He'd devour you, but he just ate

There are a number of games that could match this picture, but I think it's fairly obvious which one I'm thinking of.

And yesterday's game was スーパーマリオブラザーズ (Sūpā Mario Burazāzu), also known as Super Mario Bros. Mario was originally named Jumpman when he first appeared as the hero from Donkey Kong. He didn't get his name until he became the villain in Donkey Kong, Jr., and was named for the landlord of Sony Entertainment of America's property (apparently he kept asking for rent). But it was the arcade game Mario Bros. where the appeal of Mario took off. It was Shigeru Miyamoto's intent to put Mario in every game he designed as sort of an Easter egg character, but Mario became so popular after Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. that he created a game line of his own.

Mario also supplanted Donkey Kong as the mascot of Nintendo, something that Donkey Kong brings up at every Nintendo Christmas party, much to everyone's embarrassment.

I could really use some coins

If you can't get this one, you have completely missed out on games for the past twenty years. Seriously. Corporate mascot? Sequel after tie-in after sequel after tie-in sequel? No?

Day Eight's game is Dune. Here I'm thinking of the Avalon Hill game published in 1979, not the Parker Brothers movie tie-in published in 1984. Dune was designed by the Eon Games team of Bill Eberle, Jack Kittredge and Peter Olotka. The original theme focused around the Roman Empire (plenty of treachery and backstabbing there), but Avalon Hill was looking to publish a game in the universe of Dune, and asked them to retheme it. For the movie release, Avalon Hill printed a second edition along with a couple of expansions, Spice Harvest and The Duel.

Dune is planned to be re-released by Fantasy Flight Games, but because they can't afford the Dune license, it has been re-themed yet again and placed in their Twilight Imperium universe. Somehow I can't see it being the same.

Some days you get the worm, some days the worm gets you

So I'm sick, which is not all that great for beard growing or game inspiration. However, I'm watching Twin Peaks (directed by David Lynch, with Kyle MacLachlan and Everett McGill, and Miguel Ferrer -- as opposed to Jose Ferrer). And drinking some spiced cider, so I'm sure I'll be able to navigate my way out of this desert of illness.

Yesterday's game was Duck Hunt, released in 1984, first for the Famicom/NES system, and later as a game you could choose in the PlayChoice-10 standalone arcade unit. The notable feature of the game is of course your faithless companion mutt who laughs at you when you miss, and in some modes gets in your way (unfortunately you can't shoot him and continue -- except in some unofficial remakes).

Thus proving once again that mockery doth make the unremarkable memorable.

I think those dogs are laughing at me

So yesterday I was complemented on my stubble, which I will quite unblushingly take at face value (see what I did there). Clearly the beard part is a success so far, but this doesn't seem to be translating into the funds. I may have to resort to shaming people publicly if this doesn't improve.

The vintage game for Day Six is Pit, Parker Brothers' game of trading commodities. First published in 1904 and developed by noted psychic Edgar Cayce, Pit was probably (much like Monopoly, and many other games of the early 20th century) based on another game called Gavitt's Stock Exchange which was published the year before. In both games you are trying to collect all cards of one type by trading -- in real time, all at once -- with the other players. There's no guarantee you'll get what you ask for, and occasionally you'll get stuck with the Bull or the Bear -- think of the black queen in Hearts. The bell (which is essential, in my mind) is to indicate that you've collected all your cards and thus ends the round.

The commodities in the original were all grains and grasses, hence the picture. The later editions added oranges and sugar and the like, but still no pork bellies. No respect for the bacon.

I seem to be ready for my trip to Chicago

I'm not sure of the efficacy of commodity grains in producing beard hair, but with the application of sausage and bacon, you certainly can produce a manly breakfast. But I suppose the application of sausage and bacon makes just about any meal more manly. A shame they don't trade pork belly futures any more.

The game for Day Five was Missile Command, released by Atari in 1980 and designed and programmed by a team led by Dave Theurer. In the original plan for the game you had to defend the California coast from nuclear attack -- so the six cities are meant to be Eureka, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, and San Diego. There were also plans for a scanning radar, and for railroads to carry missiles to the defending batteries. However players got too confused with those features, and so Atari simplified and simplified to produce the classic game we have now. An excellent example of how less can be more.

I found no evidence that Ronald Reagan came up with the idea for the Strategic Defense Initiative after a 25-hour Missile Command marathon, but that doesn't mean it's not true.

