“插入硬币：内部的街机革命”

无论您是在街机上花费了无数小时，还是只是发现经典的硬币游戏的魔力，“ Insert Coin：Inside Midway的Arcade Revolution”都是游戏爱好者的必看。

Jonathan Kinkley, director and curator at Chicago Gamespace; Joshua Tsui, director of the film “Insert Coin” and director of innovation at DePaul University; and Justin Witte, director and curator at the Cleve Carney Museum of Art, share their perspectives on the exhibition.

芝加哥Gamespace的总监兼策展人Jonathan Kinkley；电影《 Insert Coin》主任，DePaul大学创新主任Joshua Tsui；克莱夫·卡尼艺术博物馆的导演兼策展人贾斯汀·维特（Justin Witte）分享了他们对展览的看法。

“Insert Coin: Inside Midway’s Arcade Revolution” at the Cleve Carney Museum of Art explores the legacy of Midway Games, the Chicago-based studio behind iconic arcade hits like Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam and Cruis’n USA. Through a collection of playable games, archival materials and behind-the-scenes footage, the exhibition showcases the technological innovations, boundary-pushing storytelling and cultural impact of Midway’s arcade era.

克莱夫·卡尼艺术博物馆（Cleve Carney Art Museum）的“插入硬币：内部的街机革命”探索了Midway Games的遗产，Midway Games是位于芝加哥的工作室，背后是Mortal Kombat，NBA JAM和Cruis'n USA等标志性街机。通过一系列可玩的游戏，档案材料和幕后录像，展览展示了中途街机时代的技术创新，边界播音故事和文化影响。

Ahead of the exhibition’s closing on February 16, Newcity spoke with Kinkley, Tsui and Witte to explore what visitors can expect, from behind-the-scenes insights into the curation process to why Midway’s rebellious approach to game design still resonates today.

在展览于2月16日结束之前，NewCity与Kinkley，Tsui和Witte进行了交谈，以探索访客可以期望的，从幕后对策展过程的见解到为什么中途叛逆的游戏设计方法今天仍然引起共鸣。

This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

为了清楚起见，这次对话已被凝结和编辑。

What drew you to focus on Midway’s legacy for this exhibition?

是什么吸引您专注于中途这次展览的遗产？

Jonathan Kinkley: Josh Tsui’s colorful, electronic 2020 documentary “Insert Coin” rightly hailed Midway—and Chicago—as the world leader in coin-operated arcade entertainment in the 1990s. At Gamespace, we tell the most important histories in video games, and especially champion Chicago-made games. I approached Josh about adapting his hit documentary into an exhibition format, and he was into the idea—but we needed a bigger exhibition space to properly present the show. Thankfully, Justin at Cleve Carney Museum of Art felt this aligned with the mission and CCMA became an incredible partner in realizing the project.  

乔纳森·金克利（Jonathan Kinkley）：乔什·托伊（Josh Tsui）的丰富多彩，电子纪录片《插入硬币》（Insert Coin）在中途和芝加哥（Chicago）和芝加哥（Chicago），是1990年代硬币操作的Arcade Entertainment的世界领导者。在Gamespace，我们讲述了视频游戏中最重要的历史，尤其是冠军芝加哥制作的游戏。我与乔希（Josh）联系起来，将他的热门纪录片改编成展览形式，他对此进行了介绍，但是我们需要更大的展览空间才能正确展示展览。值得庆幸的是，克莱夫·卡尼（Cleve Carney）艺术博物馆的贾斯汀（Justin）认为这与任务保持一致，而CCMA成为实现该项目的令人难以置信的合作伙伴。

Joshua Tsui: Ironically, as a former game developer, I envisioned a version of the documentary as an engaging VR experience where viewers could interact with the games in a virtual space. So, with that already in my head, an exhibit about arcade games felt like a natural fit. What made Midway unique was that ultimately it was a combination of three major companies coming together to become one of the biggest video-game companies of the nineties. The format of an interactive museum really lent itself well to the journey this company had.

Joshua Tsui：具有讽刺意味的是，作为前游戏开发人员，我设想了该纪录片的版本是一种引人入胜的VR体验，观众可以在虚拟空间中与游戏互动。因此，有了我的脑海，一个关于街机游戏的展览感觉就像是一种自然的合适。使中途与众不同的是，最终，这是三家主要公司组成的结合，成为90年代最大的视频游戏公司之一。互动博物馆的格式确实非常适合这家公司的旅程。

“Insert Coin” highlights Midway’s impact on gaming history. What do you think made Midway’s approach to design and storytelling so groundbreaking? 

