The horse jumped over the moon, the story of Namco, part 21

The previous blog talked about how Namco changed the attraction Magical Illusion multiple times over the life of Wonder Eggs. It evolved into Mirrorona / Miranda’s Psychological Labyrinth, The Fortune Telling Witches House, and finally the Wedding Judge. Each version had a tighter story. The elements that shaped each version made it more appealing to couples rather than general audiences. It was not the only one of Namco’s patented “Participatory Story Attractions” that evolved over the years. Many traditional parks featured a haunted house. These were often rides, but were also popular walk through mazes during the holidays. Wonder Eggs had a very unique haunted house that only got better with age.

When the park opened in 1992 the original version was called the Hotel Ghost. This attraction had multiple rooms where guests could watch the antics of the ghosts play out in front of them. There were animatronic characters, projection mapping on statues, pepper’s ghost effects in mirrors, and various other things to scare guests. Here was the original description of the attraction; “A number of mischiefs played out by ghosts at an old castle hotel. The mop moves on its own, the walls rotate, and they tease and play with the people who visit. In the dining room, be careful as the mirror will reflect differently depending on where you sit. “Room 204” also surprised me. Ghosts are waiting for you in a new type of haunted house that uses imaging and sensing technology.”

The Hotel Ghost was fun however Namco discovered that there was little reason for dreamers to return to it. Repeat visits at each attraction were crucial for the success of the park. So the team went back to the drawing board, and had an entirely new experience ready within three years. Hotel the Hell would debut in 1995 at Wonder Eggs 2. A new story, new rooms, and new play elements were added. Dreamers were given a wireless headset called a “Psycho Receiver.” It allowed them to hear the voices of the souls trapped within each room. The thing about the experience was that each person heard a completely different thing through their receiver.

The goal of the attraction was to figure out where the demons running the hotel had kidnapped the beautiful captive Helena to. The clues that each person got were pieces of a bigger story. They never contradicted each other, but forced guests to not only listen for clues, but also watch the changing rooms, and animatronics for information. Let’s say an elevator door opened, and closed quickly. If there were numbers, or a message written on the far wall then guests only had a second to memorize the scene before they were taken to another floor.

According to the official guide; “The challenges in the various rooms are very difficult to solve with one out of dozens being able to save Helena each day. It rivals the Tower of Druaga for its difficulty.” This attraction was popular with guests, and especially couples. It played like a murder mystery-meets-escape room. Two years later in 1997 an updated version called The Killing Hotel, also referred to as the Zombie Bride would debut. Once more the rooms, ghosts, and effects were changed. The attraction expanded to include the land around the Hotel. The story also changed tremendously. This time around a murderer named Jacob came back as a zombie, and hid the body of Mary somewhere on the property. It was up to dreamers to find her body before she came back as Jacob's zombie bride. It was speculated that the kidnapping and murder plot was changed to zombies because of the Kobe serial child murderer case which happened just before the attraction opened.

The wireless technology, and branching paths had been improved in the span of a few years. They were now called “Zombie Receivers” which still allowed dreamers to hear ghosts. Again each one got different messages, and clues as they went across the different locations. The hotel had everything from banquet halls where you could dine with ghosts, to a casino, and a barbershop. Dreamers were tasked with not only figuring out what happened to Mary’s body, but also where her soul was trapped. If guests managed to catch all of the clues they could enter a combination on a coffin, and it would open revealing multiple “souls.” These were actually Carnival Coins with different barcodes on them. Guests were only allowed to pick one which could be redeemed for a prize. Then they were then prompted to identify the location of the body. If they were correct then the hotel employees would reward them with a sticker as well. This version had multiple endings so visitors never got the same outcome twice. It greatly increased the repeat visits for the attraction.

Every good theme park needed more than memorable attractions. Wonder Eggs was no different in this regards. It had small, quick service restaurants. It also had at least three souvenir shops which sold exclusive Wonder Eggs merchandise, Namco arcade items, and products from the kid friendly Namjatown (which was short for Namco Japanese Town). These stores were Daimaru which sold mostly stationary items. The Pyrallis Pockets sold souvenirs featuring the lovable Pyrallis characters. There was also the Seventh Grocery, which was often decorated, and sold seasonal items. The park was a hit with locals, and tourists. Within a year it had a million visitors. This inspired the team at Namco to propose a second gate. If Wonder Eggs was a park that had a classic fantasy theme then this second park would be inspired by the future of play. The name was Tamago Teikoku aka the Egg Empire.

