WEBVTT - Arcades: Nostalgia Abounds 0:00:00.600 --> 0:00:05.720 Hey, everybody, we are doing a Northeastern swing for our 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:09.119 twenty twenty three tour and which includes one day in 0:00:09.200 --> 0:00:12.080 dear old Canada. Right, that's right. We're gonna swing it 0:00:12.160 --> 0:00:15.560 up starting May fourth at the Warner Theater in DC. 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:18.480 It's gonna be amazing. May fifth, we're gonna be at 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:21.200 the Chevalier, which you have to say with your pinkie 0:00:21.239 --> 0:00:24.360 in the air. That's in Boston. And then Chuck. May six, 0:00:24.400 --> 0:00:29.160 we're finishing up in Toronto, Ontario at Massey Hall. It's 0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:32.760 going to be massive at Massey Hall. That's right. Our 0:00:32.760 --> 0:00:35.480 first shows went great earlier this year. It's a great 0:00:35.520 --> 0:00:38.199 topic and we are super super excited to take it 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:42.839 to DC, the Boston metro area in Toronto, yep. So 0:00:42.960 --> 0:00:46.440 go to link tree slash SYSK live for tickets and 0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:49.240 for you oldsters like us, that's l I n K 0:00:49.479 --> 0:00:53.640 t R dot E slash SYSK Live. We'll see you 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:58.360 guys in May. Welcome to Stuff you should know, a 0:00:58.480 --> 0:01:08.080 production of Iheartradiot. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, 0:01:08.080 --> 0:01:11.319 and there's Chuck and Jerry's here somewhere running around like 0:01:11.360 --> 0:01:14.040 a chicken worth or head cut off like headless Mike, 0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:17.560 and that makes this stuff you should know, Mike, or 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:21.800 headless chicken. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, we're immediately reminded me 0:01:21.800 --> 0:01:26.360 of the mcnaggan. What lets I mentioned that way back then, 0:01:26.400 --> 0:01:29.520 there's a just look at mcnagan. It's a fried chicken heads. 0:01:30.120 --> 0:01:33.600 It's a fried chicken head that's slipped into some fried chicken. 0:01:34.040 --> 0:01:36.920 Oh at a restaurant. Have you ever eaten an h 0:01:37.000 --> 0:01:40.200 and F home in and finch? Uh? Yeah, yeah, I've 0:01:40.280 --> 0:01:42.720 had that burger at Pond City Market where we used 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:44.840 to have our studios. Oh, if you go to the 0:01:44.959 --> 0:01:49.640 flagship restaurant, fried chicken heads are on the menu. No, really, yes, 0:01:50.120 --> 0:01:52.840 And when you eat one, you're like, I've gone too far. This, 0:01:52.840 --> 0:01:57.280 this dinner has turned into a blood orgy. Basically, I 0:01:57.360 --> 0:01:59.880 have never am sending you the mcnaggan right now, just 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:02.400 because that's the kind of stuff we're doing. Now that's 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:05.000 i'll lose. This has gotten here. I'll do a typing 0:02:05.000 --> 0:02:09.600 sound effect. Do do? All right? Feast your eyes on 0:02:09.639 --> 0:02:14.600 the mcnoggan, and let's talk about arcades. Ah, yes, let's 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:17.960 I'm really excited about this one, Charles, because both of 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:21.880 us we're kind of we hit two different sweet spots 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:24.040 with this, right. I mean you were in the Golden 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:28.400 Era and I was in the Silver Era? Am I correct? Yeah? 0:02:28.440 --> 0:02:31.160 I mean you you were kind of you probably went 0:02:31.240 --> 0:02:35.320 to the Golden era time written from going to a 0:02:35.360 --> 0:02:38.480 little Yeah. Yeah. My mom was like, that's a drug 0:02:38.520 --> 0:02:43.959 den right, which is funny because I went to a 0:02:44.040 --> 0:02:46.040 lot of arcades, and I know I was a naive 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:49.120 little Baptist boy, but actually, what am I saying? There 0:02:49.160 --> 0:02:51.320 was probably drugs all over. Yeah, You're like, why are 0:02:51.320 --> 0:02:56.440 you acting so goofy Todd, geez, get it together. But 0:02:56.520 --> 0:03:00.440 we're talking about mainly the Golden Age of arcades? What 