No Electricity Arcade.

[Aswald]

Here's an unusual post!

In a second-hand store, I read through a 1960s science-fiction paperback (one of those small ones).

It was about a Soviet experiment (of course) that caused electricity to no longer work, except for what sustains life itself in biological systems. Batteries were holding their charge, it was just that metals and the like could no longer conduct electricity.

Assuming that the necessities were safely handled (steam engines and other mechanical-energy things still worked, of course), and you wanted to build an arcade, but with no electricity, how would you do it?

Keep in mind that mechanical energy works. Fiber-optic tubes are available, etc. We will also assume that alternate light sources, including those "Alladin" kerosene lamps, except not as delicate or hot, and a mechanical light with steel/sparks wheels, exist. As do effective glow-in-the-dark materials.

Hmmm...time's up for today. My ideas, later, but let's see how inventive we can all be!

[jasonlotp]

Without electricity you would die. Your heart would stop because the electrical impulses needed for your heart to be wouldn't be generated. Sci-fi always neglects that point. So an arcade wouldn't happen since everything would be dead.

[Reid]

Without electricity you would die. Your heart would stop because the electrical impulses needed for your heart to be wouldn't be generated. Sci-fi always neglects that point. So an arcade wouldn't happen since everything would be dead.


Lol very good point!

[XYXZYZ]

He said "except for what sustains life itself in biological systems.".

[boatofcar]

He said "except for what sustains life itself in biological systems.".

That's an easy thing to say, but how do explain how whatever knows?

[Cryomancer]

it's a theoretical situation. it's supposed to be fun.

steam-powered pacman would be interesting...i suppose you could make the "screen" be fiberoptic points and just shine the particular color of light you need through...making it all work properly would be crazy but probably *possible*

otherwise bowling, pachinko and skeeball all the way i suppose

[Pete Rittwage]

I'd have to power it with an extracted human-heart, since they apparently still work. :)

[CosmicMonkey]

Well if you can use Biological systems, I'd generate power from humans. I'd plug their brains directly into this big computer I call 'The Matrix'.... no wait O_O

[Pantechnicon]

Tangential book recommendation...

http://www.clarkesworldbooks.com/images/large/055329461X.jpg

Cyberpunk novel circa 1855. Pretty cool book.

[goemon]

I'm sure you could run an entire casino without electricity - old slot machines were mechanical, as were pachinko machines and roulette wheels. Just use some gas lamps so the players can see.

[nik]

I'm sure you could run an entire casino without electricity - old slot machines were mechanical, as were pachinko machines and roulette wheels. Just use some gas lamps so the players can see.

Cheaters galore though, but it would work!

[goemon]

I'm sure you could run an entire casino without electricity - old slot machines were mechanical, as were pachinko machines and roulette wheels. Just use some gas lamps so the players can see.

Cheaters galore though, but it would work!

Do what they did in the old days - you get caught cheating, you get beat up by the pit boss in the back room.

[Ed Oscuro]

Oh, there certainly are no-electricity arcade games.

Pinball machines, ever heard of them? :D


Tangential book recommendation...

http://www.clarkesworldbooks.com/images/large/055329461X.jpg

Cyberpunk novel circa 1855. Pretty cool book.
Argh, I need to pick that up sometime. John Clute says it's almost as if the difference engine itself somehow gained intelligence and is writing the book.

Anyhow, I imagine it'd be possible to have an arcade game without classical electrical systems (not even going to tackle the problems a "metals can't conduct" scenario makes; conductive matter constitutes the important parts of your nervous system), say you could have the screen be made of pigments flowing rapidly in and out of tiny little cell membranes. The hardest parts would be making that sufficiently fast, and coordinating the whole system with a nervous system. Nerves work very fast, though, so it might be possible.

[Jorpho]

Remember the shooting gallery from Back to the Future 3? I remember seeing some odd little coin-operated animated dioramas at Madame Tussaud's in London that might be adapted somehow.


Argh, I need to pick that up sometime. John Clute says it's almost as if the difference engine itself somehow gained intelligence and is writing the book.

It has its charms, but it's also the sort of thing you might expect from Sterling and Gibson. What did they call those giant screens of flipping wooden blocks, again?

[Aswald]

Well, for starters, you could have Pole Position type games.

