TITLE
Death Race Game Gains Favor But Not With the Safety Council
AUTHOR
Ralph Blumenthal
PUBLICATION
The New York Times
YEAR
1976
ARTICLE TYPE
Article
FROM THE ARTICLE
A new coin‐operated driving game called “Death Race” that puts players behind the wheel trying to run down humanoid figures on a television screen is apparently catching on in amusement parks around the country—to the outrage of the National Safety Council.For a quarter, a player gets a minute to chase and run down all the symbolic pedestrians he can. Hitting one of the figures rewards the player with an electronic shriek and points scored on a grave‐marker.
About 900 of the games have been built and sold so far to amusement arcades, fun parks and bars, according to the manufacturer, Exidy Inc., in Mountain View, Calif., halfway down the San Francisco peninsula.
Phil Brooks, the company’s gerieral manager, compares the game to harmless “carton.” He said in an interview: “It’s like laughing at ourselves. None of us drive all that well. It’s poking fun at our driving ability.”
But the National Safety Council is not amused. An article in the winter issue of the nonprofit service organization’s quarterly magazine, Family Safety, describes ‘Death Race” as “insidious,” “morbid,” “gross” and “sick, sick, sick.”
COMPANIES MENTIONED
Exidy
GAMES MENTIONED
Death Race
PEOPLE MENTIONED
Phil Brooks
Gerald Driessen
TOPICS MENTIONED
Violence
ALTERNATE LINK
Archived Copy @ Internet Archive
PRINT AVAILABILITY
December 28, 1976