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:03.560 else is it? Dovetail with you? Said Bob for us 0:03:03.560 --> 0:03:06.000 and what I was part of the Silver Age? Is 0:03:06.000 --> 0:03:07.920 that with you? Okay? I thought that was one additional 0:03:07.960 --> 0:03:10.920 thing you were going to say, No, I don't think so. Okay, 0:03:11.280 --> 0:03:13.680 Well this dovetails nicely, I think with our episode on 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:17.760 Nintendo obviously totally and in fact we've had this. Dave 0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:19.840 Russ helped us out with this one. Dave rus Co, 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:24.440 creator of the hit podcast Biblical Timing. But he wrote 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:27.639 this a while ago. But I've been sort of sitting 0:03:27.639 --> 0:03:32.280 on it until Nino the Nintendo stank were off. And 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:34.560 did we do one on Atari or not or just 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:38.320 the one with Strickland. I think on Atari. No, I 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:40.400 definitely did a two parter on tech stuff, but we 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:44.240 did not. We did the et game the writer, Yes, yes, Okay, 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:46.440 did that one. Yeah. We've talked about the video game 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:49.360 Crash of nineteen eighty three like multiple times. And we 0:03:49.400 --> 0:03:52.040 did pinball. We did do pinball, and that actually kind 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:54.720 of factors in remotely. We won't go into it much, 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:59.200 but pinball kind of prefigured the video game arcade in 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:02.760 a lot of different ways, not the least that it 0:04:02.920 --> 0:04:06.920 had an unsavory reputation among parents and kids love to 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:11.840 go play there. But after pinball kind of stopped being 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:13.840 as much of a thing, there was a little bit 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:17.280 of a drought until we pick up and I think 0:04:17.279 --> 0:04:21.279 that say the seventies, the early seventies, late sixties, with 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:25.080 a young man, an electrical engineer from University of Utah 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:30.640 named Nolan Bushnell. Nolan Bushnell figures into this story as 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:32.839 much as you can figure into the birth of the 0:04:32.960 --> 0:04:38.680 arcade because he was a nerd. He was in all 0:04:38.720 --> 0:04:42.720 the best ways. He was an e major at Utah, 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:46.520 Like you said, and when you were a nerd in 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:51.480 university in the late nineteen sixties early seventies, you're gonna 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:55.640 start playing very rudimentary computer games and think they are awesome. 0:04:56.480 --> 0:04:58.400 In that very first game that he played was one 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:02.480 in from six two developed an MIT called space War. 0:05:04.000 --> 0:05:07.040 Yeah with a big fat exclamation yeah, And it spread 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:10.440 very quickly among nerds in college all over the country. 0:05:10.480 --> 0:05:13.440 It was a big deal. Um. But you say that 0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:18.200 that um Nolan Bushnell was like an important figure, You 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:22.240 can actually kind of make an argument that this may 0:05:22.279 --> 0:05:24.880 have never happened had it not been for him, because, 0:05:24.880 --> 0:05:28.800 as he kind of recounts later, well, listen, there was 0:05:29.080 --> 0:05:31.560 no one in the same position that he was in 0:05:31.680 --> 0:05:34.880 probably in the world, because he had an electrical engineering 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:37.359 degree and he played he played games on computers, so 0:05:37.400 --> 0:05:40.599 he knew about video games like I should say video 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:43.400 game because there was basically just one at the time. Yeah. Yeah. 0:05:43.960 --> 0:05:47.320 And then he also um and during summers, and then 0:05:47.360 --> 0:05:50.960 shortly after he graduated college, he was the games director 0:05:51.240 --> 0:05:54.239 for an amusement park outside of Salt Lake City called Lagoon. 