It’s summertime in Spain, and you are beating the heat at ‘Cueva de los Piratas’. The beachfront arcade is nicely air conditioned, but more importantly, you’ve recently struck up a friendship with Gabriela, a technician who repairs the machines.

*The smell of solder and occasional cries of “Mierda!” and “Joder!” waft from the direction of the repair shop, along with the tinny, thumping sound of rhythmic dance music from a Bluetooth speaker. As usual, Gabriela is tinkering with something at her desk. Every surface in the room is covered with arcade machine parts, half-assembled Arduinos and various pieces of 3D printed junk. *

Gabriela’s frizzy hair is pulled up into a messy bun with a ballpoint pen poked through it. Her trademark green bandana sits just above her forehead. A pair of grubby denim overalls cover a characteristically nerdy graphic t-shirt, and her well-worn Chucks are covered in grease marks.

Gabriela grins when she sees you.

“Hola, gamer,”

she calls,

“are you winning today?”