Selects: Night Trap: The Video Game Failure that Changed the Industry

Summary

Stuff You Should Know – Episode: "Night Trap: The Video Game Failure that Changed the Industry"

Release Date: May 17, 2025 | Hosts: Josh Clark and Charles W. Chuck Bryan

---

Introduction

In this episode of Stuff You Should Know, hosts Josh Clark and Charles W. Chuck Bryan delve into the intriguing history of Night Trap, a video game that, despite its initial failure, played a pivotal role in shaping the video game industry's regulatory landscape. Drawing from a comprehensive transcript, the hosts explore the game's development, the controversies it ignited, and its lasting impact on the industry.

---

Origins and Inspiration

Josh Clark introduces Night Trap as an often-overlooked piece of pop culture history that emerged during a transformative period in video gaming.

Josh Clark [01:57]: "Night Trap is the game that we're talking about. And I heard about this from watching the Netflix documentary series High Score."

The game was inspired by a 1981 play, likely by playwright John Krazank, which portrayed the life of the Polish painter Tamara de Lempick. This play featured an innovative multi-floor building setup with simultaneous scenes occurring in different rooms—a concept directly translated into the game’s mechanics.

Charles W. Chuck Bryan [05:35]: "She was a Polish painter who lived in Italy in the Roaring Twenties when the fascists were starting to take power. And she took no guff from them."

---

Development and Technological Innovation

Night Trap was developed by Axelon, a company founded by Nolan Bushnell after his tenure at Atari. The game's development utilized VHS-based full-motion video (FMV) technology, allowing players to switch between different camera views in real-time without the limitations of VHS rewinding or fast-forwarding. This was achieved through innovative video interlacing techniques.

Charles W. Chuck Bryan [10:03]: "To get from one place to another rather than. This was the breakthrough thing. This is the thing that made this work."

One of the notable designers on the project was Tom Crane, renowned for creating the beloved Atari game Pitfall. The team drew additional inspiration from Dragon's Lair, another FMV game that emphasized storytelling over traditional gameplay mechanics.

Josh Clark [11:10]: "They were also inspired by Dragon's Lair. Do you remember that game?"

---

Gameplay and Narrative Structure

Night Trap centers around a slumber party where teenage girls are targeted by antagonistic creatures known as Augurs—half-blooded vampires. Players control members of the Special Control Attack Team (SCAT), tasked with monitoring security cameras across the house and activating traps to fend off the Augurs.

Charles W. Chuck Bryan [22:22]: "Dana Plato was undercover. And she would talk right to Cameron and say things like, 'you've got to get to the other room because the augurs are after whoever. Mary, help her. Go help her.'"

The game's mechanics required players to manage multiple camera feeds simultaneously, a novel concept that often led to confusion and frustration due to the lack of coherent storytelling and the dynamic changing of security codes.

---

Controversy and Regulatory Impact

Despite its innovative approach, Night Trap faced significant backlash during the early 1990s amid growing concerns over video game violence. This period coincided with the Satanic Panic and heightened scrutiny from governmental bodies, leading to Congressional hearings spearheaded by Senator Joe Lieberman and Senator Herb Kohl.

Josh Clark [34:29]: "They went after Mortal Kombat, which was super violent. Yeah. And they went after Night Trap, which was, again, cartoonish."

The controversy surrounding the game, along with others like Mortal Kombat, prompted the video game industry to establish the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB)—an industry-created self-regulatory body aimed at providing content ratings to inform parents and players.

Charles W. Chuck Bryan [37:02]: "It was an industry created self-imposed rating system that was brought about in large part because of Night Trap."

The misleading portrayal of violence in Night Trap, where players were tasked with preventing Augurs from harming others rather than perpetrating violence themselves, was overshadowed by public perception fueled by media sensationalism.

Josh Clark [35:31]: "You weren't the person doing the augering. You do the opposite of that."

---

Legacy and Attempts at Resurrection

After its initial release in 1992 as a CD-ROM game, Night Trap struggled due to outdated VHS technology and poor gameplay mechanics. Hasbro, the game's publisher, ultimately abandoned the project as CD-ROM technology advanced, leading to the dissolution of the Control Vision platform.

