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History of video games in communist Poland?


renix  
1 Mar 2019 /  #1
hi! im working im a project about videogames during cold war era

and i want to know about videogames in communist poland

how did they get videogames? were they prohibited? it was difficult or expensive to get videogames or hardware? ETC

please take your time, thanks for considering my request, if you have some videos, pictures or text send it to me please.

i want to know about videogames, electronic games, arcade, pc gaming, made in poland or bought from abroad.
Bagel  
1 Mar 2019 /  #2
snitch based game :)
kondzior  11 | 1026  
1 Mar 2019 /  #3
@renix
There have been no copyright laws back then, so the shops were selling cracked versions. You could also go to "giełda komputerowa" (computer marketplace) with your own magnetic tape/ latter with a diskette, and pay a small fee someone to upload the games of you choosing, from his collection. It was perfectly legal.
Dirk diggler  10 | 4452  
1 Mar 2019 /  #4
Tetris was the most popular video game at the time along with some Atari clones. Us and Japanese systems and early PC's were out of reach for 99.9% of people. Most young people could only access video games via coin operated arcades, which again were Russian knockoffs.

Video games weren't really popular. A hotter product would be a pair of Levi's or a black sabbath tape, even though they had no clue what the lyrics meant.
Miloslaw  21 | 4953  
1 Mar 2019 /  #5
A hotter product would be a pair of Levi's or a black sabbath tape

An Uncle and Aunt of mine used to pay for their holidays in Poland by taking a boot load of Levi's with them to sell. :-)
Atch  22 | 4203  
1 Mar 2019 /  #6
@ Renix, no, videogames weren't prohibited. It took some effort to get hold of them but it was possible and there was a lot of piracy so they were affordable and accessible.

Here are a few articles that will help you.

mywarsawdream.blogspot.com/2018/01/video-games-in-poland.html
culture.pl/en/article/pegasus-other-famiclones-how-polish-kids-discovered-nintendo-games-in-the-1990s

kotaku.co.uk/2018/10/26/from-piracy-to-billions-how-poland-became-a-video-games-nation
kondzior  11 | 1026  
1 Mar 2019 /  #7
I still remember playing, as a kid, "Raid over Moscow" on ZX Spectrum. And bombing the Kremlin. It was very popular game among the schoolboys.

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