The Alternate Universe of Soviet Arcade Games (2015)

I remember how Konyok-Gorbunok <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=DpWkJuXGQic" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=DpWkJuXGQic</a> was just driving me nuts, I was just 6 y. o. and couldn&#x27;t handle the frustration from losing on the 3rd screen. This game was just inhumane, I&#x27;ve only seen 20-year olds being good at it.

Yes, I was growing up with these, and spent a lot of 15-kopeck coins in these devices. The graphics was awful, but the games were... playable. The shooting games worked flawlessly. The &quot;sea battle&quot; torpedo launcher simulator was awesome, with realistic ship silhouettes. The games were not unlike Tetris: simple, but ingenious and addictive.

Heh, I also happened to visit and write about this place around this time. If you want more pics &#x2F; details: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;medium.com&#x2F;@wlycdgr&#x2F;soviet-arcade-museum-part-4-serious-games-part-2-extremely-serious-edition-now-its-really-fe89b10e054e" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;medium.com&#x2F;@wlycdgr&#x2F;soviet-arcade-museum-part-4-seri...</a><p>(There are more parts on my Medium and I think Vice ran a condensed version)

On a tangent, this reminded me of `Nu, pogodi!` which I used to play religiously as a kid back in Eastern Europe: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=8BnKowc7ssM" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=8BnKowc7ssM</a>

The tarragon drink mentioned in the article is widely available in Russia, and even in “exclaves” such as Russian grocery stores in Toronto (Yummy Market).

One of the very few advantages of growing up on the east side of the iron curtain was access to the entirely electronic Japanese arcades and the Russian mechanical games. The volleyball wasn&#x27;t half bad. There was also a space fighter with a periscope like divece and an array of mirrors. Some of these games were most fine, especially for their time

The “radish” game makes me think of Sonic Blast Man where you have to punch a paddle as hard as you can to win the game. I was working part time at an arcade that received one of those - very popular but we had to pull it after three weeks by which time six people had fractured their wrists and sued the arcade for damages.<p>The radish game sounds like it would avoid the issues Sonic Blast Man had, but if a game like that were released in the US I could see overzealous people throwing their backs out, pulling the cabinet over on themselves, or wanting to use trucks and construction equipment to try and get unnaturally high scores.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Sonic_Blast_Man" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Sonic_Blast_Man</a>

So many sweet memories of my childhood. And loads of coins drained ;)

Those vending machines are so nostalgic. Wish I could find some of them or build a lookalike :D

Any pics&#x2F;docs of internal workings? I&#x27;ll give it a look later but don&#x27;t expect much success as I don&#x27;t speak Russian.

How does the business side of this work in a communist country? Did the state order these companies to build these games?

&quot;basketball&quot; game logo looks like the Atari ;-}

title needs (2015)