However, the original developers, refusing to let Night Trap fade into obscurity, founded Digital Pictures and attempted to revive the game for modern platforms. Despite these efforts, a 2014 Kickstarter campaign to resurrect the game failed to meet its funding goal, garnering only about $40,000 against a $330,000 target.

In 2017, a dedicated fan and mobile game programmer, Tyler Hogle, managed to create a playable version for smartphones by leveraging the original 35mm footage and timestamped scripts provided by the developers. This led to the release of a "25th Anniversary Edition," which received a T for Teen rating.

Charles W. Chuck Bryan [41:34]: "So there's a 25th edition of Night Trap, which apparently Nintendo has a version of, which is kind of funny because at the time of those Senate hearings in 1993, 94. Nintendo famously said they would never allow Night Trap on their platform."

Despite these efforts, Night Trap remains a cult classic, remembered more for its role in video game history than for its gameplay quality.

---

Conclusion

Night Trap serves as a fascinating case study in the evolution of video game content regulation and the challenges of pioneering new gaming technologies. While the game itself may not have been a commercial success, its legacy is cemented in its influence on the creation of the ESRB and the broader conversation about video game violence and content. Hosts Josh Clark and Charles W. Chuck Bryan effectively highlight how a single game can leave an indelible mark on an entire industry, shaping policies and perceptions for decades to come.

---

Notable Quotes

• Josh Clark [01:57]: "Night Trap is the game that we're talking about."
• Charles W. Chuck Bryan [05:35]: "She took no guff from the fascists."
• Josh Clark [34:29]: "They went after Mortal Kombat, which was super violent."
• Charles W. Chuck Bryan [37:02]: "It was an industry created self-imposed rating system that was brought about in large part because of Night Trap."
• Josh Clark [35:31]: "You weren't the person doing the augering. You do the opposite of that."
• Charles W. Chuck Bryan [41:34]: "There's a 25th edition of Night Trap, which apparently Nintendo has a version of."

---

This episode provides a comprehensive look into how Night Trap not only failed as a video game but also inadvertently became a catalyst for significant changes within the gaming industry. For those interested in the intersections of technology, culture, and regulation, this deep dive offers valuable insights into the complexities of video game development and its societal impacts.

Transcript

[Josh Clark]

You're listening to an iHeart podcast.

[T Mobile Announcer]

With T Mobile. No Trendspotter has to deal with Trendspotty service because T Mobile helps keep you connected from the heart of Portland to right where you are on America's largest 5G network. Switch now keep your phone and T Mobile will pay it off at the $800 per line via prepaid card. Visit your local T Mobile location or learn more@t mobile.com KeepAndSwitch up to four lines via virtual prepaid card. Allow 15 days qualifying unlock device, credit service port in 90 plus days device and eligible carrier and timely redemption required. Card has no cash access and expires in six months.

[Capital One Bank Guy]

Banking with Capital One helps you keep more money in your wallet with no fees or minimums on checking accounts and no overdraft fees. Just ask the Capital One bank guy.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

It's pretty much all he talks about.

[Capital One Bank Guy]

In a good way. He'd also tell you that this podcast is his favorite podcast too. Thanks Capital One Bank Guy. What's in your wallet? Terms apply seecapitalone.com Bank Capital One NA Member FDIC hey everybody, it's me, Josh. And for this week's select, I've chosen our 20202021 episode on night Trap video game. One of those overlooked pieces of pop culture history about one of those unfortunate pieces of technology that emerged during a sea change which made it utterly out of date the moment it was born. It's a great story about a not at all great video game and I hope you enjoy it.

[Josh Clark]

Welcome to Stuff youf Should Know, a production of iHeartrad.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Hey and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark and there's Charles W. Chuck Bryan over there. There's Jerry over there being silly. And this is stuff you should know.

[Josh Clark]

Video obscure Lost video game episode.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

How did you hear about this? This is your request.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. So Night Trap is the game that we're talking about. And I heard about this from watching the Netflix documentary series High Score.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Did you Netflix and chill while you.

[Josh Clark]

Were watching that jerk? No, I netflixed by myself and chilled cause Emily wasn't watching this.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

That's a different thing.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, that's a different thing.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Okay.

[Josh Clark]

This was a documentary series on Netflix, I think six parts that covered the history of video games. I can recommend it in one way in that it was a very light kind of fun watch. But it is by no means comprehensive and a little goofy at times in how they handled some stuff on Night.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Tribe specifically or like the whole series. I gotcha.