Namco was able to secure a little bit more land on the site of the old Futakotamagawa amusement park. Once more it was all hands on deck. The mandate was to build a new park within a two years. It was the same pressure cooker mentality that delivered Wonder Eggs from the studio just two years after Expo ’90. Were they able to hit the mark? Or did they have to cut corners? We will look at this in the next entry of the blog series. I hope to see you back for that. Were there any defunct parks that you visited? Please tell me about it in the comments section. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Wonder Eggs, and Egg Empire research collected from: Wonder Eggs Guide Map, Namco Graffiti magazine, the book “All About Namco II", NOURS magazine, The Namco Museum, Namco Wiki, Ge-Yume Area 51 Shigeki Toyama Collection, mcSister magazine, first person attraction details from Yoshiki. Event details from Hole in the Socks

The horse jumped over the moon, the story of Namco, part 20

In the previous blog I talked about one of the attractions that wasn’t a repeat draw when Wonder Eggs opened. Magical Illusion was a sort of mirror maze / fun house / art installation. It was designed for couples, and families to explore. It was similar to the pop up installations today where people took selfies for their social media. But this was way back in 1992, decades before Instagram or TikTok. Magical Illusion did well with first time visitors, however since it wasn’t a ride there wasn’t a reason for repeat visits. Namco went back to the drawing board.

Namco had already pioneered Hyper Entertainment a few years prior with the Tower of Druaga, and Galaxian³. These were the types of attractions that turned riders active participants. Namco founder, and CEO Masaya Nakamura had been pushing towards the development of hyper entertainment since 1987. After he had a chance to ride Star Tours at Disneyland, and had a meeting with George Lucas in Los Angeles. He felt that movies, amusement attractions, and video games were not separate forms of entertainment. He argued that they they worked well together, and should form a new kind of play. He envisioned an attraction where guests were not passive riders, but active participants in the story. He believed that Galaxian³ from the 1990 World’s Expo was a way to turns audiences into the heroes of Star Wars. Galaxian³ predated the immersive experience from Star Wars: Millennium Falcon - Smuggler’s Run by almost 30 years. The Disney attraction from 2019 put guests in the cockpit of the titular ship where they could interact with the controls, and have slightly different experiences during the ride. The challenge for Namco was in making a stationary building into an attraction.

The company came up with something that they called a Participatory Story Attraction. This allowed them to transform a building into a living movie set. They would use this for a few attractions at Wonder Eggs. It allowed the designers a chance to place dreamers in the middle of a story. They could shape an outcome that was unique for themselves as they progressed through the attraction. It was far more interactive than modern "escape rooms." This was hardly a new idea. Walt Disney imagined that the Pirates of the Caribbean was supposed to be a walk through attraction before it became a flume ride. Namco would have a variation of that concept but guests could have multiple outcomes.

Magical Illusion became Mirrorona / Miranda’s Psychological Labyrinth within a year. A new character was introduced from the same mythology that created Wonder Eggs. According to the official description “Miranda, the mirror fairy, will unravel the deep psychological threads that even you are unaware of, and answer who you really are. You get the “Kokoro’s Medical Record” at the end.” Kokoro was a comprehensive term in Japanese religion, philosophy and aesthetics often translated as “heart.” Its range of meanings included mind, wisdom, aspiration, essence, attention, sincerity and sensibility. Dreamers would answer questions projected on mirrors, and screens within the attraction. They would move from room to room, deeper within the mirror dimension. At the end the staff would have a small printed journal waiting for them. It was a sort of fortune / psychological evaluation based on their selections during the attraction. The questions actually changed as the day progressed, so that dreamers would never be asked the same things twice.

Namco was happy with the reaction to the updated attraction, however they thought they could still do better. Three years after the opening of Wonder Eggs there was an update to the park called Wonder Eggs 2. The original theme was “Wonder Imagination” the new theme was “Love and Success.” Mirrorona would get a face lift, and become the Fortune Telling Witch’s House. Here was the description from Namco “The fortune-telling witch Lilisa lives in an eerie Western-style mansion. She asks personality questions to reveal your future. In Colors Tunnel, you can see your current state, and in the “Echoes Organ,” you can clearly see the balance of your heart. A Crystal mirror will predict your future six weeks from now, and at the end you receive the “book of truth” that contains the true nature of yourself, and what you are unaware of… *Perfect for couples! (Those under elementary school age must be accompanied by an accompanying person).” The printout at the end of the attraction was much longer, and more detailed now.

The final evolution of the attraction was called the Wedding Judge. It was prepped in time for Wonder Eggs 3 and their new theme “Dreams and Romance.” This attraction was more than just a reskinned version of the Fortune Telling Witch’s house. In fact the Witch’s house was moved the the Himeji Central Park, a safari zoo in Japan where it stayed in operation until 2008. This new attraction was designed with couples in mind. The official description read; “A fortune-telling attraction set in a church. After going through wedding costumes (we will take photos with the costumes in the background), choosing your favorite from colorful candles, answering questions, etc. (Do you have the qualifications to do so?) The content and wording of the result sheet is quite strict, and there is a warning in the pamphlet that says, "The results may deny the customer's romantic/marital relationship, but we cannot be held responsible for any troubles caused by this.”

