on July 22, 2007

It was Video War. Thanks for your help.
posted by poopdbq at 1:56 PM on July 22, 2007

I just came here to ask this question, and have been similarly flummoxed by google searches. AskMetafilter rules!
posted by dirtdirt at 11:39 AM on July 7