[Josh Clark]

But it was fine and it's you know, if you're from a certain generation and in the mood for like five plus hours of. A bit of a nostalgia kick, you could do worse things, but it's not great.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Have you ever seen that documentary? I think it's King of Kong.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, sure.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Oh, man, that is one of the best documentaries ever made. I haven't seen it in years. I gotta see it again.

[Josh Clark]

It's great. I think our old buddy Josh Bierman might have written the original story that that was based on.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Oh, I'm not surprised he had something.

[Josh Clark]

To do with that. But Night Trap I learned about because in episode five, they covered when video games started becoming violent. So Mortal Kombat obviously factored in heavily in that episode. And then this game called Night Trap. There's another game I do want to cover on a shorty, by the way, one of the first LGTBQ games ever that was really interesting and had a cool story.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

What the heck is it called?

[Josh Clark]

I can't remember now. I saw this a couple of months ago, so it's been a while. Oh, what was it? Can't remember, but it's great. And that'll make for a good shorty.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Okay.

[Josh Clark]

But a really cool story behind it. But this is Night Trap, which figured in as the game that kind of brought about along with Mortal Kombat, but. But was really central in forming what ended up being the ratings board for video games.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

I mean, that's almost like understating it. Like this one game paired with Mortal Kombat basically led directly to the creation of that.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. So that's really why it's notable. The other thing that made it notable, and we'll get into all this, was that it was a live action, as in they shot, you know, a little movie that you controlled. Yeah. That you sort of controlled.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

You could conceivably, theoretically, hypothetically control because.

[Josh Clark]

It wasn't a great game. But it lives in infamy because of every. Cause it's a really cool story. I think in the end, it is.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

A pretty cool story. And the whole thing starts actually with a play from the. I think it was written in 1981 by a playwright named John. Oh, what's his last name?

[Josh Clark]

Krazank.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Okay, I want to see. Or Krazanc or Krazanch. Shit, you don't think so?

[Josh Clark]

I don't know. Maybe.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Well, regardless, he wrote a few episodes of Due South.

[Josh Clark]

What was that?

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

It was like a show about a Canadian Mountie, I think.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, all right. Yeah, he wrote this and it was if you've been to Sleep no More in New York, you may have the, the play Tamara to thank because it is a lot like that, the concept of Sleep no More, as far as.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

I know, this was the one that like broke that ground.

[Josh Clark]

I think so. And the ground they broke. It's about the painter Tamara de Limpicke, who I've never heard of.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

She was a Polish painter who lived in Italy in the Roaring Twenties when the fascists were starting to take power. And she took no guff from them.

[Josh Clark]

No guff.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Hedonistic, amazing. Art deco painter. Art deco portraitist, basically. Interesting. Her work's really interesting. I didn't know anything about her, I'd never heard of her until this too, but I looked her up, she seemed pretty cool.

[Josh Clark]

But this is a play about her where it is set on a multi floor building. There are scenes taking place at the same time in multiple rooms. And as an audience member you can move from one room to the other. Missing out on some stuff, seeing some stuff, interacting. I mean, it's Sleep no More.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

I don't know if they just totally ripped it off or if they said, hey, it's been 30 years, who's going to remember Tamara, right?

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

I think it was like they broke that ground and once you break that ground, you're going to have people following your wake.

[Josh Clark]

There's probably been other stuff that did this, but Sleep no More I think just got so much attention in New York for its run. It might still be going or maybe coming back after the pandemic.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

I would like to see that. I would love to see Tamara too, but it ran in New York, but it started a Toronto art festival, I think.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, interesting.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

And then some producers set it up in LA and that's where it had its longest run. From about the mid-80s to the 90s they had this just kept going and going and going. I was reading an LA Times article on it, but the reason that it factors into this is because it's basically the basis for this game Night Trap where there are different things going on in different rooms and you kind of cycle toggle between the different rooms through security cameras in these rooms to see what's going on. And while you're doing that, you're missing stuff that's happening in other rooms in this game. And if you miss too much stuff, you lose. If you catch enough stuff and you do everything right and press all the correct buttons, you win. But that's basically how it applies. It's like this, almost an homage to this play in video game form. But it's full motion video, meaning it's like a film or TV show that you vaguely control or put better you interact with.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. And the idea of the game, and we'll get a little bit more into the development of it in a minute, but it is basically like a party happening at this house. Young, like co ed types, like sorority girls maybe. It's very sort of titillating. And that was one of the big deals a little bit.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

I think this was stated even for the time. I wouldn't say. I mean, you got married with children was like ten times more titillating. This is very tame, I think.

