Zayde’s Arcade: Coming of Age in Coney Island

Is love an enticing game—or just a scary rollercoaster ride?

In the summer of 1966, sixteen-year-old Jason goes to work at his Jewish grandfather’s penny arcade in Coney Island. While working there, he plunges head over heels for Anna, a beautiful Italian girl. Little does he know what lies ahead.

Amid the constant rumbling of a roller coaster and the cacophony of pinball machines, transistor radios, bumper cars, hot dogs and cotton candy, Jason barrels through a dizzying array of twists and turns.

Thrilled by the first pangs of love and shaken by his first death in the family, Jason doesn’t know which way is up. And if that wasn’t enough, he clashes with Anna’s macho boyfriend and her overbearing father. Along the way, Jason stumbles upon a deep, dark secret which shakes his understanding of the very definition of love and loyalty.

While Jason embarks on his Coney Island journey with childlike innocence, will he emerge victorious or battle weary in a complex adult world?