0:05:55.440 --> 0:05:58.800 And there's seriously probably no one else on the planet 0:05:58.839 --> 0:06:02.600 that had that varience with computer games and also with 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:07.159 UM arcade games like pinball or ski ball, was one 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:11.840 UM who could have kind of synergized them the way 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:16.520 that Nolan Bushnell did create Atari. M that's my take. 0:06:16.960 --> 0:06:19.440 Do you have a thing against Nolan Bushnell? No, But 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:22.880 I'll tell you what is Nolan Bushnell still around? I 0:06:23.080 --> 0:06:26.640 don't know, my friend, he loves you. If he is, 0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:30.039 I will say that why because you're saying he's the 0:06:30.080 --> 0:06:32.000 only one that could have done it in the world 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:33.840 and that it wouldn't have happened without him. He's like, 0:06:33.920 --> 0:06:37.599 you can make a h Clark praises right now. Well, 0:06:37.640 --> 0:06:39.640 Nolan Bushnell, if you're out there, I think that that 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:42.560 demands that you get in touch and thank me. Yeah, 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:46.360 it's in some of that arcade money, Josh Way sure, 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:50.400 but you are right, and that he had um he 0:06:50.480 --> 0:06:55.000 had an economic understanding that proved to be pretty key, 0:06:55.160 --> 0:06:59.520 as in, he uh, he knew what it cost to 0:06:59.560 --> 0:07:02.839 like build the game in a game cabinet, he knew 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:05.119 how much they had to make to make that money 0:07:05.160 --> 0:07:09.560 back and turn a profit. So just sort of learned 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:13.880 knowing the economics of how this stuff worked, and like 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:16.840 you said, also being into the games was a It 0:07:16.920 --> 0:07:19.720 was a key reason this all happened. Yeah, so he 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:24.920 saw a real opportunity to do something big and he's 0:07:24.960 --> 0:07:27.840 alive by the way. Okay, cool, well then yes, please 0:07:27.840 --> 0:07:31.720 do get in touch Nolan Bushnell. Yeah. Um, he recruited 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:35.480 a guy named Ted Dabney who together they went on 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:39.400 to found Atari with another guy named al Alcorn. Alan Alcorn, 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:45.240 and the three of them created a first a rip 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:48.640 off of Space War called computer Space in nineteen seventy one, 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:50.920 and a lot of people say, like, it wasn't it 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:52.720 wasn't a good It wasn't a good game. It was 0:07:52.800 --> 0:07:56.720 too hard, because the whole point of creating a game, 0:07:56.760 --> 0:08:00.520 they found out after this first attempt is to make 0:08:00.560 --> 0:08:05.200 it just hard enough to keep people interested, but easy 0:08:05.320 --> 0:08:08.440 enough that you can play it while half drunk. Yeah, 0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:12.280 like easy to play, hard to master. Yeah, because these 0:08:12.320 --> 0:08:17.400 these coin operated games, their first targets were bars. So 0:08:17.600 --> 0:08:20.720 computer Space it's very frequently said it's a commercial failure. 