MondoVideo Arcade, one of the book’s motifs, lies in the center of Edgeview, the town that hosts Martin’s alternative school. The arcade is where Martin and his friends sneak off to on Friday nights. There, they can exercise their psychic abilities to rack up high scores on the video game and pinball machines. While visiting the town, the boys learn that local residents fear them and wish the school would go away. The arcade is a motif that represents the boys’ fantasies about a world of success and pleasure that’s largely closed off to them while they serve time at the alternative school.

Edgeview Alternative, another motif, is a last chance dumping ground for disruptive boys who are kicked out of their regular schools. It’s underfunded and disheveled; its textbooks are old and held together by tape; cafeteria food is barely edible; the staff includes teachers who can’t find work in regular schools; and teenage bullies control the dorm hallways. Into this dreary, fearful place goes Martin, who manages to discover good friends and caring teachers among the riffraff and the overwhelmed instructors. Edgeview faces disbandment for its poor results; it represents the low quality of facilities for troubled youth in much of the US.