I could have started with some hastily-cobbled together "in Soviet Russia..." joke, but really, these national treasures deserve a little more respect than that. From the 70s until the Soviet Union's demise in 1991, the state released around 70 videogames. Based mostly on early Japanese titles, they were sprinkled around "movie theaters, train stations and recreation centers" across the USSR. Why? They were there for the purposes of:

...entertainment and active leisure, as well as the development of visual-estimation abilities.

Entertainment and military training. War Games! So great. Four students at Moscow State Technical University have been working diligently on locating and repairing 32 of these machines, and have recently opened up the "Museum of Soviet Arcade Machines". In a Stalin-era bomb shelter.

Which is so rad my tie just rolled up. Wired paid a visit to the gang and took some photos, hit the link for the full gallery. Luke Plunkett

Soviet-Era Arcade Games Crawl Out of Their Cold War Graves [Wired]

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