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:24.760 But um, Nolan Bushnell, my new friend, he points out 0:08:24.800 --> 0:08:26.960 that we sold enough of these units that we were 0:08:27.000 --> 0:08:30.240 able to go on and found Atari. Yeah, so they 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:32.920 actually did sell some. It went okay, but again it 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:35.440 was supposedly way too hard, and they took that as 0:08:35.440 --> 0:08:37.520 a lesson learned and they moved on the next year 0:08:37.720 --> 0:08:41.880 to create Pong. Yeah, they said, all right, you want easy, right, 0:08:42.240 --> 0:08:44.480 let me introduce you to Pong. And I know I 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:47.360 mentioned this on the Strickland's episode, but I had the 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:49.720 you know, and I think you were kind of the 0:08:49.760 --> 0:08:53.240 same and your family sort of you know, middle class 0:08:53.280 --> 0:08:56.120 folks who a lot of times got the knockoff versions 0:08:56.160 --> 0:09:00.079 of whatever, whether it was ping, the where those the 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:02.080 the not quite eyes odd shirt or the not quite 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:05.440 Monga's bike. I had Knights of the round Table knock 0:09:05.480 --> 0:09:08.440 off polo shirts. Yeah, I had the not quite Pong, 0:09:08.520 --> 0:09:10.960 which it was I believe the Sears and Roebuck version 0:09:11.000 --> 0:09:13.679 of Pong it always is. Yeah. I don't know what 0:09:13.720 --> 0:09:15.679 it was called, but it was essentially the same thing, 0:09:15.720 --> 0:09:19.560 which is um ping pong or table tennis. It was 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:23.840 called ganap. Was it really the Sears version? No, that's Pong? 0:09:24.120 --> 0:09:28.320 Okay backwards, Oh, I got you, boy. That was slow 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:30.040 on the uptake on that one. So okay, there's somebody 0:09:30.080 --> 0:09:32.800 out there laugh. But Pong was based on a nineteen 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:38.160 fifty eight video game um Tennis for two. Did you 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:41.120 see video of that game of Tennis for two? Yeah, 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:45.480 it's played on a radar oscillator. Yeah, like the same 0:09:45.559 --> 0:09:49.240 kind of like round fish eye screen. Yeah, yeah, that 0:09:49.320 --> 0:09:53.360 you use for like to detect missiles in nineteen fifty. 0:09:53.440 --> 0:09:56.120 That's how the game is played. But it's actually pretty 0:09:56.160 --> 0:09:59.240 sophisticated if you watch it. Yeah, there was another game 0:09:59.280 --> 0:10:01.360 that was on a round screen? Was it the um? 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:05.240 Was it computer Space? Did you see that one? I 0:10:05.280 --> 0:10:08.320 didn't know. Was that a square screen? I don't know. Anyway, 0:10:08.360 --> 0:10:10.319 something in my memory bank tells me there was another 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:13.480 one on a round screen because they just you know, 0:10:13.520 --> 0:10:16.160 that's what graphic screens were like in the sixties. They 0:10:16.160 --> 0:10:19.040 were radar screens. Yeah, but I mean this thing was 0:10:19.080 --> 0:10:22.280 like it's almost like they broke into like a d 0:10:22.440 --> 0:10:26.320 O d um missile silo and hooked up their controllers 0:10:26.320 --> 0:10:28.160 and we're playing Tennis for two on it. That's what 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:31.840 it looks like in this video. Yeah. Uh. And you know, 0:10:31.840 --> 0:10:34.720 while we're singing Bushnell's praises for creating Atari and launching 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:39.120 the arcade basically the modern arcade. He also was one 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:44.440 of the founders of Charles Entertainment Cheese, better known as 0:10:44.520 --> 0:10:46.840 Chucky Cheese, which is still around. Yeah, have you ever 0:10:46.840 --> 0:10:48.520 seen I'm sure we've talked about it before, but have 0:10:48.559 --> 0:10:54.200 you seen the rock Afire Explosion documentary? The what so 0:10:54.960 --> 0:10:57.640 Chucky Cheese has his band like they have like the 0:10:57.679 --> 0:11:02.560 live animatronic band at their ch Cheeselo Showbiz Pizza had 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:06.400 their own called rock Afire Explosion. I think a Gorilla 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:08.960 was like the lead singer, and it's very cute, same 0:11:08.960 --> 0:11:11.480 thing animatronics. They sang some songs and stuff like that, 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:16.679 and they made a documentary about people whose passion in 0:11:16.720 --> 0:11:21.280 life is finding and rescuing and