[Josh Clark]

Well, you know, obviously part of the controversy comes from assaults on women in the game, understandably. But again, we'll get to that. It is even tame compared to a lot of the stuff that was out at the time. But what's going on in the game is they are these pseudo vampires called augurs that are the bad people in this game. And Jim Riley, who conceived of this game when he had the idea of, I think he was watching security camera, a security camera screen with all these different rooms. And it hit him like, what a great idea. And then he saw this play and he said, we can actually do something like this. What if a user and a game player could go into any of these views that they want and if they're missing something, they're missing something. It might be important, but they're in control of the game.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Right. And I mean that's.

[Josh Clark]

Or the story rather.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Right. But again, I think you really pointed out something important that was the concept in the actuality, they kind of missed the mark a little bit.

[Josh Clark]

Yes.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

So with the game, it was originally designed as part of a platform called Control Vision.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

I think internally it was called Nemo N E M O and it was being created by a company called Axelon. And Axelon was actually a Nolan, such.

[Josh Clark]

An 80s video game company name, but.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

It was a Nolan Bushnell company. After Atari, he founded Axon Axelon, among others. I think he created five companies at the same time in parallel, using this incubator that he had created. And the developers at Axelon started creating a full motion video.

[Josh Clark]

VHS based, we should point out, yes, on vhs.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

And to get from one place to another rather than. This was the breakthrough thing. This is the thing that made this work. And they did get it to work. But using VHS tapes, you could toggle between stuff in virtually real time without the VHS player having to rewind or fast forward, which would have really Just kind of put the kibosh on the whole thing. But instead, because of the interlacing that video uses, they could actually choose what field to show at what time and basically switch between them.

[Josh Clark]

Which was. I mean it looks archaic, but it's a remarkable technology at the time to be able to do that.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Right. Really impressive. It's still mind blowing. I'm like, I vaguely understand how this actually works, but the fact that they actually got this to work and had a proof of concept going enough that Hasbro is like sold. That was a big deal.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. And this was 85. One of their designers was the legendary Tom Crane who designed Pitfall, one of my favorite all time games on the Atari.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

That's a good one.

[Josh Clark]

But it was a good team. And they went apparently to these Tamra performances. They were also inspired by Dragon's Lair. Do you remember that game?

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

I do. I was never into it, but I remember watching it and just kind of.

[Josh Clark]

It looked cool. I mean it was an animation game where it was fully animated and used laserdisc to project this animated footage. So it looked awesome, but it wasn't that great. The gameplay wasn't great.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

No, but it felt followed a story. There was a story that was happening and then every once in a while there was something you had to do to move the story along as part of the game. And if you didn't do it right, the dragon turned you into ash or something like that.

[Capital One Bank Guy]

Right?

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. But you're not actually controlling the player, which was the big difference in these games from a regular game.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

You're creating a sequence like you're doing this and then sitting back. And then hopefully the thing you're hoping to happen happens. Now the thing that differentiates that from Night Trap is that there was no coherent story. While you were off doing something that you were supposed to be doing to win the game, the story kept going on over here.

[Josh Clark]

So you can't follow a storyline that way.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

No. Which is a big deal. That was a big differentiator between it and Dragon's Lair.

[Josh Clark]

All right, well, let's take a little break here. That's a good setup, I think. And we'll come back and get more into Night Trap right after this.

[Annabe Announcer]

Tired of spills and stains on your sofa? Wash away your worries with Annabe. Annabe is the only machine washable sofa inside and out where designer quality meets budget friendly prices. That's right. Sofas start at just $699. Enjoy a no risk experience with pet friendly stain resistant and changeable slip covers. Made with performance fabric Experience cloud like comfort with high resilience foam that's hypoallergenic and never needs fluffing. The sturdy steel frame ensures longevity and the modular pieces can be rearranged anytime. Shop washablesofas.com for up to 60% off site wide, backed by a 30 day satisfaction guarantee. If you're not absolutely in love, send it back for a full refund. No return, shipping or restocking fees. Every penny back Upgrade [e-mail] Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply.

