Hi I wrote about the making of classic platformerChuckie Egg and talked to its creator Nigel Alderton. Please give it a read as I want to show there’s an audience for this gaming history stuff 🙏
www.theguardian.com/games/2026/a...
Rocket Shuffle cabinet restored. Owned by Larry Nelson, posted on the Shuffle Bowler / Ball Bowler / Skeeball Facebook group.
A Rocket Shuffle cabinet by Chicago Coin. https://www.nyeandcompany.com/auction-lot/coin-operated-arcade-machine-rocket-shuffle_e4045839be
Instructions panel from the Rocket Shuffle game. https://www.nyeandcompany.com/auction-lot/coin-operated-arcade-machine-rocket-shuffle_e4045839be
It's the beginning of the space age, but I also want to go bowling.
Rocket Shuffle by Chicago Coin satisfies both of those base needs! The 1950s - as encapsulated in a single cabinet.
Part I of a profile on the arcade game company GGI arcade-terra-incognita.blogspot.com/2026/04/ggi-...
Lou Zocchi passed away last week. The mystery of this 1973 Alien Space Battle Manual attachment TV game that shouldn't or didn't exist will forever remain a mystery.
bsky.app/profile/forb...
Columbus Ohio gamers have enjoyed a Star Trek game (Starship Enterprise) using AMT models for many years but now Louis Zocchi has developed a Star Trek game that can also be enjoyed on your home black and white TV set! Lou is selling his Alien Space Battle Manual for only $4.00 which includes the complete rules, Star Trek ships, and information on some of his other games. Spartan International plans to sell the TV attachment within a year. Meanwhile the TV version may be played at many Spartan Game Conventions across the country.
In Zocchi's TV game, you only see the portion of space directly ahead of you. Move your toggle switch and space swings in front, revealing new vistas. Proceed dead ahead and the 3-D images will disappear off the edges of the screen while more become brighter in the distance. Squeeze the switch and a phaser beam goes straight to the center of your screen damaging any opponent's ship or space station you may have sighted on.
The Sept 1973 issue of People's Computer Company had more details on this confusingly anachronistic game. What happened to it? Was there ever a working unit at all? I tried to contact Lou Zocchi years ago for more details but it sounded like he was having health issues and I never heard back.
Claiming ot be the biggest simulation gaming even of 1973 is EAST CON III scheduled for July 7th and 8th at the Hotel McAlpin, 34th and Broadway, in New York City. Co-sponsored by the SICL and the AGA, the emphasis in the East Con III will be on competition. All sorts of tournaments in a variety of categories will be held including an Avalon Hill Classics tournament with trophies and $175.00 in cash going to the top three finishers. Miniatures, Chess and Diplomacy competitions will also be held. Among the other attractions will be a magic show by talented entertainer (and designer of LUFTWAFFE) Lou Zocchi, and a demonstration of an electronic space warfare game played on television screens!
The very first issue of 1973 wargaming magazine the Avalon Hill General contains a surprising reference to "a demonstration of an electronic space warfare game played on television screens." I had to know more...
That Philbrick computer is insane I love it.
Come see me talk with @katewillaert.bsky.social , @playhistory.bsky.social and @theycreateworlds.bsky.social at the Midwest Gaming Classic this Saturday! Hear us gush about our favorite historically neglected video game artifacts of the 70s!
The show has not been officially recording things for a while, but I will at least film the 70s arcade games panel.
Jeremy Parish & Kate Willaert: Metroid + ’Vania: The Greatest Genre at 40 2:00 pm – 2:50 pm, Panels and Presentations The two most prominent (or at least loudest) chroniclers of Metroidvania history look back at the genre on this landmark anniversary. Why was 1986 such a watershed moment? What the first “true” metroidvania? And why do people keep trying to make the name “search action” a thing?
Kate Willaert: The Forgotten Decade: Historically Important Arcade Games Of The '70s 3:45 pm – 4:15 pm, Video Game Stage Every gaming documentary begins the same way: There was Pong, there was Space Invaders, and then the ’80s happened. Is it true that nothing else important of note happened in the arcade in the ’70s? Or have a number of early, foundational arcade games become forgotten because they’re un-emulatable, and as a result inaccessible? We’ll tell you all about the Top 5 most important arcade games of the ’70s that weren’t Pong or Space Invaders. Kate will be joined by Alexander Smith of They Create Worlds, Ethan Johnson of Play History, and Nathaniel Lockhart of Memory Machine.
This is going to be so cool!
Metroidvanias with @jparish.bsky.social
‘70s arcade history with @playhistory.bsky.social @theycreateworlds.bsky.social @nathaniellockhart.bsky.social
Historian Alex Smith (author and host of They Create Worlds) joins us for the latest Video Game History Hour podcast to challenge the prevailing “Genesis does what Nintendon’t” narrative in the early '90s: gamehistory.org/episode-154-sega-in-the-...
