Starcade
I stumbled across the Starcade website the other day and about lost my lunch. The clothes, the goofy contestants, the oh so cool games from the 80s.
For those of you not old enough to remember, video games used to be played at a place called the “arcade“. We would actually leave our house and go play games with friends from all over town at the mall, or Putt-Putt, or even the bowling alley. The only draw back was that you needed to get a ride and usually had to take your kid sister, or brother, and watch her spend all your extra tokens because she sucked at ski-ball and wouldn’t leave you alone until you gave her more.
Starcade came out on TBS in 1983 while I was still in High School. Being po’ and living way out in the country I didn’t get to the arcade all that much until I started driving. Then you couldn’t get me to leave. Anyway, Starcade only ran in 83 and 84 and it featured some of the coolest games out at the time, along with some of the coolest hair.
The premise of the show was that you would answer a question Jeapordy style, first one to buzz in got a shot at the question and the bonus points. Then each contestant would play a video game for 60 seconds (then 50 then 40 and finally 30 for the grand prize). That score was added to your quiz score. Highest score at the end of the show got a chance at winning their very own arcade game. I don’t know about you, but I can’t think of a prize that would make a kid wet himself more than having your own Donkey Kong in your bedroom.
The show didn’t last all that long. Partly because the video arcade craze was already starting to die out with the NES hitting shelves in 85 and partly because the show really did sort of suck. It’s never been really exciting to watch someone else play a video game. Try sitting through someone struggling with GTA to see just how boring it can be.
If you think you are up to it, you can head over to the Starcade episodes page and try to sit through an entire episode without wondering if you will ever get that time back.
Anyone have a Dragon’s Lair or Star Trek Vector Game (sit down preferred) sitting around they want to get rid of?