The only thing that was carried over with each evolution of this attraction was the statue of Miranda. She evolved into Lilisa, and finally Shadow Moon the God of all marriages. The statue was sculpted and designed by Junya Okabe who has worked in film, and animation. A preview of the attraction read; “This time, the newly launched marriage eligibility determination attraction "Wedding Judge" is an attraction with a new concept that is mainly targeted at couples in love. While the two people held a personal data memory item, the "Ring of Truth," and experienced a simulated wedding ceremony, including a wedding photo shoot, candle ceremony, and vows at the altar, the God of Marriage held their "Truth Ring." This is a unique attraction that has never been seen before, as it diagnoses a person's thoughts and wishes regarding marriage and determines whether the couple is eligible for marriage.”

It wasn’t guaranteed that each couple would pass the test. Those that did were eligible for the “Ideal Couple Contest.” Wonder Eggs would select one couple, and host a wedding party for them in Elds Square. On Monday, September 29, 1997 Tomomi Nishimura and Takumi Nishio were the lucky couple. According to the press release; “This wedding was held at Mr. Nishimura's request. On the day of the event, approximately 3,500 people, including guests and Dreamers who came to visit WE2, celebrated the couple. Nishimura was filled with happiness and said of their first kiss, “It was a peppermint green kiss, like the wind…” Namco discovered that the Wedding Judge went over well with couples. For those that weren’t ready to commit to intense psychoanalysis there was a more user friendly “Memorial Shop” called the Wonder Chapel right next door.

The shop was a place to put together a newspaper featuring you, and your partner. Here was the official writeup from Namco; “If you want to spend a warm spring day meaningfully with your boyfriend or girlfriend, this is the place. This spring, a memorial shop [Wonder Chapel], perfect for couples in love, will open right next to [Wedding Judge]. What's more, you can read the newspaper of the memorable day when the two met, you can take a commemorative photo with Pyrallis in a bag that gives off the atmosphere of a church, and there is someone who can predict the compatibility between the two of you based on your physiognomy. With mutual fortune-telling, the two of you are sure to have fun here!”

The team at Namco learned that dreamers were very invested in being the focal point of the Wedding Judge. They had a project in mind that would be a full-scale attraction at Wonder Eggs, and would become a smaller arcade experience outside the park. The Star Audition was an attraction that judged talent in different fields. There were six categories to try out: Singer, Actor, Model, Comedian, Radio Announcer, and Variety Idol. The test involved choosing from the categories, and then taking the "pitch test," in which you tested your voice at the same pitch as the voice coming through the headphones. Then there was the “expressiveness test,” in which you made a specified facial expression. There were also three “aptitude tests” to answer questions about the type of job. It was considered a live test because this was before AI technology could help with the judging. It was assumed that the audio, and video were analyzed, and judged by Wonder Eggs employees. At the end of your audition, you would receive a result sheet. If you passed, that sheet would become your application form for the second round.

The Star Audition would later be made into an arcade game using similar metrics. It turned out that the attraction, and arcade cabinet were a joint project between Namco, and the entertainment production companies Amuse and Horipro, as well as the Nippon Broadcasting System. Since its debut there were eight people who won the auditions out of the 260,000 people who experienced it at Wonder Eggs. For example the actors Satoshi Tsumabuki, and Yui Ichikawa were discovered thanks to the Star Audition, and were still active today. Wonder Eggs was making dreams come true. But what would happen if the park brought nightmares to life? We will look at this in the next entry of the blog series. I hope to see you back for that. Were there any defunct parks that you visited? Please tell me about it in the comments section. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Wonder Eggs, and Egg Empire research collected from: Wonder Eggs Guide Map, Namco Graffiti magazine, the book “All About Namco II", NOURS magazine, The Namco Museum, Namco Wiki, Ge-Yume Area 51 Shigeki Toyama Collection, mcSister magazine, first person attraction details from Yoshiki. Event details from Hole in the Socks

The horse jumped over the moon, the story of Namco, part 19

In the previous blog I mentioned the classic attractions that Wonder Eggs featured. These were traditional things that would be found in the oldest fairs around the world. Things like a carousel, a carnival midway, a creek ride, fortune tellers, and even bumper cars were expected in any amusement park the world over. By the late 20th century however the parks had to keep up with the times. They couldn’t rely on sticking with the classics, and expect repeat visitors. This was especially true in a city as big as big as Tokyo. Tourists, and locals had a million places to see. Any new park needed to make sure they gave clients different reasons to stick around, and spend their money.

