
The Alternate Universe of Soviet Arcade Games - lermontov
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-alternate-universe-of-soviet-arcade-games
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omonra
The author may not realize (I only know this because my mother worked for the
Soviet arcade ministry of sorts in the 80s) is that there was a whole illicit
angle to the arcade business.

They were all cash-based - which created huge opportunities for embezzlement
for guys working there. The government had no way of knowing how many coins
were actually deposited (ie the technicians could fiddle with counters or
whatever) - so they could skim huge (and shared the loot all the way to the
top). The vig was apparently massive.

Every now and then somebody would leave their wife, she'd write a report to
the special police that dealt with economic crime and the whole structure
would end up in jail.

Fun times.

~~~
chiph
Funny how things are similar. I was in the USAF with a fellow who had served
in Vietnam. While there, he had a side job of repairing the slot machines that
were in the Officers and NCO clubs. Like the Soviet arcades, this was also a
cash business, and the machines were also rigged. His share of the vig
supplemented his military salary fairly well, he said.

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pavel_lishin
I definitely remember playing these as a kid in the 90s, especially Magistral,
and some sort of ship-torpedo game.

This, however, shows that the author didn't do their research:

> _Strangest of all, however, is the lineup of radish pickers: after failed
> attempts by a mouse, a cat, a dog, a daughter, and a grandma, the vegetable
> can only be pulled up once the grandpa jumps in and the entire family works
> together to pull it out collectively._

That's not strange - that game is just based on a popular fairy tale where,
well, you can guess exactly what happens in the fairy tale. It's not a long
story.

~~~
paganel
> that game is just based on a popular fairy tale where, well, you can guess
> exactly what happens in the fairy tale.

I'm from Romania and we have the same fairy tale involving said vegetable (in
our case is a giant radish). It would be interesting to draw some maps of
"fairy tales influence" (for a lack of a better word), i.e. in this case the
map for the "giant radish fairy tale" would cover both Russia and Romania, the
Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale would cover most of Western Europe etc.

~~~
Swizec
That fairy tale has reached as far as Slovenia.

And if memory serves, it is alluded to in an episode of Ed, Edd, 'n' Eddy,
albeit through a foreign character with an accent.

Wikipedia says it's a Slavic fairy tale that _has_ been presented in English-
speaking countries.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gigantic_Turnip](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gigantic_Turnip)

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weloytty
It's a fun article, but:

"Though it has never been substantiated by historians, the anecdote goes that
on a trip to the United States, Khrushchev was so smitten with the arcade
games he saw that, upon his return, he invited all the game makers to come to
Russia and showcase their best games. "

Khrushchev was kicked out of power in 1964, and died in 1971.

~~~
soylentcola
It lines up though. He visited the US in 1959 and a little while after
returning, the Soviets started working on their own arcade games. I guess
there's no proof that he really did order Soviet games to be made but it's
plausible.

~~~
GFK_of_xmaspast
Are you aware of the state of arcade games in the US in 1959.

~~~
whoopdedo
Yes, it was called "pinball".

~~~
slavik81
Depends where you were. Pinball was illegal from the 1940s onwards in New
York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and Salt Lake City among others. It
was only legalized in the 1970s.

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dblock
Had a little nostalgia moment there with "Vozduwnij Boi" and the soda water
dispenser. Those were 2 kopeks for a soda I think and 5 kopecs for kvas, which
was so delicious.

~~~
pavel_lishin
Yeah. I've bought bottled stuff here (NYC), occasionally, and even some stuff
at restaurants - but it all tastes weird and bad, and vaguely Coca-Cola-ish.

Went back last summer for my grandpa's birthday, and bought like five liters
from an old woman who was selling it out of a big tank. Tasted almost exactly
like I remember it, and I probably drank about two liters in one day.

~~~
lisivka
Quality of kvas improved a lot, so it may explain why it tasted _almost_
exactly like you remember it: it is not diluted anymore but produced by
exactly same technology, so it a bit too concentrated, because soviet norms
were adjusted for about 20% of additional water added at distribution. I.e. it
especially made concentrated to dilute it later and steal money without need
to fake documents.

------
jcr
There was a similar article in Vice earlier this year, and it has more
pictures for those interested:

[http://motherboard.vice.com/read/soviet-arcade-
museum](http://motherboard.vice.com/read/soviet-arcade-museum)

~~~
Shivetya
[https://youtu.be/Gzwt56TPwkM](https://youtu.be/Gzwt56TPwkM)

That is a link to a video with some game play, there are many others available
as well

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eps
That's a pretty BS article written under, what appears to be, some sort of
assumption of how life in Soviet Union was all driven by communist ideology.
Hardly any games had "Marxist agenda", lots of them had high scores, and you
bet that the adrenaline rush was right there. They weren't designed to train
loyal citizens anymore than Mortal Combat was designed to train hand combat.
They were just games... heavy and crude, but they were designed for fun first
and foremost.

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MrVitaliy
A better site where you can actually play a few -- www.15kop.ru/en/

~~~
mojuba
Dying games simulated using a dying technology, Flash that is. No nostalgia
for me tonight :(

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lukas
I actually visited this museum on a trip to Moscow recently. It was super fun
- ended up being one of the highlights. The Gorodki game they talk about
seemed like it could be turned into a popular iOS app :).

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hannob
I was there a while ago and also made some pictures in case someone is
interested: [https://blog.hboeck.de/archives/826-Moscow-and-the-Museum-
of...](https://blog.hboeck.de/archives/826-Moscow-and-the-Museum-of-Soviet-
Arcade-Machines.html) [https://pictures.hboeck.de/asia2013/moscow-
arcade](https://pictures.hboeck.de/asia2013/moscow-arcade)

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dullcrisp
So is the museum in St. Petersburg or Moscow?

~~~
xentronium
Both. Judging from their site there is another one in Kazan.

