Connal Hughes visited Moscow's museum of Soviet-vintage arcade games, a parallel gaming universe with some distinctive charms.
Alexander Stakhanov, the guy who met us at the door and one of the four people who started this museum, gave us a quick rundown about which machines work and which don't, how to put coins in (some are finnicky) and the general lay of the land. We actually understood most of it, though he was speaking rapidly and entirely in Russian. It wasn't until after he was done and I said to Anjel "maybe we can leave our coats here" that he realized that we were American.
He apologized for being able to speak so little English and we apologized for not being able to speak any Russian. He ran through a few of the key points again, handed us each a small plastic cup of 15-Kopek coins and excused himself to duck into the other room. At this point it was just a little after 7:30 and we were the only ones there. I took as many photos as I could before I just had to put down the camera and start playing.
Hours of fun!
Previously: Soviet arcade games: wonderfully horrible
The Extraordinary, Underground Museum of Soviet Arcade Games