One of the easiest things that a park could do would be to provide arcade games. They were popular with guests of every age, but especially with kids. Best of all these games could be put in any corner, and were guaranteed to make money with minimal maintenance. Even Disneyland wasn’t immune to this. In the early days of the park they had a literal Penny Arcade. The machines were turn-of-the-century devices that cost a penny to play. A few of which you could still find in the corners of the stores on Main Street. In the ‘70s, and ‘80s video games started being added into the arcade. There was a larger arcade in Tomorrowland called the Starcade. It was two stories of the latest titles, and some classic hits. In its prime I would rank it one of the top three arcades in all of Southern California.

Wonder Eggs had their own arcade called Cyber Station. Actually they had an enormous building that hosted several attractions. It brought an industrial feel to the rustic village. This area of the park was known as the “Factory of Time.” In the canon of the park this was the place that was previously used to build war machines for the Devil Godot, but was liberated by the Goddess Elds, and turned into a portal for the future. It could be considered the Tomorrowland equivalent for the park. The Factory of Time also hosted Phantomers, which I featured on a previous blog.

One of the big draws to the Cyber Station arcade was a four-player, interconnected cabinet of Driver’s Eyes. Namco was not the first game studio to make a racing game, but they were arguably the best (not named Sega). Pole Position was Namco’s arcade sensation. A few years later they released Winning Run, and Driver’s Eyes. Their hardware was growing by leaps and bounds, and as early as 1988 they were developing polygon games. They pushed the industry to 3D, including their rivals at Sega. Driver’s Eyes was a massive three-screen arcade racing game. The one featured in the Cyber Station in 1992 was four interconnected cabinets. It also featured in game commentary, and a massive display for audiences to follow the action as if it were an actual live Formula-1 race. It was a spectacle to say the least. Not to be outdone Sega would be able to connect up to eight cabinets when Daytona USA was released in 1994.

There was an even more impressive attraction that was available for dreamers to play. Sim Road was not an arcade game as much as it was a real driving simulator. Sim Road featured a real Eunos Roadster (Mazda Miata) with a bright red body. According to a description of the attraction; “The screen that stretches across the front is made up of three 100-inch large screens connected together. Once you fire up the engine, first select one of three difficulty levels. Eunos original course where you can ride with your girlfriend in the passenger seat. It feels great!”

The things the company learned from Sim Road would be applied to a full scale version of Ridge Racer. Sim Road would eventually be replaced with the Full Scale Ridge Racer, the experience was called Naviway. Ridge Racer had a notable bump in graphics when compared to Sim Road, Driver's Eyes, or Winning Run. It featured the next generation of 3D graphics engine, and challenged the supremacy of Sega in the racing department. More than 20 years later Bandai Namco kept the tradition alive. They published a spiritual successor to Driver’s Eyes, Sim Road, and Naviway. The wraparound screen simulator called Real Drive was released in 2015.

A year after Wonder Eggs was opened they unveiled their 15th attraction. Virtual Vehicle was a unique simulator-style ride that mixed live video with a shooting game. Dreamers would get into a metal rig that looked like a clockwork pressure cooker. Once inside the riders would be “shrunk” to a microscopic scale. They would use the video screen or “electronic eyes” in front of them to control the direction of their exploration vehicle. They were tasked to hunt down cybernetic viruses called “Rusu” that were infecting the power source of the Cyber Station. The ultimate virus which was difficult to track down, and defeat was called the “Mother Bug.” The attraction actually “flew” through a physical environment with the use of a microscopic camera. Viruses would pop up on the screen. Players would chase them down in the miniature world, and shoot them with their lasers. Of all the attractions at Wonder Eggs it was the one that had the least images, or corresponding video. I guess it wasn’t a popular attraction.

Being able to fail while designing an attraction was something that the team at Namco was allowed to do. They built many things in the few years that Wonder Eggs was in operation. Many of them went relatively unchanged over eight years. If an attraction didn’t work then they were allowed to update, or fix it. The changes they implemented happened within the span of weeks, to months, rather than years. This was an issue when updating areas of the Disney parks. Disney needed to figure out the logistics of any new build or renovation so that it had the least impact on daily operations. In a few cases the team at Namco updated an attraction multiple times. This was what happened with Mirrorona.