I also snuck a brief preview of Ben Solovey’s digitization in my Mario video:
youtu.be/gsCWPserdrs
Oh, and a few years ago there was another Wild Gunman sighting in a recently digitized short film from the Netherlands (After hitting the play button, scroll down to "Programma En Segmenten" and click the 2nd option, which is with both video and sound):
zoeken.beeldengeluid.nl/program/urn:...
Gorge did a reality-style series on YouTube where he didn’t label or tag any of the games featured, guaranteeing they won’t show up in relevant searches. A detailed look inside a Wild Gunman revision showed up here:
youtu.be/3eHM3DkPZO8?...
Here’s a great summary of this week’s Wild Gunman ‘74 news, plus a rundown of previous notable YouTube sightings. Only thing it’s missing is a mention of Florent Gorge, who previously published some research in an out of print book (History Of Nintendo Vol. 1) and in an unlabeled YouTube video.
A resurrection of the classic Wild Gunman EM film game by Nintendo! Keep an eye on this one.
Historically, you also get a version of the "Nolan creation myth" from Marshall Caras - a distributor who later joined Atari in a marketing role.
These news reports are always treasure troves - whether visually or information wise. Be on the lookout!
Or how about the extremely important - still not emulated - Tank by Atari (basis for the VCS pack-in game Combat)?
Seeing these games in their natural environment is always a delight as you get a real sense of how they were played.
Tweakbod has uncovered an incredible piece of footage from circa 1975 showing off TTL arcade games!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZKh...
My favorite is finally getting a look at Ramtek's Baseball in motion - which confirms its similarities to Tornado baseball, sans player animation.
In this translated interview from 1979, then-Sega Executive Vice President Hayao Nakayama discusses the company’s operations, bootleggers, and the recently-acquired Gremlin Industries. He also provides insight into Sega’s corporate composition, priorities, and sales.
www.sega-16.com/2026/04/clas...
Just in time to be supplemented by the latest Video Game History Hour!
gamehistory.org/episode-154-...
Our first delve into Kent Vol. 2 is now up and available!
youtu.be/T9hH0377HRM
Enjoy the howlers like, "Sega still exists" and "I'm gonna tell a lie so I can debunk it" along with a hyper-focus on America!
Bob Jacob wanted to put Hollywood into a game box and nearly pulled it off. Defender of the Crown, Wings, Rocket Ranger, and a football game that quietly inspired EA Sports, all from a studio that lasted five years. youtu.be/EN43CmoJpyc #Cinemaware #DefenderOfTheCrown #RetroGaming #GamingHistory
I'm not making an errata for Volume 2 because I don't think it's seeped into the pop culture as to warrant that treatment, but Kent hasn't gotten better in 20 years.
Read this if you want a fuller breakdown of his failings:
thehistoryofhowweplay.wordpress.com/2021/12/27/w...
I don't know if Kent really just didn't understand the quote or if he only wrote down a snippet of it once upon a time and never looked again.
His sourcing in the book is completely haphazard. Sometimes he cites stuff directly, most times he doesn't. The editor should be fired.
https://web.archive.org/web/20070117020158/https://blog.wired.com/games/2006/11/scea_vp_on_back.html
So I tracked down this quote to the original article - turns out Kent had cut off the majority of it that explains what the issue was.
In the early models, there were some issues with compatibility, notably with titles like Final Fantasy VIII. It wasn't a lack of ability to paly the older games.
In the first proper book chapter, Kent quotes an interview (done by @kohler.bsky.social) and states that the PS3 did NOT have backward compatibility.
I immediately knew this was wrong. All models of the PS3 had that, though they switched from hardware to software later on.
Our first reading of Kent Vol. 2 will be up tomorrow, but I need to take a minute to report his sloppy, unprofessional reporting.
I know it's not a shock for anyone who's followed me, but I think pointing out concrete examples is kinda important to show why I don't trust him on basic facts. 🧵
L'Éclair countertop gun game cabinet. https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/1930s-leclair-mechanical-coin-op-shooting-arcade--403-c-138422f90f
The front of a restored L'Éclair machine. https://www.kentonline.co.uk/canterbury/news/auction-of-unique-collection-of-slot-machines-159645/
Top view of the L'Éclair machine, showing the target hole. https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/1930s-leclair-mechanical-coin-op-shooting-arcade--403-c-138422f90f
A beautiful penny pistol: Early model countertop shooting game L'Éclair by Louis Loubet of Charlebourg france.
Note at the bottom that is has a dispenser - I'm sure those were just souvenir coins.
