Pac-Comrade

Behold 'Poly Play', the only video game produced in East Germany. (Found via Lileks, of course.) I thought the Trabant was the most pathetic thing produced in the DDR, but it looks like I was wrong. (The disco lettering used at the top of the machine - in 1985! - is a nice touch.)

It's always fascinating, and almost touching, to see the way bureaucrats in the worker's paradise tried to come up with half-assed copies of Western consumer goods to try and keep the masses happy. This 'Ostaligie' site is in German, but the links on the left-hand side of the page take you to dozens of photos showing what the good people of East Germany could buy with their hard-earned ostmarks. There mere thought of East German lemonade or instant coffee is a pretty good appetite suppressant.

Posted by damian at July 16, 2004 07:03 AM