This attraction was part mirror maze, part art installation for couples to explore. It was similar to the pop-up installations for influencers to take selfies inside of in the current era. Once people experienced it then they had no reason to return. This didn’t sit well with the team at Namco. They began looking at how they could incorporate storytelling elements into this place. How could they make a mysterious building into a place for play? We will look at this in the next entry of the blog series. I hope to see you back for that. Were there any defunct parks that you visited? Please tell me about it in the comments section. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Wonder Eggs, and Egg Empire research collected from: Wonder Eggs Guide Map, Namco Graffiti magazine, the book “All About Namco II", NOURS magazine, The Namco Museum, Namco Wiki, Ge-Yume Area 51 Shigeki Toyama Collection, mcSister magazine, first person attraction details from Yoshiki. Event details from Hole in the Socks

The horse jumped over the moon, the story of Namco, part 18

On a previous blog I mentioned that Wonder Eggs was inspired by the same history that Walt Disney looked at when he created Disneyland. The team at Namco studied the trade caravans, carnivals, pleasure fairs, and world’s expositions that predated amusement parks. They wanted the village of Laperot to have a timeless quality to it. To appeal to every generation. In order to do that they had to fill the park with updated versions of some classic experiences. For example fairs had live entertainment in the form of musicians, jugglers, clowns, and dancers. The Disney, and Universal parks were known for their live entertainment. Wonder Eggs had these things as well. Ancient fairs also had entertainment in the forms of sideshow attractions. I’m not talking about the tattooed man, or the bearded lady, but rather acts like mystics, and fortune tellers.

Tarot readers, and fortune tellers were a staple at classic fairs, and carnivals. These mystics were known for reading palms, letting visitors know what to expect in the future, or for the more curious who they would marry. They often traded their skills inside an ornate tent, or a caravan. For the sake of being more conscious of history remember that the term “Gypsy” was actually a slur. The correct ethnic term for many of these fortune telling traditions could be traced to the Romani people. Please try and remember this when speaking of the culture. Romani fashion, and traditions were often caricatured by many acts. The costumed characters extending back to the renaissance inspired the creation of arcade machines that dispensed wisdom, fortunes, and winning lottery numbers. These machines went back more than a century. There was even a version that played audio from 1904!

Wonder Eggs had its own unique spin on the fortune telling tradition. In this case the “servants of play” were blessed with wisdom. The Pyrallis Fortune Telling statues were their own mini attraction. Guests could insert their Wonder Ticket aka Karla Card into one of the four bronze statues. Each statue had a unique daily message. I’m certain that they were appropriate for the temperament of each Pyrallis. Not to mention that guests could only request one fortune per day. The other Pyrallis would refuse the card if it had already been used. It was not the only attraction they were in charge of. If you listened to the Pink Monorail podcast that my wife, and I hosted then you would know that carousels were among the oldest amusement rides in the world. The carousel was originally a simulator attraction for jousting. Riders would sit on a saddle mounted over a sort of half barrel on a wheel. As they went in a circle they would try to lance a ring. This tradition of going for the brass ring was carried over to latter carousels. If you grabbed the brass ring, and were able to toss it into a hoop then you would earn a free ride.

The Carrousel of Pyrallis didn’t have a brass ring, but it was nonetheless a classic attraction. Just an FYI “carrousel” was a historically accurate alternate spelling of the ride. Here was the description from the Wonder Eggs guide “A nostalgic carousel at the top of the stairs overlooking Elds Square. It has a Pyrallis (Ilinx) on its roof and is a symbol of the entire park. The night view from the carousel is also beautiful. Of course, the carousel is also lit up, and you can't help but be transported to a dream world.” My wife was happy to learn that the Carrousel of Pyrallis rotated clockwise, a tradition that started in the UK. The ones that went counter-clockwise were built later. They were more popular with the rest of Europe, and North American builders. The fortune tellers, and carrousels I’ve mentioned were carried over from ancient history, and updated for Wonder Eggs. What about popular amusement attractions from the 20th century? How did Namco incorporate those into the park?

The bumper car was invented by Theophilus Van Kannel, who also invented the revolving door. The bumper cars that we know today could be traced back about 100 years ago to the Dodgem Corp. in Lawrence, Massachusetts. According to the Coney Island History Project One of the first bumper car rides may have been the Witching Waves at Coney Island’s Luna Park. These were motionless and propelled by undulating rollers under a flexible road. USA Today compiled a brief pictorial history of the attraction. Witching Waves was an historical flat ride that was installed at several amusement parks worldwide. The first was at Luna Park on Coney Island, New York, United States, in 1907, where it was one of the most popular rides. Luna Park was synonymous with the first American amusement park, and was covered on our podcast. Namco wanted to update the concept of the bumper car, and turn it into a form of play.

