Ready Player One

8 Bit

8 Bit by Matt Williams

Donkey Kong, Space Invaders, Pac Man, Centipede, Defender. These Eighties arcade video games and others are imbedded in my formative memory. The arcade defined a cultural moment in that era and led to home consoles, online gaming, and the multibillion dollar video game industry of today. Matt Williams, a mechanical engineer and die cast machinist from England, has been creating a unique trilogy of nostalgic gaming puzzles that incorporate thematic mechanisms into the puzzle solutions. His first two creations, the Bandit and Pinball Wizard, were remarkable in execution, production value, and fun, and he does not disappoint with the final installment in the series based on the classic arcade console, 8 Bit.

got a pocket full of quarters and I’m heading to the arcade …

Like the 8 bit processors that enabled the now amusingly more “complex and colorful” games of that era, along with their tinny soundtracks (which were like symphonies compared to the monotone pings of games like Pong), Matt’s 8 Bit continues to push the boundaries of what to expect in a self contained mechanical puzzle. Like an automaton from the Victorian era, 8 Bit comes to life as discoveries are made. The impressive appearance alone makes you wonder, and maybe hope, that it might do … something … but that seems ridiculous. How could that really work? And yet … you really do play a video game with this puzzle! Matt has outdone himself.

MWTv unplugged

“So the idea was a long process of deciding where to go after pinball as at that time I didn't have an idea. I toyed with a coin pusher machine and a fortune teller machine like in the movie Big but in the end I settled for a driving game as I already had an idea for the main mechanism which I wanted to utilise in this puzzle.

wood panel prototype - courtesy of Matt Williams

The early prototype had wooden side panels which I really wanted to use but being only 5 or 6mm in thickness this caused problems with the wood warping in different climate's so after trying different materials I settled for a matte finish cast acrylic which I found works great with the look of the puzzle.

you’ll solve it bit by bit

I also sadly had to remove a sound effect that was on the prototype as it was not robust enough and prone to break so had to remove that aspect.

race to the bottom

The building process is extremely time consuming as all parts are hand made by myself in my workshop. Unfortunately I don't have CNC machines so everything is made manually so to make every part 200 times is very difficult so I'm considering making smaller batches moving forward to free up more time so I can hopefully focus on prototyping more which is very much the fun part lol.”

you won’t want to steer clear of this one

8 Bit is a fantastic addition to the series. Once you discover the very creative and unusual first move, things start to happen and progress, and before long you may be living out your Formula 1 dreams. What’s even more remarkable is how that delightful and ingenious piece of engineering is incorporated into the endgame and goal. Matt’s game series puzzles are immersive experiences that do present tricky puzzles to solve, but feel like playing a game at the same time. It’s wonderful fun to be had and not to be missed.

No Quarter by Keith Corwin

Here’s a toast to the 8 Bit era, when pixelated possibilities were exciting and new, for the low low price of admission. The drink was created by Brooklyn bartender Keith Corwin while at the Thelonious Bar in Berlin, back around 2016. Keith was looking to put “an amaro or kräuterlikör cocktail on the menu.” Jägermeister is likely the most famous of the kräuterlikör family, a brooding bunch of dark, rich and bitter German herbal liqueurs akin to amaro. It’s not Jager’s fault that it was brilliantly marketed to American collegiate party goers in the Eighties, possibly while they were playing Pac Man.

give no quarter

Once again I realized I did not have any Jägermeister in my well stocked cabinet, and relied on a homemade substitute I came up with a while back that captures the basic flavors if not the true “spirit” using Averna amaro and Underberg in a 2:1 ratio. Corwin explains the structure and provenance of his tasty cocktail: “I wanted to take a classic (Vieux Carré in this case) and swap in Jägermeister to show off its refined side. To do that, I needed something to stand up to its intensity. So Smith & Cross [a Jamaican pot still rum full of personality and “hogo”] it was. The name was a later modification. The Smith & Cross gave “no quarter” to the Jägermeister. And of course, Vieux Carré means “Old Quarter”.” Cheers!

playful pair

No Quarter by Keith Corwin

1 oz Smith & Cross rum

1 oz Jägermeister

1 oz sweet vermouth

1 bsp Benedictine

1 dash Angostura bitters

1 dash Regan’s orange bitters

Stir ingredients with ice and strain into a favorite glass over a large cube. Orange twist.

on your marks … get set … GO!

GAME OVER