restoring old rock Afire 0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:25.520 Explosion setups. Oh wow. It's one of those like really great, 0:11:25.600 --> 0:11:29.040 like social interest documentaries that like just kind of fly 0:11:29.160 --> 0:11:31.120 under the radar. But it's like, this is one of 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:33.280 the best documentaries I've ever seen in my life. It's 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:35.800 just great. Yeah, I gotta check that out. Please do 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:39.120 check it out. Its Rockefire Explosion. I think it's mid adds, 0:11:39.440 --> 0:11:42.360 maybe twenty seven or eight. I love anything where someone 0:11:42.520 --> 0:11:45.959 takes old stuff and restores it for even if it's 0:11:46.000 --> 0:11:48.200 just for display or whatever. Okay, well, then I have 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:50.920 something else to tell you. I was saving this for 0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:53.319 the end. But I happened I don't even know how 0:11:53.360 --> 0:11:56.680 I happened upon this. There's a website called Aussie Arcade 0:11:57.000 --> 0:12:00.440 and it's almost like a news server, list serve or 0:12:00.480 --> 0:12:03.520 something like that. But I found a post called Atari 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:07.280 Star Wars Cockpit Restoration. So you remember the Atari Star 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:13.800 Wars game? Do you remember the sit down version? H yeah? Okay, 0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:16.520 So a guy in Australia got his hands on one 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:19.800 of these that's seen better days and he spent nine 0:12:19.880 --> 0:12:23.199 months restoring it like and I don't mean the outside, 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:28.240 I mean the wiring. He resal soldered the wires, he 0:12:28.400 --> 0:12:32.199 like electro plated the metal parts. Again, it's one of 0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:35.640 the most amazing things I've ever seen in my life. 0:12:35.640 --> 0:12:38.760 And he chronicled it exhaustively. So if you want to 0:12:38.800 --> 0:12:41.040 like spend an hour just being impressed, go look for 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:45.040 Atari Star Wars Cockpit Restoration by Womble Wombles, the guy 0:12:45.080 --> 0:12:48.200 who did it on Aussi Arcade, and you'll just be wowed. 0:12:49.120 --> 0:12:50.720 All Right, I'm gonna I know what I'm doing for 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:52.600 the rest of the day. Now at least you'll like it, Chuck, 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:55.000 I promise. And it's not a video, it's just it's 0:12:55.280 --> 0:12:59.520 photos and like explanations and stuff. Okay, all right, So 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:03.400 back to Ellen alcorn in. Pong Pong was a huge hit. 0:13:04.360 --> 0:13:06.920 They put the very first one in a bar and Sunnyvale, 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:10.400 California called Andicaps, which is kind of fun, one little 0:13:10.600 --> 0:13:14.080 historical footnote and a couple and this is like the 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:16.840 movie version. Two weeks later they called and said, hey, 0:13:16.880 --> 0:13:19.680 it just sing's not working anymore. And they go over 0:13:19.760 --> 0:13:22.160 and then I was like, here's your problem, and they 0:13:22.200 --> 0:13:25.760 opened the coin catcher and like a million dollars spills out. 0:13:26.640 --> 0:13:28.440 But that's how the story goes. It was basically so 0:13:28.559 --> 0:13:33.080 popular it was jammed with quarters, and they sold eight 0:13:33.160 --> 0:13:38.880 thousand pong cabinets in the face of knockoffs because it 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:41.400 took a year to get the patent for pong, so 0:13:41.480 --> 0:13:43.840 they were knockoffs being sold and they still ended up 0:13:43.840 --> 0:13:48.040 selling thirty five thousand total pong cabinets. Yeah, they sold 0:13:48.080 --> 0:13:50.000 eight thousand just the first year, and that was with 0:13:50.120 --> 0:13:56.320 six people building them. That's in a pong cabinet in 0:13:56.360 --> 0:13:59.880 a bar in today's dollars could bring in close to 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:04.720 one hundred grand in quarters. Wow, every single year. If 