Yes I am serious in the title. This whole… experience went on for way too long that I’d love to chat about it because I find it a bit funny

I moved to a new city/country four months ago. I play a lot of arcade rhythm games that don’t exist in this country… except that there are a lot of Pump It Up cabinets. So I’ve gotten back into PIU again. Gotten decent at it too

Problem is that… I didn’t really have the right pair of shoes for it. I have flat feet & most shoes don’t suit me, so I wear New Balance (or knockoff brand) sneakers… except that these shoes aren’t flat. Games like DDR and PIU benefit from flat and lightweight shoes. Flat because you need to use your heels and toes to press the pads, lightweight because good luck doing the harder stages with a heavy pair of sneakers

Back in the US, my go-to arcade shoes was a pair of random slide-on shoes/slippers that I got from the closest Marshall’s. I thought it was kind-of pointless to waste luggage space with a pair of $20 shoes when I left the US… Boy was I wrong. I never found anything quite like that when I moved to Europe

So… I started with going to the local markets and flea markets. First pair of shoes was wayyy too expensive (50€ or 60€), and was too heavy; I was somewhat pressured by the store owner to buy them… I then spent 2-3 weeks going to the weekend flea markets, and finally settled on a 10€ random pair of shoes (probably a Chinese knockoff of something) that was reasonably light and reasonably flat. Only downside is that it’s a bit tight, but I can somehow squiggle my feet in

Well a month ago I realized I was playing too aggressively that the insoles keep sliding off & it was somewhat uncomfortable, so I started looking again:

• Went to r/PumpItUp, a lot of people recommended Nike Free Run… which is not available in my country (and I don’t like Nike)
• Went to local stores and started lifting sneakers up & down to test their weight like an absolute weirdo
• Spent quite some time looking at ways to buy the legendary “Korean water shoes”, gave up; on more than one occasion
• Seriously questioned myself whether I should just wear socks. My local arcade bans people who play without shoes
• Bought an eco-friendly pair of sneakers from an EU company and paid close to 20€ (non-refundable) to have it shipped here… while completely ignoring the fact that most shoes don’t suit me. Sent it back the next day for a refund after almost hurting my feet wearing that

… Anyway I was like “screw it” and found a local store that sells Crocs. I never liked their looks, went around the shoe store and tried to find anything else lightweight but didn’t find any… Tried a pair of Crocs today and took it directly to the arcade, works surprisingly well: flat, lightweight, and even sufficiently not-sock-looking enough that it won’t get me into trouble. Only downside is that I might have gotten one size too big, so may need a second pair in the future…

I’m not sure how this became my life now, but this is how I spent the last 4 months looking for an oddly specific pair of shoes. Ask me anything