QUARANTINE BLOG # 254

December 9, 2020

Armed with a pocket full of quarters, we are heading back to the video arcade for one last visit during this series.

Intellivision was not an arcade game, but a home video game console released by Mattel Electronics in 1979.  The name Intellivision is a portmanteau of “intelligent television.”  Development of the console began in 1977, the same year as the introduction of its main competitor, the Atari 2600 (if memory serves, our first video game system).  It was in stores nationwide by mid 1980 with a pack-in game (Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack), and a library of ten cartridges.  Games development continued until 1990 when the Intellivision was discontinued.  From 1980 to 1983 over 3 million Intellivision units were sold. 

Every cartridge produced by Mattel Electronics included two plastic controller “overlays” to help navigate the 12 keypad buttons, although not every game made use of the keypad.  

One of the slogans of the television advertisements stated that Intellivision was “the closest thing to the real thing.”  One example in an advertisement compared their baseball game with Atari’s, side by side.

As Brian emailed from Victoria, his favorite games were not shooter types, bang up the car, weird monster/space things etc., but the featured “reality” ones (like the baseball) of Intellivision. 

Well, Intellivision Entertainment announced recently that it will launch its new Amico video game console April 15, 2021.  The company also announced 20 new games for the “reboot” console (with a total of 30 in the works).  You can pre-order at http://gamestop.com.

Console and controller are pictured in "glacier white." It is also available in "graphite black," and for an extra $40 "galaxy purple."

Side Bar Your Honor: One of the games from the new-to-soon-be-released Intellivision version is “Cornhole,” produced in cooperation with the American Cornhole League.  That’s right.  The game where you throw beanbags at a hole has a league, and they’ve signed a television deal with CBS to air the 2021 ACL Pro Shootout Series on CBS Television Network.  Oh, if you want to throw real beanbags, you can join a league in one of the 14 conferences.

And now, as promised, my two favorites.

First, Pac-Man.  Pac-Man was a widespread critical and commercial success, and it has an enduring legacy.  The game is commonly listed as one of the greatest video games of all time.  The success of the game led to several sequels, merchandise, and two television series, as well as a hit single, “Pac-Man Fever” by Buckner and Garcia.  The Pac-Man video game franchise remains one of the highest-grossing and best-selling game series of all time, generating more than $14 billion in revenue (as of 2016) and $43 million in sales combined.

The objective of the game is to eat all of the dots placed in the maze while avoiding four colored ghosts – Blinky (red), Pinky (pink), Inky (cyan – blue for we non-artists), and Clyde (orange) – that pursue him.  

The key to playing Pac-Man, and the reason I spent so many quarters in it, was to learn “the pattern,” actually there were 4 patterns, but I never got far enough in the game to need the 4th one.  

The game becomes unplayable at the 256th level – after about 5 hours of game play – due to a programming glitch that affects the game’s memory.  This screen was the ultimate goal of Pac-Man players.

Here is a 6 minute video where you can learn all the patterns.

Q*bert is my all-time favorite video arcade game.  The objective of each level in the game is to change every cube in a pyramid to a target color by making Q*bert hop on top of the cube while avoiding obstacles and enemies.  At the beginning, jumping on every cube once is enough to advance.  In later stages, each cube must be hit twice to reach the target color.  Other times, cubes change color every time Q*bert lands on them, instead of remaining on the target color once they reach it.  Jumping off the pyramid results in Q*bert’s death.

My best Q*bert memory was playing games in an arcade with The Bro.  I don’t remember where we were – may have been at the Cumberland Maryland Mall – but I was racking up free games on Q*bert and a kid was standing, watching me play.  Kyle said, “Give him the joy stick, and let’s go.”  It was like that famous Coca-Cola ad.

Because I have gotten carried away with this trip down memory lane and into the joys of the video arcade, we’ll wrap up Perry Mason tomorrow.

👉  Second Wednesday in Advent

A Secret World of Possibility

“At that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.’  ... Then turning to the disciples, Jesus said to them privately, ‘Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!  For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.’” (Luke 10:21, 23-24).

Jesus was always the teacher, always wanting his disciples to understand better what he was up to.  The problem was that much of what he told them did not fit their categories, so they were more often bewildered by his teaching rather than illuminated.  It turned out, as they came to understand only later, that he was talking about another world than the one they thought they had in hand.  It is something of a secret world, deliberately hidden from those who think they already know everything and control everything.

Jesus blurts out this remarkably enigmatic statement, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see” (v. 23).  After he said this, he extended his claim about odd seeing even further: “For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it” (v. 24).

The disciples are contrasted with the best minds culture can provide, with prophets and with kings.  Prophets are those who have entry into supernatural mysteries, and kings are those who have all the power, central surveillance, and intelligence, and therefore access to everything.  Naive like babies, the disciples have access, so says Jesus, that neither prophets nor kings, neither the humanists nor the scientists, have penetrated.

On the face of things, it seems evident that the wise knew best, and the powerful were in control, and the shrewd always win.  There is lots of evidence for such a view.  But the Bible keeps stirring the pot, raising questions, and giving hints that in the mercy and power of God, this is not quite an accurate reading of the world.  There is a kind of power exercised by the weak, that is liberating and transformative.  If you do not want to miss out, you must pay attention to that other world, that unreasonable, inexplicable world saturated with God’s holiness, that is in the long run more decisive and more satisfying than the available world offers.

Lord, open us more and more to this alternative world in which your grace and power are revealed through the weak and the vulnerable.  In this Advent Season, may we find our deep satisfaction in that unreasonable, inexplicable world saturated by your holiness.  Amen.

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