0:14:04.720 --> 0:14:07.080 you had one of those in your bar. I think 0:14:07.120 --> 0:14:10.480 they were saying it was bringing close to in today's 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:14.120 stellars about two hundred and seventy dollars. And of course 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:15.640 that's if it's played every day. Of course you can 0:14:15.679 --> 0:14:18.160 be closed on Christmas. Sure, Oh you did the math? 0:14:18.240 --> 0:14:20.000 Is that where you got it? I did the math, 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:23.120 but I sort of round it up still. I'll bet 0:14:23.160 --> 0:14:26.520 Andy Kapps was open Christmas. But it was also a 0:14:26.520 --> 0:14:30.040 good place to meet somebody if you were interested in them, 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:32.720 because it was a good way to have a conversation. 0:14:32.880 --> 0:14:36.240 You played side by side. It was a social lubricant 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:40.800 because you were drinking at a fern bar, a Harvey wallbanger, 0:14:40.920 --> 0:14:43.760 playing pong, and you know, meeting some ladies down at 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:50.360 the Regal Beagle exactly. So this was nineteen seventy three. Yeah, 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:54.640 nineteen seventy three. So Atari went from not existing you're 0:14:54.640 --> 0:14:56.680 coming out with its first game in nineteen seventy one, 0:14:57.160 --> 0:15:00.640 to having a smash hit and actually creating stand up 0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:05.160 coin operated arcade video games as an industry, from nothing 0:15:05.920 --> 0:15:09.320 to in nineteen seventy three to nineteen seventy four selling 0:15:09.320 --> 0:15:13.480 out to a tar to Warner Brothers or Warner Communications 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:15.600 for twenty eight million, which is almost one hundred and 0:15:15.680 --> 0:15:20.600 fifty million today and sorry, in six years. That's crazy. Yeah, 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:24.920 I mean that's definitely worth singing the praises. Yeah, absolutely, 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:29.320 And you know, Dave argues that the golden Age was 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:34.040 seventy eight to eighty two. I would argue it trickled 0:15:34.040 --> 0:15:36.680 into eighty three and people were still going into arcades 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:40.520 in eighty four and eighty five. But I think he's 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:43.160 probably pretty close because eighty three, as we'll see later, 0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:48.560 is if you look at data, is when gross profits 0:15:48.680 --> 0:15:51.480 you know, really kind of didn't bottom out. But we're 0:15:51.480 --> 0:15:54.040 a lot less than during those previous four years. Yeah, 0:15:54.080 --> 0:15:57.440 I think it was like eighty four, maybe especially eighty four, 0:15:57.480 --> 0:15:59.520 but probably in the eighty five it was like a 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:03.920 dead man walking. You didn't know it. Yeah, but yeah, 0:16:03.920 --> 0:16:06.600 people were still I mean, those those video arcades that 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:10.000 started to spring up like mushrooms all across the country. 0:16:10.000 --> 0:16:14.000 I think in nineteen eighty two there were thirteen thousand 0:16:14.080 --> 0:16:17.320 arcades in the US and let's just get the straight 0:16:17.800 --> 0:16:23.240 five six years before there were probably zero, and all 0:16:23.240 --> 0:16:25.840 of a sudden there were thirteen thousand arcades. There were 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:29.880 tons of companies that were getting into creating and designing 0:16:29.920 --> 0:16:33.520 and building these stand up cabinets that were sent to 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:36.360 all of these thirteen thousand arcades in the United States, 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:40.360 and it was just the thing. It was the biggest 0:16:40.400 --> 0:16:44.360 thing around at the time. Yeah, I mean, I can, 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:46.480 off the top of my head, I can think of 0:16:46.600 --> 0:16:52.720 four arcades that were within twelve minute a twelve minute 0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:55.520 