Namco turned the bumper cars into a game of tag called “Future Colosseum.” The description from the Wonder Eggs guide didn’t make much sense. “Future Colosseum” is an exciting kart battle where 16 karts violently collide with each other and compete for points. That shock when you hit it with all your might without hesitation. A futuristic cart that is sure to become addictive.” Namco gave each car a unique design. The bodies had a similar aesthetic to the Laperopter designs from Shigeki Toyama. These bodies had a function, the cars lit up with different colors when they hit each other. The way the game worked was that the cars were divided between eight “Angels” and eight “Devils.” Angels added points, and Devils deducted them. If an angel hit a devil they would earn a point, and they would turn the devil into an angel as well. Alternately Devils converted angels, and deducted points. There was an electronic scoreboard on the wall that showed the points for each player. The last 30 seconds of the ride was pure chaos as it became a free for all against everyone. Future Colosseum predated the release of the original Ridge Racer arcade game by a year. I believe it inspired the developers at Namco to make the two best cars in the series an angel, and a devil.

Early amusement parks had boat rides where boats followed a closed circuit on a stream. They were originally called “old mill” rides where visitors would see scenes as they passed by. They might see pirates, monsters, native villages, or other things depending on the theme of the attraction. Variations of which inspired the creation of the “tunnel of love,” and flume “log” rides. The Möbius Creek, sometimes written Moebius Creek was a classic gondola ride around Laperot village. Here was the official description “The Möbius River flows around the entire park. A romantic excursion is the water ride “Möbius Creek.“ Enjoy the park's performances to your heart's content…” mcSister magazine added “The “Eternal Sacred River” is very popular with parents and children during the day and couples at night. The concept behind the river that flows through the park is that it is a “sacred stream that continues forever.” Ride on a round gondola and stroll through a mysterious world. Möbius Creek is very popular with couples at night.”

Not every attraction in the early parks were rides, or fortune tellers. Games of skill were possibly the biggest draw at every midway. A part of Laperot was named the Carnival Arcade. It had updated versions of the most popular Namco games featured in their play centers, and the original ones that they created for Expo ’90. There were nine carnival attractions in total including games like Hurry Up Chef, Wani Wani Panic Land, and Lucky Monkey. The prize at each was a small stuffed animal. These were easily the most family friendly games on the market. What I thought was really special were the coins required for play. Instead of paying for the games with the egg currency on the tickets, the dreamers could buy individual Carnival Coins. The coins could be used to play any one of the games. These coins were slightly larger than traditional arcade tokens. They were minted with a portrait of Laperot Village on one side, and engraved with a message in “Elds Character” on the other.

Wonder Eggs had all of the elements of a textbook fair, hometown carnival, and traditional amusement park. The introduction of Elds the Goddess of play, the Pyrallis as the servants of play, and Laperot as the village of play helped transform it into a theme park. Modern parks relied on modern technology, new attractions, new midways to pull the experience out of the past. How did Wonder Eggs find the balance for visitors? We will look at this in the next entry of the blog series. I hope to see you back for that. Were there any defunct parks that you visited? Please tell me about it in the comments section. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Wonder Eggs, and Egg Empire research collected from: Wonder Eggs Guide Map, Namco Graffiti magazine, the book “All About Namco II", NOURS magazine, The Namco Museum, Namco Wiki, Ge-Yume Area 51 Shigeki Toyama Collection, mcSister magazine, first person attraction details from Yoshiki. Event details from Hole in the Socks

The horse jumped over the moon, the story of Namco, part 17

In the previous blog I talked about how the “Leonardo DaVinci of Namco” Mr. Shigeki Toyama was the lead designer for three attractions at Wonder Eggs. These were Galaxian³, the Laperopter, and Phantomers. His grandfather Tokio was a roller coaster designer. Creating memorable rides ran in the family. Namco had years of experience in building arcades, amusement centers, running restaurants, and other venues through their diverse portfolio. This background helped them create, and operate a theme park for a few years. What were the elements that made it work? How did they decide what attractions to build, and make them unique compared to the other parks in Japan? To understand the challenge they had to know their audience. My wife, and I got a crash course in user experience (UX) design from former Disney Imagineer Joe Lanzisero. He explained his concept of “floaters, swimmers, and divers” during an interview.

His goal in working on a project was to connect with a broad client base. Regardless of age or background he explained that he could sum up guests in three categories. The floater was the person that was literally looking for a surface level experience. If they were on a Disney cruise for example then they expected all of the amenities of a five-star liner. They wanted to be able to relax, have fun, and enjoy great food. The floater did not need to be familiar with the Disney cartoons or anything else from the company. They were still able to enjoy themselves. Then there were the swimmers. These were the casual fans. They knew a little bit about the parks, characters, etc. Swimmers caught how certain characters, or movies shaped the creation of an area of the ship. They were able to appreciate the attention to detail that went into elevating the experience. The third type were the most die-hard fans. Divers ate, slept, and dreamt all things Disney. They followed the construction of the ship, and were intimately familiar with every floor before it ever touched water. Once onboard the divers wanted to peel off every layer of detail, and discover that there was more magic underneath. It was up to Lanzisero, and his team, to create experiences that could satisfy the demands of each group.