[Capital One Bank Guy]

You know Chuck, as it starts to get warm outside and nice, it's like nature is calling you to your outdoor space. And what better place to refresh your outdoor space and make it feel more yours than Wayfair?

[Wayfair Announcer]

That's right, summer is on its way and there's no better place to go for outdoor furniture than Wayfair because they have a huge selection of outdoor essentials that are going to help you make your outdoor space more comfortable, functional, and most importantly, more you.

[Capital One Bank Guy]

Yep, Wayfair has all things outdoor and at unbelievable prices too. So don't wait until summer's in full swing. Get your outdoor space ready today so you can enjoy it all season long.

[Wayfair Announcer]

And get this, you can get free and easy delivery even on the big stuff. So no more huge delivery fees for patio furniture. Get big stuff like patio sets, gazebos, hot tubs, even outdoor dining sets and more shipped for free.

[Capital One Bank Guy]

Wow. So shop a huge selection of outdoor furniture online this summer. Get outside with wayfair. Head to wayfair.com right now. That's W A Y-F A I R.com wayfair every style, every Home.

[Josh Clark]

Hey everybody.

[Wayfair Announcer]

Valspar knows that just because that paint color felt right then doesn't mean it's right now. Maybe your daughter was loving the unicorns you painstakingly painted on her wall, but now she wants a more grown up green. Or maybe you went a little too hard on the millennial pink trend. Or maybe you were loving your spotless white walls before you had kids, but now your dining room needs a little color and a washable finish for everyday stains.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Yeah, everybody knows that paint color can.

[Capital One Bank Guy]

Enhance the vibe of a space.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

You can completely alter a room just.

[Capital One Bank Guy]

With a different coat of paint.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, you know I like it when.

[Wayfair Announcer]

You just do one wall in a room and I did one wall of my office black and it really added a lot.

[Capital One Bank Guy]

Ooh la la. Well, whether you want to personalize your space or find your next phase, Valspar Ultra has you covered. Starting at just $29.98 per gallon. Valspar Ultra interior paint plus primer starting at just $29.98 per gallon. Pick up everything you need for your next project at Lowes. Price varies by sheen.

[Josh Clark]

All right, so I mentioned the augurs. We need to explain a little bit about this game and what it was supposed to be and what it ended up being. Because in the Netflix documentary, Jim Reilly basically is like. Well, the first thing. They created a demo called Scene of the Crime, and it was a detective game. And Hasbro liked it, like I said. But they had a big problem because the original idea that Jim had was to have ninjas. And he's like, it'd be great. These ninjas come in, they got throwing stars, they got weapons, and they're doing all this stuff, and you can control it, and it's super cool. And Hasbro was like, wait a minute. We can't have what we call reproducible violence. So anything that a kid like. Kids love throwing stars. And we can't show ninjas throwing. Throwing stars into people. Cause a kid will go and do that. You can't have a knife. Cause a kid can go get a knife out of a drawer. It's gotta be something that a kid cannot reproduce.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

So they said, okay, well, how about. What if the ninjas turn out to be. And I'm sorry. I know ninja is the plural of ninja.

[Capital One Bank Guy]

Sorry, everyone.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

What if they turn out to be vampires?

[Josh Clark]

Right?

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

And Hasbro said, I kind of like where you're going with this, but kids. Kids can still, like, bite people on the neck. What?

[Josh Clark]

I think it came the other way, though. I think that was a note from Hasbro.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Oh, was it?

[Josh Clark]

I'm pretty sure they were like, what if they were vampires?

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Okay.

[Josh Clark]

And Jim Reilly was like, okay, I guess I can do that.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Okay.

[Josh Clark]

Biting people's necks. And then Hasbro was like, can't do that, because kids can bite necks, too.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

So what they found. And this is a great metaphor for the night trap overall.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

What the ninja originally, what they turned out to be in the end, were loping vampires who used what looked like a Ghostbusters proton pack sort of.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

With a collar of the kind that Arnold Schwarzenegger was wearing at the beginning of Running Man.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. Like a clamp sort of.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Yes. On the end. And that. That is what they used to draw the blood from the hapless teens who you were in charge of protecting as Night trap.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. So what Hasbro did was they noted it to death. And neutered it to death. Because they said. He even was like, all right, I can do vampires. I can run around and hurt people. And they said, no, no, no. They can't even run around. It's too scary if they're fast. So they came up with augurs who in the game, they are described as vampires who had been half bled and left to die. So they are not quite vampires, but they aren't human either. And that makes them lopey and lumbery instead of being able to move fast. And if you see them, they look like they're wearing garbage bags. They're lumbering around. They're drawing the blood. Using a trocar, is what the name of that thing was.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Oh, is it? Okay. Because it was definitely its own thing.

