Soviet Arcade Museum

[scotland]

I always associated arcade games with being a bougeois form of capitalist entertainment...so never thought the Soviet Union would have had any use for them. For the most part, this story indicates that is true. No Pac Mania at the Kremlin, no Donkey Kong competitions. However, this story does point a light at what they did have. .. going back to about 1960
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-alternate-universe-of-soviet-arcade-games

I am an American and old enough to remember when the Cold War was very real, and the Soviets were respected but also the other nuclear armed super power with most of those missiles pointing at the US. They were never alien, as seen in spy movies, they were often just counterparts in some dangerous game.So this article is interesting to me, as insight into those counterparts.

The museum in St Petersburg, formerlly Leningrad when it was in the USSR, has recovered and refurbished 60 Soviet era arcade machines (that still use Soviet coins). Many are electromechanical games, as their domestic manufacture began about 1960. Most seemed to have scavenged later on for parts, and were never common to begin with. The story talks about the games needing to be aligned with the politics of the State, which meant no fantasy environments - no mushroom kingdoms for instance. The photos have several light gun games and driving games...which makes me think of the Italian Job but with Trabants. Wonder what Soviet kids, our counterparts of the day, in 1991 would have thought of the Hunt for Red October on a NES.

[tortimer]

Now those are some vintage arcade machines.

If there were a way for them to bring this collection over to the States (including especially the blue car parked out front) I think it would be a point of interest for a lot of enthusiasts. How I would love to try some of these and get a closer look at those tokens. Just the typography alone gives everything that 1980s Cold War sensation and kind of makes me feel like watching Cloak & Dagger again.

Thanks for sharing.