Backseat Gaming the Sabbath

one of my earliest video game memories was my neighbor from down the street burning me a copy of Roller Coaster Tycoon onto a CD and giving it to me for free, with the caveat that one day a week he would sit behind me and backseat game HARD. like "build this here, okay now build this here, no not there, HERE, okay now make a path here," etc etc. i never minded it at the time, i genuinely had no idea how to play so i thought he was teaching me. years later i learned that him and his family were Orthodox Jewish and him backseat gaming me was his way of getting around the Sabbath ban on playing video games

A text post recounts a neighbor giving away RollerCoaster Tycoon on CD and then intensely directing the narrator’s gameplay once a week. Years later, the narrator realizes the neighbor was Orthodox Jewish and used backseat gaming as a way to participate in video games during the Sabbath without playing himself. The joke comes from the unexpectedly elaborate workaround and the narrator’s childhood misunderstanding. EN: A text post recounts a neighbor giving away RollerCoaster Tycoon on CD and then intensely directing the narrator’s gameplay once a week. Years later, the narrator realizes the neighbor was Orthodox Jewish and used backseat gaming as a way to participate in video games during the Sabbath without playing himself. The joke comes from the unexpectedly elaborate workaround and the narrator’s childhood misunderstanding.

• @eternalclassic / 93279 2026-08-27