[Josh Clark]

It was its own thing. And it's funny, in the documentary, Jim Reilly was like, in the end, he said this trocar, which, you know, it didn't show it explicitly. It showed the clamp going around the neck and. And this little drill inside of a shaft start and then sort of moving and then blood being drawn. But it doesn't show, like, going in the neck or anything. No, but he said. What they ended up with, he said to me was something far creepier than a vampire biting someone's neck.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Sure.

[Josh Clark]

But they were like, it's not reproducible, though, so it's fine.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

And it's also. It's weird that Hasbro is so fixated on not including reproducible violence. Because apparently they saw Night Trap as a way to interest adults.

[Josh Clark]

Right.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Because they had apparently found out during focus group testing of Scene of the Crime. I believe that the parents who were in the room or were part of the focus group were saying, like, I really kind of like this, like a TV show, but I get to control it.

[Josh Clark]

Cause it looked like something that they understood, right? Yeah.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

And so Hasbro was like, oh, okay, this has been, like, a kid's thing up to this point. Maybe we can finally crack into the adult market with this stuff. So it's weird that they. That they kidified it to death if they were trying to use it to capture adults. But maybe they were like, it has to go both ways in case adults don't like it.

[Josh Clark]

Well, I think in the documentary, they make the point that Hasbro was. I think the adults were looming out there as a possibility. But they were like, adults will never play video games. So what they really wanted until they grow up and continue to play video games, what they really were after was a teenage market which didn't fully exist at this point.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Oh, gotcha.

[Josh Clark]

16 and 17 year old boys. Which is why they put sorority girls in a nightie at a slumber party. Was all in an effort to sort of titillate people like me.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Right. And it worked like a charm.

[Josh Clark]

I had never heard of it back.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Then because you would play Night Trap and Netflix and chill by yourself.

[Josh Clark]

So they actually had to shoot this like a movie. They shot it in Culver City on a soundstage. And what they would do back then for. And there were more full motion games of the time. And you would try and cast one recognizable face among this cast to sort of. They called it the anchor to like. All right, well, this has got so and so in it. And who did they cast for Night Trap?

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Dana Plato from Diff'rent Strokes. Kimberly.

[Josh Clark]

Kimberly, who passed away very tragically. Man.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

I was reading about her life. She had a hard time. Sad life, man.

[Josh Clark]

Very tragic story.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Yeah, it is. It's very sad. And they actually went back and ruled her death a suicide later. Did you know that?

[Josh Clark]

I don't know if I knew that.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Yeah. She died by suicide, ultimately. Cause she overdosed.

[Josh Clark]

Was it like drugs or.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Yeah, on Soma, I believe, which is like a generic lore tab.

[Josh Clark]

Interesting.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Which I think you really have to try. Like, I don't think that's an accidental thing. Which is probably why they did that. But it was at a family reunion in Oklahoma.

[Josh Clark]

Wow.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Which I'm like, God, man, that's just a sad ending. And her son actually died by suicide as well later on.

[Josh Clark]

Really? Oh, I think I knew that. Like not super long ago. Right?

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Yeah. In the 2010s.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. Oh, man. Very sad. But yeah, Dana Plato was cast as that anchor. She played Kelly, who was a secret agent who had infiltrated the house.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

She was undercover.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, she's undercover. And she would talk right to Cameron and say things like, you've got to get to the other room because the augurs are after whoever. Mary, help her. Go help her.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Yeah. And we should say also. So the group of crime fighters that she was a part of was called scat, the Special Control Attack Team. Scat. And then I don't know if we also said. So the people who own the house had invited this group of teens that included undercover Dana Plato Kelly, which I saw admittedly on Wikipedia. This is a great example of Night Trap being Night Trap in the credits. At the end. Kelly's name is spelled with a Y on the end. In the player's the User's Hand Guide.