Prepared to defend myself from my Day Four avatar

Enjoy the full whiskerage while you can -- I'm in a wedding tomorrow and so while abiding by the rules I will have to trim the neck region to avoid looking too disreputable. In the meantime, I hope my armament will be enough to protect my six cities.

Yesterday's game was Nuclear War, a card game designed by Doug Malewicki and first published in 1965. The game capitalizes on the fear of nuclear destruction prevalent at the time, with some rather dark humor. Each player represents a country and the goal is to eliminate the other players, either by playing propaganda cards (harder) or launching missiles (easier). However, if a player is eliminated via warheads, they can launch all their missiles, possibly leading to other players being eliminated, and thus to Mutually Assured Destruction.

An alternative could have been the computer game Balance of Power, designed by Chris Crawford. However, the goal there is to avoid nuclear conflict, not create it. If you fail and the world is destroyed, there are no glorious pictures of nuclear explosions. And no evil glee.

... You see, he thinks I'm crazy. And I'm the President. So I've got the box. Damn straight.

I think the beard growth is going to my head -- I've been having some funny thoughts about world domination. Unfortunately, my donations are still running a little low. Thanks to those who donated already, but if I don't get some more soon, I may blow up a little.

Day Three's game was the first major success for Nintendo and Shigero Miyamoto: Donkey Kong. Miyamoto-san wanted to create a game featuring Popeye, Olive Oyl and Bluto, but couldn't get the rights. So Popeye became the mustachioed Jumpman, Olive Oyl became The Lady and Bluto became Donkey Kong. There are some theories out there that the name Donkey Kong was due a mistranslation of "stupid ape," or perhaps a poor copy of "Monkey Kong," but Miyamoto claims that he chose the word donkey purposely to imply stubbornness. And originally Jumpman had to traverse a maze to catch Donkey Kong, but jumping was added as a mechanic to avoid the barrels -- and thus a legend was born. But more about him later.

By the way, "It's On Like Donkey Kong" was trademarked by Nintendo in 2010, so don't go using it as the title of your next big ska hit.

Some days you just feel the need to toss a barrel at a mustachioed hero

It's early in the month still, but not so early that I can't start working out to prepare for the manly contests to come. I'm sure lifting brewing equipment is exceedingly good for beard growth. I can feel my follicles straining as I type this.

Day Two's Post featured me as Rich Uncle Pennybags, the mascot of Monopoly. Sans mustache, of course -- it's still early in the month. And really, I still have most of my hair.

Hasbro's site still claims that Monopoly was originally designed by Charles B. Darrow, but the truth is a little more murky. The precursor to Monopoly was The Landlord's Game, designed by Elizabeth Magie in 1903 as a commentary on the evils of the rent system. She even tried to sell it to Parker Brothers, but they turned it down. Effectively after that, the design was taken over by the public, which through years of house rules and board changes eventually evolved the game into what we would recognize as Monopoly. Darrow tried to sell the evolved version (which others designed, mind you) to Parker Brothers twice, but it was only when they took notice of his huge sales that they sought him out. They also bought up the rights to all the other versions of the game, including The Landlord's Game (Parker Brothers was in many ways the Microsoft of their time). And thus the game designed for torturing younger siblings was released upon the desperate public of the Depression.

My Great-Great-Grandfather worked on the Baltimore & Ohio

Today I'm stepping it up a bit, and going for something a little more dapper. Not much to report beard-wise -- just a little prickly but otherwise nothing special to this normally scruffy engineer.

Yesterday's entry was of course Pac-Man, or as they say in Japan, Pakkuman. Pac-Man was originally developed by Tōru Iwatani for Namco, and released in 1980. It was named after the phrase "paku-paku taberu," which is slang that describes the noise the mouth makes opening and closing. Iwatani-san wanted to create a game that would attract girls to play, as opposed to the shoot-em-ups that were currently filling the arcades. He was inspired by listening to a group of girls talking about food in a cafe, and thus a game about eating was born.

Ms. Pac-Man, btw, was a copycat created by Midway in 1981, which was (clearly) even more targeted to the female audience (the official sequel to Pac-Man was Super Pac-Man). After a brief dispute, Namco got the rights to Ms. Pac-Man as well.

wakawakawakawaka

I'm running a little behind everyone as I have this thing called an anniversary on Halloween, so taking time off to shave and take pictures is not considered good form. But here you are, shaved freshly at 6:30 this morning.

In honor of my sadly defunct podcast, I'm going with a vintage gaming theme this year. I suspect this one won't be all that difficult for all the old fogies on this site to figure out.