Was there a US state where video games were banned by accident?
Upvote:15
This is probably in reference to several major US municipalities that banned pinball in the mid 20th century.
Often this was because gambling machines were starting to disguise themselves as pinball machines to skirt around anti-gambling laws. However, in at least one case in New York City, pinball itself was purposely banned for about 30 years, because Mayor La Guardia thought the machines were ripping off kids.
The pinball industry got Manhattan courts to overturn the ban in 1976(PDF) when the court found there to be an actual element of skill to the games. Chicago and most other major cities followed in rescinding their bans. However, it looks likely (wasn't able to verify this to my satisfaction) it is still illegal to play pinball in Ocean City, New Jersey on Sundays.
I realize that pinball (usually) is not a "video game". However, "arcade" video games as we know them did not start to appear until the early 1970's and were likely in the same skill/chance boat as pinball in cities that banned pinball. The history of the medium does show an explosion of new games starting in 1976. It's tough to discredit the possibility that the fall of the pinball game bans in the same year might not be entirely unrelated to that.
More post
- 📝 What is Adios Bruce Lee?
- 📝 Did the medieval Europe have an active "lowbrow" culture?
- 📝 Financing of the Continental Army vs. Legion of the United States/United States Army
- 📝 Has there ever been a US election that flipped as many state seats as the 2010 midterm elections?
- 📝 Flag of Paris: Why blue and red?
- 📝 Was America behind any 'false flag' bomb attacks in Saigon in the early 1950s?
- 📝 Does a description of the original design for the Great Seal of the United States by Simitiere survive?
- 📝 What was the opportunity cost to bombing the rail lines to Auschwitz?
- 📝 How can a diamond shape be a reference to Napoleon?
- 📝 Why did the ancient Romans use groups of eight?
- 📝 Was Nazi Germany still burning books in 1935?
- 📝 Was there social pressure among whites for slave owners to trade their slaves north in the 1850s?
- 📝 Are Chinese and Iranian "blocky" writing styles related?
- 📝 Could someone help to identify this Japanese mon found on what appears to be a late Edo Period Jingasa?
- 📝 To What Extent Were St. Augustine's Just War Principles Used In The First Crusade?
- 📝 Organisation of mercenaries
- 📝 Why was US President Truman "on the high seas" when the Hiroshima atomic bomb was dropped?
- 📝 Are there any examples of localized micro-conflicts in Mexican history?
- 📝 Why didn't the Hungarians help the battle of Kosovo?
- 📝 Why was the shape of German states pre-WWII (especially Prussia) so complicated?
- 📝 Did Soviet Union really consider using atomic bomb against US aircraft battlegroup?
- 📝 Was there any practical use for German spiked helmets (Pickelhaube)?
- 📝 Why didn't the Arab states industrialize?
- 📝 How secret was the US and British involvement in the 1953 Iranian coup d'état?
- 📝 Was being in the KKK politically/socially acceptable in early 1900's American South?
- 📝 When is it okay to use the word "Indian" when meaning "Native American?"
- 📝 Has more than 1/3 of Congress ever opposed a war?
- 📝 Why was New Guinea not colonized by Austronesians the way Indonesia was?
- 📝 Did the Weimar governments publish revelatory WWI documents?
- 📝 How common were marital duels in medieval Europe?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Was there a US state where video games were banned by accident?
- 📝 Was there a state in history where influence of sport fans on politics was greater than in medieval Byzantine Empire?
- 📝 Was there ever a war mission where the personnel were instructed to surrender when the mission complete?
- 📝 Were there actually slaves in Georgia while slavery was banned there?
- 📝 Was there ever a situation where members of two warring militaries were on leave in the same neutral location?
- 📝 Were there many "co-headed" commands where the senior member was younger than the junior?
- 📝 Was there ever a type of powered model car/vehicle racing, where the cars were in no way controlled, and were all on the one single shared track?
- 📝 What kind of ink was used by medieval scribes in Iceland, given that there were no plant galls for iron-gall ink?
- 📝 Were there ever wars/battles where infantry were given multiple rifles to speed up rate of fire?
- 📝 Were there any wars in ancient Greece where religion played a major part?
- 📝 Did the Russian Empire have a claim to Sweden? Was there ever a time where they could have pursued it?
- 📝 Has there been an occasion where ranged weapons were available but not used?
- 📝 How was Hadrian's decree banning circumcision enforced? Were there mandatory body check or something similar?
- 📝 Was there any time in non-recent history where it was fashionable to wear ripped clothes?
- 📝 Was there a case where a king died while the heir to the throne was unborn?
- 📝 Were there many instances when an "overaged" commander was at odds with a much younger second in command?
- 📝 Was there ever a case where *physically* exporting fiat money caused severe damage to an economy?
- 📝 In Scandinavia, was there a cultural continuity from Goths to Vikings or were they two different groups of people?
- 📝 Was there a particular area of Victorian London in which bookshops were concentrated?
- 📝 When was the last time there were border controls, customs, or border patrols inside what is now the contiguous US?
- 📝 Were there attempts to rename the French language Prussian order Pour le Mérite, why was it never Germanised?
- 📝 Are there notable incident(s) where Russia/SU was wrongfully accused by Western powers in the 20th century?
- 📝 During World War II, were there any parts of the Japanese overseas empire that was capable of local re-supply?
- 📝 Was there a state or kingdom in the Maghreb of North Africa that predates the founding of Carthage?
- 📝 Were there any role-playing games in medieval times?
- 📝 Were there cases where an ethnic newspaper had the highest circulation in a country?
- 📝 Was there a battle were Russians forces rallied around a religious icon to achieve victory?
- 📝 Where were there fractal structures in ancient Rome?
- 📝 What incentives were there for Soviet and Chinese politicians to try climb to the top when there was so much history of deposing their own?
- 📝 Was there a period in history predating the 15th century where being bald was not looked upon negatively?