Blip! Blip! Blip! Blip! Blip! Blip! Blip! Blip!
February 14, 2010 1:34 PM Subscribe
Wanted it.
posted by rlk at 2:00 PM on February 14, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by rlk at 2:00 PM on February 14, 2010 [1 favorite]
The video at the very bottom of the page is amazing, particularly starting at 3:30 where they remove the cover from the game and show the mechanism in action.
posted by barnacles at 2:04 PM on February 14, 2010
posted by barnacles at 2:04 PM on February 14, 2010
Now I'm getting a hankering to go back to the Musee Mechanique. I bet there are 100 year old carny games that work on a similar principle.
posted by Nelson at 2:22 PM on February 14, 2010
posted by Nelson at 2:22 PM on February 14, 2010
I like the "It's actually too hard to be fun" comment.
People are spoiled these days. When video games first came out they were hard. But people played them anyway, and after a while, they got the hang of 'em.
Also they had to walk two miles, in the snow, up hill both ways to get to the arcade.
posted by delmoi at 3:24 PM on February 14, 2010 [1 favorite]
People are spoiled these days. When video games first came out they were hard. But people played them anyway, and after a while, they got the hang of 'em.
Also they had to walk two miles, in the snow, up hill both ways to get to the arcade.
posted by delmoi at 3:24 PM on February 14, 2010 [1 favorite]
Wow, I had that game. Hadn't thought about it for years. Hard to explain to kids that you could have been entertained by something that simple.
posted by octothorpe at 5:36 PM on February 14, 2010
posted by octothorpe at 5:36 PM on February 14, 2010
The thing WAS hard. It improved my reflexes for arcade games though. As the blip got to your end it would do the craziest little dekes before zipping into one of the slots; you had to be fast and have a good memory for the different gyrations that would happen at the last second. It was also, in a strange way, good practice for touch football against some very fast dudes in high school.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 6:40 PM on February 14, 2010
posted by Hardcore Poser at 6:40 PM on February 14, 2010
...and it just hits me now how many homoerotic undertones were in that last message of mine. Hee! My junior high self would have been slightly mortified.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 6:41 PM on February 14, 2010
posted by Hardcore Poser at 6:41 PM on February 14, 2010
Wow, I totally had this game. That's one memory totally buried in my subconscious that's now squinting and blinking and confused at all this light.
But I can't watch the video now and don't remember at all how to play. Hmm, weird. Does getting older mean turning into Proust and blathering on about memories at every opportunity? I bore myself.
posted by zardoz at 7:43 PM on February 14, 2010
But I can't watch the video now and don't remember at all how to play. Hmm, weird. Does getting older mean turning into Proust and blathering on about memories at every opportunity? I bore myself.
posted by zardoz at 7:43 PM on February 14, 2010
I could tell this wasn't digital at the time. Which made me a very weird kid.
posted by dhartung at 8:00 PM on February 14, 2010
posted by dhartung at 8:00 PM on February 14, 2010
« Older Look, Mildred, he's a lieutenant colonel! And... | Basic Mechanics in Fire Control Computers Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 1:41 PM on February 14, 2010