“插入硬币”强调了中途对游戏历史的影响。您如何看待中途设计和讲故事的方法如此开创性？

Kinkley: Few works were uniquely suited to the counterculture of the 1990s and could capture the mood of a generation. Yet the upstart rebels at Midway broke rules and made boundary-pushing games that did exactly that. To the disaffected youth of those days, games like Mortal Kombat and its dark, violent subject matter—with snappy gameplay—suited their jaded worldviews. It was the right people making the right games at the right moment.      

金克利：很少有作品独特地适合1990年代的反文化，并且可以捕捉一代人的心情。然而，中途的新贵叛军违反了规则，并制作了界限的比赛。对于那些时代不满的年轻人来说，诸如Mortal Kombat及其黑暗，暴力主题（带有活泼的游戏玩法）的游戏为他们疲惫不堪的世界观提供了。在正确的时刻，这是合适的人。

Tsui: What made Midway really unique was the personalities who made the games—particularly the nineties output with games like Narc, Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam. You can see the gonzo, punk rock-like attitude of the designers and their desire to innovate in both technology and design. During that era, coin-op video games were not in great shape. Pinball was vastly more popular then, so the management at Midway allowed the video-game teams to do whatever they wanted.

TSUI：使中途独特的是制作游戏的个性，尤其是90年代的输出，其中包括NARC，Mortal Kombat和NBA Jam之类的游戏。您可以看到设计师的奇闻奇语，朋克摇滚般的态度以及他们在技术和设计方面进行创新的愿望。在那个时代，硬币 - 视频游戏的状况不佳。那时，弹球更受欢迎，因此中途的管理层使视频游戏团队可以做他们想做的一切。

Justin Witte: I was probably the person with the least knowledge about video games and gaming history, but what stood out to me was the Midway Games designers’ constant drive to push boundaries. This is evident not only in their introduction of realistic graphics and effects in games like Terminator and Mortal Kombat but also in how they reimagined gaming concepts. For instance, their ability to transform an existing product like the NBA into a completely new experience with NBA Jam has, in my opinion, made it one of the most influential games ever. It directly paved the way for massive gaming franchises like Madden, EA Sports FC and others.

贾斯汀·维特（Justin Witte）：我可能是对视频游戏和游戏历史知识最少的人，但是对我来说，这是中途游戏设计师不断地推动界限的人。这不仅在终结者和真人快打等游戏中引入现实的图形和效果，而且在它们重新构想游戏概念方面也很明显。例如，在我看来，他们将现有产品像NBA这样的现有产品变成了全新的体验的能力，使其成为有史以来最有影响力的游戏之一。它直接为Madden，EA Sports FC等大型游戏专营权铺平了道路。

Can you share any behind-the- scenes insights into the process of curating this exhibition? Were there any surprising discoveries about Midway’s games or development process? 

您能否分享有关策划该展览的过程的任何幕后洞察力？关于中途游戏或开发过程是否有令人惊讶的发现？

Kinkley: Chicago is often called the city that works and Midway certainly espoused this ethos. Evidence of Midway’s scrappy DIY approach and long hours of hard work manifests time and time again. For example, when game technology made digitized photo and video possible—a far cry from its 8-bit origins—Midway didn’t invest in a professional film studio as one might imagine. Developer Eugene Jarvis literally just bought a camcorder at Target, and next thing you know, they made Narc, the game that brought all the software and hardware technology together into the proof of concept that made Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam, Terminator 2 and other games possible. Another highlight was discovering that the Midway sign that used to hang outside of the 2727 West Roscoe location had been rescued from

金克利（Kinkley）：芝加哥通常被称为工作的城市，中途肯定拥护这种精神。 Midway的DIY方法和长时间的辛勤工作的证据一次又一次地表现出来。例如，当游戏技术使数字化的照片和视频成为可能（与其8位起源相去甚远）时，Midway并没有像人们想象的那样投资于专业的电影工作室。开发人员尤金·贾维斯（Eugene Jarvis）从字面上购买了摄录机，接下来您知道，他们制作了NARC，这是将所有软件和硬件技术融合在一起的游戏，成为概念验证，使Mortal Kombat，NBA Jam，Terminator 2和其他游戏可能的。另一个亮点是发现曾经悬挂在2727 West Roscoe位置外的中途标志已从