Posted 7/15/2004 07:45:00 PM by Douglas

How did we defeat the evil empire? Simple. Our Pac-man was better than their Pac-man, or Poly-Play.

The Poly Play videogame was Eastern Bloc's answer to the capitalist's Pac Man but resembles something more like on old-fashioned TV set in a tall wooden cabinet.
Nevertheless, with up to eight games, a simple firing button and 8-way joystick, and a slot to take tokens rather than coins, the Poly Play is, in fact, less grim than it sounds.

Simon Webb, the curator of Swindon's Museum of Computing told BBC Wiltshire, "The story goes that this was the only arcade approved machine to be produced in East Germany and they used to go into places like municipal swimming pool and leisure centres.

"When the Berlin Wall came down, for some strange reason they recalled the machines to the factory and had them dismantled. A few were salvaged. There were probably about 1000-1500 made."

Even though I was a child of the 80s, I always thought Pac-Man was stupid, so I don't think the Rooskies really missed out on much. Other than the sound effects, but Lileks, as usual, nails that one:

The Evil Empire wasn’t just evil, it was also pathetic: behold the Eastern Bloc’s answer to Pac Man, “Poly Play.” It had no sound. Kids had to say “wocka-wocka-wocka” themselves as they played. You can imagine how your average East German kid would play this thing and realize, instantly, that it was an utterly insuperior knockoff, and that he lived in a failed society incapable of giving him anything that people in the West so casually enjoyed.

They even stole our fonts. Losers.

I read that part this morning, and I've had the "wocka-wocka-wocka" part stuck in my head all damn day. Thanks, James.