
Museum of Soviet arcade machines - tosseraccount
http://www.15kop.ru/en/
======
rdtsc
Oh I remember those! Nice.

With the obligatory soda machine. They had a regular glass (made from glass,
not disposable). Pushed it upside-down in this washer valve which sprayed
water on the inside of it. So you "washed it". Then you put coin in, forgot
how many kopeyks for regular fizzy water, it cost more to add syrup. Then the
person behind you used that same glass, and so on.

Today I'd think it is crazy unsanitary, and would never drink out of it.

In the summer, throughout the city they also had large yellow barrels on two
wheels with kvas (this fermented drink made from bread). Also with reusable
glasses which the seller would quickly rinse with water before handing it to
you. That was the best thing on a hot summer day.

~~~
azov
It was 1 kopek for regular, 3 kopeks with syrup. Roughly equivalent to $3 and
$9 in today's US dollars if calculated proportionally to median income. Prices
are shown in one of the pictures, btw:
[http://gazirovka.15kop.ru/gallery/#10](http://gazirovka.15kop.ru/gallery/#10)

PS. There's much more info about soda machines in Russian version, and lots of
cool graphics too:

[http://gazirovka.15kop.ru/machines/](http://gazirovka.15kop.ru/machines/)
(scrolls horizontally, in case you haven't noticed)

[http://gazirovka.15kop.ru/history/](http://gazirovka.15kop.ru/history/)

[http://gazirovka.15kop.ru/glass/](http://gazirovka.15kop.ru/glass/)

~~~
raquo
So wait, that means USSR had no coin valued at less than today's $1.5 by
purchasing power (assuming the 1/2 kopek coin existed at the time)?
Interesting.

~~~
lisivka
No, it means that nobody had more than $300 on the hands officially. I.e. they
were poor (except "nomenclature" and "valuable people").

~~~
snaky
The highest official salary was about 1200 roubles a month - two people had
this salary, Prime Minister and President of USSR Academy of Sciences.
Nevertheless, there were people earning (illegally, of course) tens of
millions -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsekhovik](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsekhovik)

------
pdkl95
The hotel I was staying at in Moscow in '92 had "Snaiper-2". I really liked
it. Sure, it's a basic target-shooting game, but it's entirely
electromechanical and it had a lens in the sight that made the target seem
like it was further away.

------
soundoflight
They just talked about this on the latest episode of the Idle Thumbs podcast!
The podcaster's favorite was one with a mechanical car that drove on top of a
video.

[https://www.idlethumbs.net/idlethumbs/episodes/disable-
enemi...](https://www.idlethumbs.net/idlethumbs/episodes/disable-enemies-to-
reveal-enemies)

------
ikonst
I've been to the one in Saint-Petersburg. Probably worth a visit, but do
expect most machines to be under-maintained, and keep you wondering if the
game is even receiving your inputs...

Though, I suppose, when those machines were placed in random "palaces of
culture" across the USSR in the 70-80s, their state on average wasn't any
better.

~~~
mlvljr
It was, never played a broken one, I think. Look, they wouldn't be remembered
so tenderly, if they were not working well :)

------
scrumper
Look at the disassembly photos for Morskoi Boi! It's lovely oily
electromechanical stuff. I'd love to have a go.

~~~
varjag
It's a clone of a U.S. product, Sea Hunter. Same for most of the other Soviet
arcades.

~~~
jgw
Do you know if they run on 6502s and other Western chips of the time? Were
they cloned, or imported? Or were there Soviet ISA's?

I remember reading years ago about how Russian computer scientists in the cold
war were more honed in algorithm design, because they basically had to squeeze
as much as they could out of their processors to compete with faster Western
hardware.

~~~
varjag
Morskoi Boi/Sea Hunter has no computer, or chips for that matter. It's 1960s
tech.

Some computer based arcades started to appear in late 1980s, but more like
Pong clones and similarly simple "racing" games with 2600-like sprites. At
this point the "coops" started popping up, offering pay per minute experience
on Atari 800 and ZX Spectrum.

There was no Soviet 6502 or Z80 clone; there were however 8080A clones and DEC
LSI-11 inspired designs. There were a bunch of creative programmers sure,
although there hardly was a real "school" and CS remained largely backwaters
to the West.

~~~
pvg
There were Soviet and East German Z80s, Bulgarian 6502s, etc.

~~~
varjag
If you mean the T34 one, yeah it was in USSR in the sense there was tenderloin
in the shops. I.e. we knew the name but I never met anyone who could get hold
of it. Even then not sure it was even heard of until 1990s.

Bulgarian 6502s were probably shipped with their Apple II clones. Those were
hard to come by.

------
steveklabnik
I've been to the one in Moscow, it was a great time. It reminded me a lot of
the Musée Mécanique on the Embarcadero.

------
DanBC
A long time ago there was a similar thread. It only got 11 comments, but maybe
people are interested.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1668085](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1668085)

------
sandworm101
There appears to be an app that recreates the Morski Boi! game.

[http://www.148apps.com/app/541402297/](http://www.148apps.com/app/541402297/)

This reminds me of the Tetris story: Who exactly would own the various rights
to this games?

~~~
cmg
Why link through 148apps rather than directly to the App Store?
[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/morskoi-boi-sea-
battle/id541...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/morskoi-boi-sea-
battle/id541402297)

~~~
sandworm101
Because I googled the term and that's the first result I came across.

------
bitwize
Magistral is so unfair. At any moment a blue car can come up from behind and
rear-end you, including instantly after you respawn.

Is this by design, a sort of Soviet nihilistic humor?

------
santaclaus
The pixelated face on 'Magistral' kind of looks like a hipster. Red beanie,
big glasses, beard.

~~~
xufi
Imagine Pacman except with KGB Putin or Stalin chasing nukes

------
rodionos
Морской бой! My favorite as a kid while waiting for connecting flights at
airports.

------
opticals
Soda machine is the best !

------
glwtta
Морской бой was the shit!

------
centizen
Super interesting stuff.

------
mlvljr
I know where they and actually will probably visit the next time I'm walking
past that street ad on the river bank :)

------
johansch
Just rembember to shit in a corner if you do visit.

~~~
dang
Please stop posting unsubstantive comments to HN.

~~~
johansch
Sorry about this. Russia just did what I referred to in my country so I'm a
bit emotionally upset.

Sweden is being attacked via the Internet by Russia; see
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11740587](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11740587)
for more detals. This is the substantiation.