Namco had created something that was perfect for floaters, swimmers, and divers as well. The company was founded in 1955 by Masaya Nakamura. By the time Wonder Eggs was built in 1992 it had grown into one of the biggest game companies in the world. In the ’60s they manufactured electromechanical games for SEGA, they had also secured the Disney license to build kiddie rides in that time. In the ‘70s they invested heavily in video game development even though Japanese banks saw it as a risky venture. By the ‘80s they owned Atari, and had a string of hits including Pac-Man. They were now licensing their own IP to the world. Mr. Nakamura steered the studio through tremendous growth because he believed in the power of play. “We create play” was not just a slogan, it was literally his company’s manifesto. The philosophy of “play” written by Johan Huizinga, and Roger Caillois helped inform his decisions. It allowed him to know his audience better than they knew themselves.

The “Dreamers” that visited Wonder Eggs had different approaches to play. They were willing to engage in the park with the same level of enthusiasm of a floater, swimmer, or diver. Namco had a keen insight on how to appeal to their core personality because of the lessons from Mr. Caillois. The mythical Pyrallis represented the four types of play. Agon represented competition. Alea represented chance. Ilinx represented dizziness. Mimicry represented simulation. How competitive, or lucky, or euphoric, or engaged in the experience varied between the dreamers. There was a a science, and an art to creating different attractions for these people. Depending on your perspective theme park designers knew how trick or exploit the brains of visitors through the use of color, patterns, scale, perspective, audio, and even scents as I described in the previous blog.

The ones that were most engaged with visiting Wonder Eggs, Disneyland, or any park could be identified as the diver, their preferred method of play was Mimicry. At Disney parks the guests that dressed in the style of their favorite characters were said to be “DisneyBounding.” This level of engagement was on the edge of what was socially acceptable. Some guests thought these visitors were sharing their creativity. Others thought they were trying to take attention away from the park, and rides to focus it on themselves. There was a fine line separating their type of self expression that could actually be destructive to their core personality. This was something that Roger Caillois warned about in his book Man Play and Games. We could generally acknowledge that people that were too competitive made play less enjoyable. Those people betrayed the spirit of Agon. The people that had an unhealthy compulsion with feeling euphoric could turn to drug abuse. These corrupted the idea of Ilinx. The people that became addicted to gambling had corrupted Alea. What happened to people that became too invested in Mimicry? What happened to “divers” that went too deep?

Mr. Caillois argued that people that got lost in their Mimicry suffered from alienation, and split personality. Their level of immersion had become obsessive, and corrupted. There was a reason why the Disney parks had a dress code. Every year many DisneyBounders got asked to change their clothing. They sometimes hung out in a particular area, dressed too similarly to cast members, and confused visitors in the process. Then there were people that acted out their immersion in public. You might have seen the video of an guy playing the arcade game Ghost Squad very intensely. I think it was the same person recorded a few years later playing House of the Dead 4. This person was going through excessive physical motions while playing the arcade games. They might have been to entertain other arcade visitors, or they might have been because this person actually identified his existence within the game world. It was a question that only he could answer.

Wanting to be completely immersed in a different world wasn’t necessarily unhealthy. It was the reason why divers, or annual passholders returned to the Disney parks again, and again. I am a huge fan of the U.G.S.F. universe, of space games in general. If it were up to me I’d own a Starblade cabinet because it was the first single-player Active Simulator from Namco. The port on the original Playstation just didn’t seem to have the same magic. If I had a tremendous amount of disposable income then I would go even deeper than an arcade cabinet. Starblade was the same adventure from beginning to end. As a fan of sci-fi I wanted to explore the cosmos, and never have the same experience twice. PC titles like Elite Dangerous, Everspace 2, Infinity Battlescape covered a broad spectrum of the sci-fi. The level of engagement they provided was limited only by your budget. I had watched UndeadParrot’s guide to building a 180-degrees gaming room. It made the immersive experience seem possible within a budget. If money was no object BANKII’S $30,000 Star Citizen gaming room was the gold standard of simulator rigs. I believe that Namco found a healthy way to keep the Mimicry fans engaged without breaking the bank.

Wonder Eggs discovered that the seasonal events were popular with return visitors. Decorating the shops, and restaurants for the holidays went over well with audiences. The shows, concerts, and performances for Halloween, and Christmas were charming. The park designers wanted to give dreamers a reason to keep returning during the off peak months. To do this they needed to turn the entire park into a play area. Between July, and September they would run a rally event called Zombie Busters. The event only ran for a few hours at dusk. Dreamers could buy a special Zombie Busters event ticket at any local JR - Central Japan Railway Company, convenience store, and play centers.