drive from my house in suburban Atlanta, I see. I 0:16:55.800 --> 0:16:57.640 The only one I could come up with was the 0:16:57.720 --> 0:17:00.640 one at Southwick Mall and Toledo that I wasn't allowed 0:17:00.680 --> 0:17:04.280 to go to. It was called Red Barns And Okay, 0:17:04.440 --> 0:17:06.479 I don't even remember what it looked like inside. I 0:17:06.480 --> 0:17:08.400 saw pictures of the old sign. I was like, yeah, 0:17:08.400 --> 0:17:12.119 that's it. I just remember it being dark. And I 0:17:12.160 --> 0:17:14.399 think I met gone in there once as a slightly 0:17:14.440 --> 0:17:16.960 older kid, after I was like allowed to do whatever 0:17:17.000 --> 0:17:20.159 I want, you know, like age twelve. Yeah, and um 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:24.880 and uh, it was, you know, kind of like this 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:27.639 neat place that I wasn't allowed to go to before. 0:17:27.680 --> 0:17:31.880 But it kind of missed, you know what I mean. Yeah, 0:17:31.920 --> 0:17:33.879 you know, if I wish one thing for you, it 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:37.160 would be that so that you were just a little 0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:39.040 bit older. Yeah, and then and then you could take 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:40.560 those years off because I don't want you to be 0:17:40.720 --> 0:17:42.879 my age. I want you to be my age in 0:17:42.920 --> 0:17:46.040 the eighties. That would be really neat. I wonder when 0:17:46.040 --> 0:17:48.399 we'll start doing that, we'll start playing with age and 0:17:48.480 --> 0:17:51.119 experience like that. I have an idea. I want to 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:52.840 tell you this. I think this is so cool. I 0:17:53.160 --> 0:17:55.440 there's no way I can possibly do this, so I'll 0:17:55.480 --> 0:17:57.480 just share it with the universe and maybe somebody can 0:17:57.480 --> 0:18:00.720 do it. Okay. Imagine, so we've got like AI that's 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:02.919 starting to get pretty smart all of a sudden, and 0:18:02.960 --> 0:18:04.320 if you listen to the End of the World with 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:07.000 Josh Clark, that may not be a good thing I'm saying, 0:18:08.240 --> 0:18:11.000 but they're the AI that's starting to be deployed is 0:18:11.040 --> 0:18:13.240 getting smarter and smarter and more and more humanlike and 0:18:13.280 --> 0:18:16.160 more and more capable. And one thing I thought would 0:18:16.160 --> 0:18:19.560 be really cool as if the AI that's out there 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:25.119 today could study the different stats and footage of every 0:18:25.280 --> 0:18:29.439 NBA player that ever existed. Okay, and then eventually you 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:32.399 can say, I want the eighty eight Lakers to play 0:18:32.480 --> 0:18:37.560 the twenty fifteen heat and the AI would play a 0:18:37.680 --> 0:18:41.080 simulated game that would play out probably exactly like it 0:18:41.119 --> 0:18:43.160 would have played out in real life if you could 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:46.720 actually do that. I mean they do those simulated games 0:18:46.760 --> 0:18:52.879 now for like this the big game for super Bowl. Yeah, 0:18:52.920 --> 0:18:55.399 I thought we weren't allowed to say that was the 0:18:55.400 --> 0:18:59.080 super Bowl. Police can come get us. Uh. Yeah, they 0:18:59.359 --> 0:19:04.040 played those those um computer sims. But I don't know 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:07.199 if it's as like robust as you're probably thinking. And 0:19:07.280 --> 0:19:09.479 I don't know if they have done like matching up 0:19:09.520 --> 0:19:12.320 classic teams, because that would be pretty fun because that, 0:19:12.600 --> 0:19:14.600 especially in the NBA, that's a big argument of like 0:19:15.200 --> 0:19:19.800 you know which era was best or whatever. Um So anyway, 0:19:19.800 --> 0:19:22.600 the arcades, I had four that I can think of 0:19:22.560 --> 0:19:26.640 off the dome that we're within fifteen minute drive. Uh. 0:19:27.440 --> 0:19:30.960 Kids in the eighties were Ferrell basically, Um, if you're 0:19:31.080 --> 0:19:33.840 a younger person and you watch Stranger Things and you think, like, 0:19:34.240 --> 0:19:36.959 was it really like that? Yes, it was really like that. 0:19:37.080 --> 0:19:40.760 You would you would come home. My mom was at home, 0:19:40.800 --> 0:19:43.040 but I would basically come home and immediately leave again 0:19:43.400 --> 0:19:47.840 most times and not come back until after dark. Latchkey. 