ABSTRACT
In June 2011, the Supreme Court of the United States made its second major ruling in a case regarding youth access to video games. Many of the early codes, regulations, and laws preventing the spread of video games stemmed not from direct efforts to police video games but from more general efforts at curtailing the spread of coin-op and gaming machines. The regulation of coin-op video games followed logically from the regulation of coin-op machines more generally. Expanding on Smith and Abt and Kocurek's work concerning the didactic function of arcade games in the late 1970s and early 1980s, changes and shifts in coin-op technologies reflect broader cultural changes and shifts. The controversy fueled coverage of the game and attracted the attention of the National Safety Council and other organizations, but it ultimately sputtered. While today, coin-op video games may be just one of many types of coin-operated machines affected by these regulations, during the video arcade's so-called 'golden era'.