These event tickets were not sold at the gate. The dreamers now fully engaged in Mimicry were welcomed as warriors defending Laperot Village. They would show up to Elds Square at the appointed hour where the Village Chief would give them their instructions. They had just over two hours to find the zombies located on a special map, compete against them, and earn carnival coins, or reward eggs (currency) for the attractions. Even if the dreamers couldn’t beat all the zombies they at least earned a mask, and badge exclusive for the event. A few years later they added Jester the Clown’s Mysterious Rally. It was a limited time event where guests could collect hidden keywords around the park for a prize. Wonder Eggs and the Egg Empire featured seven carnival style games where dreamers could win discount passports, and other prizes.

Dreamers enjoyed taking part in the play experience outside of the attractions themselves. Those engaging in Mimicry or simulation could defend the park from zombies, but during the Wonder Adventure rally they had an even greater challenge. Ki from the Tower of Druaga needed help sealing away the demon Druaga. Dreamers could now extend the adventure beyond the original ride. Equipped with a map, and puzzle guide they follow the clues, and track down the great evil menacing Laperot. Villagers would wait at certain checkpoints to check their answers, and reward them with stickers, and stamps on their guide. They could also earn currency eggs, carnival coins, and discounts on passes.

One of the things that made this game unique was that you could play it with a partner, and take on the roles of Kai, and Gil. Here was the writeup from the park; 

"Enjoy the popular Wonder Egg attraction "Tower of Druaga" easily with Barcrown. Become the young protagonists "Gil" and "Kai" and take on the seven challenges. You will embark on a journey to find a stone called "Ishtar's Tear" that will give power to the magical sword. Once you have all seven spells, you will try your luck one last time. If you achieve a perfect score, you will receive a map (bandana) that shows the location of "Ishtar's Tear". Even if you do not get a perfect score, you will receive a special bonus. Let's challenge ourselves to become the Crystal Knight!"

The greatest challenge for dreamers was called the Wonder Rally. It would incorporate all of Wonder Eggs 2. This meant that dreamers would have to visit all 22 attractions, 8 restaurants, and shops. Participants for the Wonder Rally would get a “passport” and were tasked with collecting stamps, and stickers by going on attractions, earning a certain score, locating hidden Pyrallis, and solving puzzles. It was up to the dreamers to prove they were “heroes of play” by completing the passport. This event could be done individually or with a group.

There were two levels of difficulty; elementary school students, or younger. Or junior high school students and older. Exceptions could be made if there were height or physical limitations preventing completion of the challenges. It was very difficult to complete the entire rally in one day. Dreamers were rewarded by how much they accomplished. Those that did the bare minimum of collecting 4 Pyrallis stamps, and the Elds Crest earned the rank of Wonder Master: “Hero of Play.” These people got a 1,000 yen discount when buying annual passports for Wonder Eggs or the sister Egg Empire park. Then there were pins given out to people that earned the Grand Master ranks; Bronze Master of Play, Silver Master of Play, Iron Man of Play (gold badge). The “Superman of Play” was a perfect score, this title came with a special medal badge and a certificate. The added perk for the medal rankings bronze, and above was admission to both parks for free, or purchase an annual passport for 50% off.

Wonder Rally was the ultimate event for “divers,” the fans of Mimicry. The rally events helped Wonder Eggs maintain attendance during the slower months. The popularity of them began influencing the seasonal events as well. There was even a special holiday Wonder Rally, where limited-time Christmas stamps appeared for the passports. The “Candle Christmas” at Wonder Eggs 2 ran from November 21 through December 25. Dreamers could enjoy the “romantic” decorations, and events happening in Elds Square. There was a “Christmas Engagement Ceremony,” where lovers made wishes with candles, walked down the “Virgin Road,” and pledged their eternal love at the "Candle Altar." This special event only ran between December 19 through the 25th. Wonder Eggs was embraced by locals, theme park fans, and gamers of all types.

Namco created a park that worked for “floaters, swimmers, and divers.” The attractions they created were the frosting on the cake. We will explore some of them on the next blog. Were there any defunct parks that you visited? Please tell me about it in the comments section. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Wonder Eggs, and Egg Empire research collected from: Wonder Eggs Guide Map, Namco Graffiti magazine, the book “All About Namco II", NOURS magazine, The Namco Museum, Namco Wiki, Ge-Yume Area 51 Shigeki Toyama Collection, mcSister magazine, first person attraction details from Yoshiki. Event details from Hole in the Socks