0:19:47.920 --> 0:19:51.800 Kids would come home to an empty house and then 0:19:51.960 --> 0:19:54.200 go somewhere else or have friends over, or go straight 0:19:54.200 --> 0:19:58.000 to a friend's house, and we just didn't have oversight 0:19:58.240 --> 0:20:02.879 um somehow, you know, most of us did, okay, at 0:20:02.920 --> 0:20:04.879 least me and my friends did. Like there were no 0:20:05.000 --> 0:20:07.600 I'm sure there were plenty of tragedies, but not in 0:20:07.640 --> 0:20:10.800 my room. We all did fine. Yeah, I mean there 0:20:10.840 --> 0:20:12.760 would be a tragedy once in a while, it would 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:16.000 make sure and scare everybody, but it was so few 0:20:16.040 --> 0:20:19.080 and far between at the time. Yeah. But one thing 0:20:19.119 --> 0:20:22.440 I wanted to get into with Dave. He kept saying, 0:20:22.440 --> 0:20:26.840 like quarters, quarters, quarters. In the early days of arcades, 0:20:27.400 --> 0:20:29.320 at least at the ones I went to, there were 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:32.879 not quarters. There were tokens. Oh yeah, yeah, and you 0:20:33.720 --> 0:20:36.080 they had deals going like a game didn't cost a quarter. 0:20:36.160 --> 0:20:38.959 A game cost depending on the deal that day. If 0:20:38.960 --> 0:20:41.240 you went on like a Tuesday, you would get like 0:20:41.480 --> 0:20:45.320 twenty tokens for a dollar or something like that, like 0:20:45.320 --> 0:20:48.880 they would have like double token day, and a game 0:20:49.000 --> 0:20:51.600 was never a quarter, so you could play and play 0:20:51.600 --> 0:20:55.760 and play forever for five bucks because games ran on 0:20:55.800 --> 0:20:57.879 tokens that were not the value of a quarter. And 0:20:57.920 --> 0:21:00.960 then eventually, of course quarters or maybe in some places 0:21:00.960 --> 0:21:04.000 they already used them, but then the quarter became like 0:21:04.040 --> 0:21:06.560 a fifty cent game was like whoa like, are you 0:21:06.640 --> 0:21:09.280 kidding me? And now when you go to like a 0:21:09.359 --> 0:21:12.960 Dave and Busters, you get a pay fifty dollars for 0:21:13.080 --> 0:21:16.040 some card and you didn't even know how much you're 0:21:16.080 --> 0:21:18.040 paying per game unless you read the fine print. You 0:21:18.119 --> 0:21:21.120 just buzz your card. It's you know, it's over. It's 0:21:21.119 --> 0:21:23.800 several dollars probably, yeah, for sure, I'm sure probably five 0:21:23.800 --> 0:21:26.480 bucks a game maybe, and some for the big, big ones. 0:21:26.560 --> 0:21:29.520 But it's a different I mean, I went to a 0:21:29.600 --> 0:21:32.840 Dave and Busters recently with Ruby, and it's not a 0:21:32.840 --> 0:21:38.720 ton of just regular old arcade games, big things and cranes, 0:21:38.760 --> 0:21:44.560 grabbing stuffed toys and interactive stuff. It's fine, it's fun. Yeah, 0:21:44.640 --> 0:21:47.200 it's just not a video arcade. A video arcade. And yeah, 0:21:47.320 --> 0:21:49.320 late some of these and early eighties was a very 0:21:49.440 --> 0:21:54.119 specific space. It was dark, there was very few people 0:21:54.200 --> 0:21:58.360 over the age of eighteen or nineteen in there. It 0:21:58.480 --> 0:22:02.520 was just it was a kid's place. And like you said, 0:22:02.560 --> 0:22:05.560 kids were ferrel at the time, and you could your 0:22:05.560 --> 0:22:08.160 parents didn't know where you were, so you could spend 0:22:08.160 --> 0:22:09.960 as much time as you wanted or as much money 0:22:09.960 --> 0:22:13.159 as you had at the arcade or out in the 0:22:13.200 --> 0:22:18.879 woods or doing whatever, and so because that this was 0:22:18.920 --> 0:22:21.840 like a new thing. Like kids were I think allowed 0:22:21.840 --> 0:22:24.720 to like kind of roam free in the mid seventies 0:22:24.720 --> 0:22:28.119 for sure, and definitely before that too, but they didn't 0:22:28.160 --> 0:22:31.440 have this place to go to. Maybe a pinball arcade 0:22:31.480 --> 0:22:34.040 was there or something like that, but nothing like this. 0:22:34.640 --> 0:22:39.520 And the difference between a pinball machine and at nineteen 0:22:39.640 --> 0:22:43.800 seventy nine stand up art video arcade machine is just 0:22:44.440 --> 0:22:47.919 mind boggling, especially if you're playing this thing in nineteen 0:22:47.960 --> 0:22:51.560 seventy nine and your only exposure previously was two things 0:22:51.560 --> 0:22:55.760