In the 1970s, the arcades I went to had them. It was a little toy car, on a rod, which you could move with a steering wheel. The whole thing went on a conveyer belt, with walls with tunnels, and "rival cars" coming at you. As time went on, it got faster and faster, and parts of it- I don't know the exact mechanics- could be repositioned as the game went on, either randomly or in some pre-set manner.

The only electric parts were the lights (actually, just one), and the movement of the belt itself. Both of which can be done easily without electricity.


It's no stretch from there to imagine a space game, built along similar lines. Instead of a car, you'd have a spaceship, which could fire small metal balls at the oncoming targets, or at "gates" to open barriers to allow you to proceed. This would be a cross between the above and a "gunfight" game we had when I was a kid.

Even a breakout-type game might be possible. The wall would be several rows of tiles which you'd hit with a small metal pinball, with a "paddle" which would propel the ball when you hit the trigger to strike it. Resetting the wall would be the tricky part, but maybe this could be accomplished by rods which could only all activate the resetting mechanisim once all the tiles were "down" and they could all push through, like a sort of key. Of course, the game would be at a tilt so gravity would bring the ball back down, and you could even have obstacles popping up at intervals between your paddle and the wall.

As for the one-on-one games: a more sophisticated version of the classic Rock `Em Sock `Em Robots. The "platforms" they would be placed on before the game would have rods, the robots holes at their base. These rods allow certain abilities, such as a "spear" rod from certain robots- others would have, maybe, fewer weak spots, a shield, better reach but poor defenses, etc.

Hell, you'd even have music- instead of modern jukeboxes, records would be back, and here it'd probably be a rack of them, 45s, played by one of those -up phonographs, operated by the owner, or some old guy supplementing his pension.



As for the "no life possible" bit- COME ON, man, this post was based on a dime-store sci-fi novel from the 1960s! The premise is no dumber than Godwin's moronic non-law, or the idea that computers would make everything better (which turned out to be not to be a prediction, or even sci-fi, but pure fantasy).

[Aswald]

You know, you could write a whole series based on that idea- because you could describe how society would work.

For one thing, if this phenomenon was a one-shot deal, and did not extend too far beyond our planetary system, then any new incoming metal- meteoric iron- which could be seen and located would conduct electricity. Therefore, such a substance would be infinitely more valuable than gold or platinum. There would be fighting among prospectors and countries over it.

Communication, aside from letters, could be done quickly by flash towers like they had in old Europe. You'd relay messages from tower to tower.

Steam engines would work, so you'd have a better public transportation system based on buses and trains.

However, the most interesting part would be...us. No more chatting or text-messages on phones. No more Internet chat rooms. No more...you get the idea. Those signal towers would be reserved for important communications, so no gossip that way- it would have to be letters, or person-to-person discussion. Societies, mores and behaviors would be forced to change. Mechanics, farmers, blacksmiths, people good at coming up with alternatives to electrical devices, and the like would become visibly important for society. Refrigerators would be either iceboxes, or those "missionary refrigerators" that use flame/evaporation (I've seen them- kerosene powered) would be used. Communities would have to become more self-sufficient. Movies would exist, the light provided either by fiber-optic conducting light (film is highly flamable), or prisms from a more-distant kerosene light (super-bright). Live performances would become more popular, since television, DVDs, etc. would no longer work.

Landfills would become stuffed with forever-useless equipment...

Hmmm...I've got a spare silver 5-piece. Think I'll go down to Vinnie's Arcade down by the canal (water wheel), and get a few games of Space Shoot, Drive Fast, and Breakout, and maybe a few pinball games...

[Jorpho]

For one thing, if this phenomenon was a one-shot deal, and did not extend too far beyond our planetary system, then any new incoming metal- meteoric iron- which could be seen and located would conduct electricity. Therefore, such a substance would be infinitely more valuable than gold or platinum. There would be fighting among prospectors and countries over it.

In a pinch, a tube of salt water will also conduct electricity. Arguments might also be made for organic conductors.


Steam engines would work, so you'd have a better public transportation system based on buses and trains.

Since when were steam engines feasible for public transportation? You'd be better off with horse-drawn carriages. Sterling and Gibson did explore the idea of how steam technology might have been improved with aerodynamics and other modern design techniques, though.

...And I suppose that's the crux of your idea, as people did well enough without electricity and rapid communication for hundreds of years, though modern design techniques are not necessarily entirely reliant on such things.