A video game article from a 1982 issue of Playboy magazine!

Hello friends! I hope that you have been well this season. I was digging in the crates, and found an old issue of Playboy magazine that I had to share with you. Don’t worry, I’m not about to turn this blog into some sort of weirdo page.

Playboy magazine may be known for female nude pinups, however they were also known for their articles. Journalists, politicians, and authors would often write for the magazine. The March 1982 issue of Playboy actually had an article talking about video games. Unlike other magazines at the time which were trying to describe what the whole video game craze was about this one instead assumed that the readers were already somewhat familiar with them.

By 1982 there had already been a number of hits, like Asteroids, Space Invaders, and Pac-Man of course. What the magazine was trying to do was help you get high scores on three of the more popular games. These included Defender, Pac-Man, and Centipede. The article by Walter Lower Jr. included an interview with legendary game creator Eugene Jarvis.

The magazine also talked about the physical effects of playing arcade games for extended periods of time. Things that we today know as repetitive stress injuries (RSI’s) were still being explored by doctors. Fatigue, eye strain, and even hand blisters hadn’t really been seen on a massive scale until video games hit the market in the late ‘70s.

It was great reading from arcade operators explaining how games were used in social settings. Men, and women would socialize over arcade games after work. Not unlike their parents would have met at a bar or nightclub a generation earlier. The strategies explored in the article were designed to make you look like a pro, and help you impress a date.

This snapshot of history was fascinating. I’m glad that Mr. Lowe approached video games with the same level of maturity that the political analysts put in their articles. The nudie women in the issues were just the icing on the nerdy cake. Anyhow that was a look at an old game article in an adult magazine. Were there ever any video game articles that you saw in non-gaming magazines? Tell me about it in the comments section. As always if you enjoyed this blog, and 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!