He may be best known to most Americans for single-handedly shutting down the federal government two years ago, but these days presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) longs for a simpler time, when he could plop down in front of his television and immerse himself into the latest video game.
“I don’t have a console, mostly as a time management tool, because if I had one, I would use it far too much,” Cruz said in a recent interview with The Daily Beast.
Cruz did say that he often finds himself playing Plants vs. Zombies, Candy Crush, and The Creeps! Those are certainly not games one would consider hardcore, but they are games nonetheless.
But maybe Cruz considers himself more of an old-school gamer.
“I was a kid growing up in the ’70s and ’80s,” he said. “I had a Nintendo, an Atari.”
He added, “I still remember the Christmas we got our first Pong game.”
Cruz’s college roommate can corroborate the senator’s gaming past.
“We would spend many hours playing video games, often until the sun came up,” said David Panton, who cited Super Mario Bros. and Japanese fighting games as examples of Cruz’s gaming habits.
“In reality, Ted was a much better player than I was—he beat me in everything—but I think I was sufficiently competitive that he felt somewhat challenged,” Panton said.
Cruz also enjoys arcades as much as anyone else.
“I’m the one in charge of taking the girls to Chuck E. Cheese, and it’s not much of a secret that I don’t mind doing so,” said Cruz, apparently to the chagrin of his wife Heidi.
Let’s see if these new revelations improve Cruz’s standing among Millennials.
H/T The Daily Beast | Photo via Gage Skidmore/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
