A Token
to Play
Cast:
Narrator 1
Narrator 2
Sophie
Dad
Uncle Jeremiah
© 2009-2012 Wireless Generation, Inc. Burst is a registered trademark of Wireless Generation, Inc. All rights reserved.
Setting: A comfortable and cozy living room
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Narrator 1: It’s Saturday afternoon. Ten-year-old Sophie Stokes has
just returned home after visiting a friend. She sees her father and
Uncle Jeremiah in the family room with an arcade machine.
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Narrator 2: The machine looks heavy, and it’s almost as tall as her
father. It is brightly colored and has what looks like an old-fashioned
television screen.
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Sophie: Hi, Dad and Uncle Jeremiah! What’s that?
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Dad: It’s something special!
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Narrator 1: Sophie sees the words “Treasure Hunt” on the top and
sides of the machine, surrounded by colorful, cartoon-like pictures
of pirates and pirate treasure.
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Narrator 2: The mysterious machine consists of a large, square
screen, a control panel, a joystick, and some buttons. Lower down,
on the front of the machine, are coin slots.
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Uncle Jeremiah: You might call this a video game, Sophie. It’s a lot
like the ones at the pizza place and the movie theater. This one is
much older, though. It’s a vintage arcade game from the early 1980s.
We purchased it at the swap meet.
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Sophie: Wow! None of my friends have anything like this!
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Dad: It’s probably hard for you to believe, Sophie, but in those
days, we didn’t have video games that you could play at home
on a computer. We had to go to an arcade to play.
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Uncle Jeremiah: Let’s see if it still works. The folks who sold it to us
said it was in good working condition. They restore vintage games
as a hobby.
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Narrator 2: Sophie watches as her dad and uncle plug in the
machine. There are some loud, electronic sound effects, and a couple
of lights flash. The screen lights up with the words “Treasure Hunt.”
Dad: It looks good so far, but we need to test it.
Uncle Jeremiah: It’s coin operated, so we’ll have to put
in a quarter first.
Narrator 1: Uncle Jeremiah searches in his pockets for
a quarter, finds one, and inserts it in the coin slot. The coin falls
through the slot and comes out the coin return.
Narrator 2: Uncle Jeremiah tries another quarter, and another. All of
them fall through. Sophie looks disappointed and asks if the machine
is broken.
Dad: It doesn’t take quarters, so it must be a token-operated
machine.
Uncle Jeremiah: You’ve seen my collection of old bus tokens,
haven’t you, Sophie? These tokens are something like that.
Dad: In the old days, to play games at some arcades, you’d have to
exchange real money for the same amount in tokens.
Sophie: Where can we get tokens?
Dad: Good question, Sophie. This is an old machine, so they may not
even make the tokens for it any more.
Narrator 1: Sophie thinks for a minute, staring at the machine. Then
she smiles.
Sophie: Dad, I think I can help you find tokens! I just need my
computer!
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Narrator 2: Sophie goes to her room, types in various search terms
on her computer, and clicks her way through numerous websites.
Narrator 1: After about an hour, Sophie comes back to the family
room. Her father and uncle have been cleaning the arcade game and
rearranging a corner of the family room.
Sophie: I found some websites that specialize in vintage arcade
games. Some of them have old tokens for sale, but you have to know
exactly what size token your machine uses.
Dad: We don’t know the specific size, though.
Sophie: Then I found a website that sells tokens in all different
sizes. One arcade token is quarter sized, and another one is a little
bit bigger. The problem is, we can only order them in bulk. The
minimum order is 500!
Uncle Jeremiah: We sure don’t need that many! What else did you
find out? Did you try an online auction site?
Sophie: Yes. A couple of sellers have “Treasure Hunt,” and one of
them is selling the original tokens for it separately.
Dad: I don’t have time to keep checking an auction site.
Sophie: I read the listing very carefully. It described the tokens for
“Treasure Hunt” as one-inch tokens. It said they are slightly larger
than the size of a quarter.
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Dad: Finally, we know the size of the tokens we need. Now we can
order one-inch tokens from a vintage arcade games website!
Uncle Jeremiah: Thank you, Sophie, for finding the answer!
Narrator 2: Sophie and her dad and uncle go online and find a
company that has the best price on the tokens. They place their
order.
Narrator 1: Early the next week, the tokens arrive in the mail. Sophie
and her dad invite Uncle Jeremiah over that evening to try out the
arcade game. The tokens work, and the three have a wonderful,
noisy time playing.
Dad: I told you old arcade games were fun, Sophie!
Uncle Jeremiah: If you’ve never played this game before, Sophie,
how did you get a higher score than your dad and me?
Sophie: Well, I found some old articles about this game online. I read
one on strategies for winning.
Uncle Jeremiah: Now why doesn’t that surprise me?
Dad: Sophie, you can be my personal researcher anytime!
Uncle Jeremiah: Come on, Sophie. Let’s see if you can beat us again!
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