TIL that in Japan in 1980s, you could buy computer parts at cheap prices from shopping arcades and have them made into computers

I remember magazines from the 80s where you could find code in BASIC for some little game. It's how I learned how to program as a kid.

Oh god, don't make any typos or you were going from screen to page, page to screen, over and over and over...
I started learning by editing gorillas.bas. Eventually created an copy of my elementary school's IBM system at a very basic level, from memory! Another kid my same age and I knew all the admin passwords and we would have hacker wars to lock each other out. We were 11. We also played a lot of a game called Chopper that was on the server. It was fucking awesome and i just tried to find it to link and I can't seem to.

Went on to build areas and program mobs/rooms/items with whatever the hell that language was for a low population MUD. I put in thousands of hours. As far as I know all that work is lost.

Anyway I could have been smart! Instead I discovered that girls are pretty and now I do labor for work.

Oh what could have been. Just kidding, no regrets.
- You might be surprised, many MUDs were kept alive by usenet groups. Any chance you remember the name?
Yes! Basic Training in 3-2-1 Contact.
I remember typing a whole afternoon with a friend just so the screen did alternate colors, it was so underwhelming I think that killed any spark that I might have had for programming.
- I didn't even have a color monitor :'( I would've been jealous of yours.
  
  I almost quit programming too when my brother walked in one day as I was feverishly typing. "What? You're programming basic? That's for losers." Then he whips up a ski slalom game in a single incomprehensible line of apl and I was like wtaf?
  
  Today I'm a professional dev and my bro is a perl hacker. I still can't understand a line of his code.

Haven't watched the video, but isn't that what most small computer shops do to this day?

I was about to reply with https://pcpartpicker.com/

But actually they mean on the chip level - and interview a guy who made whole clone machines himself including his own motherboards
- Wow, that's impressive! It's a shame such a cool skill is not really needed nowadays where everything is either standardized or there are a few models.

This was also in the US up until at least 2000. There were frequent Computer Show and Sales held at fairgrounds. Hundreds of vendors each selling different components you'd mix and match.

I was coming here to say this. Before NewEgg, the best way to buy computer parts was to show up at a conventions center or fairgrounds, firehall or community college for the next Computer Show. Buy some parts in cash from people who speak barely any English and then either take it all home and start assembling or hand it off to the ancient guy chain-smoking at the back door and pay him to zip-tie it together in 5 minutes for you.

Years and years of doing this and we only had one situation when we cracked the case later and found out the guy has swapped the parts we bought for used Dell components when we were at lunch. Always took them home after that.
- God those were fun! And if you wanted to play with older tech, you got rock-bottom prices.
- Lol no computer shopper was the way.

Now, if you want to build a fairly beefy PC, I have to pay super ridiculous prices. A lot of chips are no longer made here and most things like graphics cards are a niche product costing a ton (especially with how the yen is doing lately). When I built this PC in 2016ish, it was cheaper to eat the exchange rate and the import duties to import some things from the US (NewEgg at the time).

the parts are cheap, the prices are low

Linus tech tips and strange parts have done videos on having computers and custom electronics built in Akihabara.

Can do this today in India