[Josh Clark]

It's an I.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

It's an I. Yeah. That's Night Trap for you right there. But the family that invited the kids, these teenage girls out for a weekend at their house, are actually themselves vampires with teeth and everything. They're not Augers. They're actually vampires.

[Josh Clark]

And they don't attack people.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

No. They brought them there for the.

[Josh Clark]

Right, right, right. To source their blood. I guess. There is a pretty funny scene in it. When did you watch any of it?

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

I watched the whole thing. I watched I think Grumpy Gamers did like a playthrough.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, they have a full.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

I watched their stuff too. And yeah, I've watched a lot of Night Trap stuff.

[Josh Clark]

The best part is when they're explaining in the game what the augurs are and the woman says, you know, it's a vampire who's been blah blah, blah. And one of the scat guys is in the background and he goes, you've got to be jiving me.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

I didn't see that.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, it was great. It was like. Was this game made in 1989 or 1973? It was really confusing like what era it was.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

So you said it was shot on a soundstage in Culver City.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

And it took like 30 days almost.

[Josh Clark]

But you had to shoot a ton of stuff. Yes.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Because it was like a 250 page script which is incredibly long.

[Josh Clark]

Wow.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Ed who helped us out with this one, he points out that a two hour movie might have 120 page script.

[Josh Clark]

It's about a minute per page is the rule of thumb.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

This is 250 pages for a video game that was not very good, that didn't have a lot of dialogue. But there were a lot of different outcomes that could happen in just one particular scene. So if you shot a scene, you had to shoot it multiple times to get what you wanted. And then you had to shoot those multiple times, multiple times for each outcome.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. And we should say that the violence in the game, like we said, is suggestive for the Augers. You don't really see anything. The only real violence is when the augers are dispatched of. But it is very much a Wile E. Coyote, Bugs Bunny sort of thing.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Yeah. It's the definition of cartoonish violence.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. Like they will be a Murphy bed will flip them out of a window or they'll just. Whoa. Like fall through a trapdoor.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

The stairs. One of the things, if they're coming down the stairs, you can trap them by collapsing the stairs. Yeah, they'll go flat when they fall into the trap. Like Smoke machine pours smoke out of it. It's impossible that they weren't going for cartoonish violence. There's no way the producers and directors were trying to be scary in any way, shape or form.

[Josh Clark]

But it was shot by Don Burgess, who was nominated for an Oscar less than a decade after Night Trap for Forrest Gump. So they had a real team. It wasn't just, you know, they didn't say, all right, let's go out in the valley and use some like a porn crew and just do this thing. They had a real crew.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

No. And apparently Hasbro spent, depending on who you ask, at least a million dollars on this.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, they said 15 in the documentary. So they put some money into it. And it is not apparent on the screen. The sets look terrible. The doorways, I don't know if you noticed, but any doorway. They didn't build the door down to the floor. They built the door down to like a one foot tall step over. So anytime someone opens a door, they step over this like one foot tall, like wooden set.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

That's awesome. I mean, the set is. It's basically like they could have repurposed it for Growing Pains or Family Ties.

[Josh Clark]

Or something like that. Or no, they probably would have said like, mmm, this doesn't look good enough.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Maybe. Small wonder. I think they used it for small wonder. How about that?

[Josh Clark]

There is no nudity, we should point out. But it again, was never gonna be kid friendly. But also, when you will get to the court stuff, when you hear how it's described by these senators.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

It's so over the top.

[Josh Clark]

It's so over the top.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

Should we take a break? You don't wanna take a break, do you?

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

No, I'm excited and I'm ready to keep going, but let's take a break.

[Josh Clark]

All right. Well, I guess we should take a break by saying that Hasbro dumped the game. This is a nice cliffhanger.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Oh, okay.

[Josh Clark]

Hasbro dumped the game.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Wait, wait. Will Hasbro dump the game or not, Chuck?

[Josh Clark]

Okay, we'll find out right after this.

[Annabe Announcer]

Let's be real. Life happens, Kids still. Pets shed and accidents are inevitable. That's why you need a washable sofa that can keep up. Our sofas are fully machine washable inside and out. So you can say goodbye to stains and hello to worry free living. Made with liquid and stain resistant fabrics, they're kid proof, pet friendly and built for everyday life. Plus, changeable fabric covers let you refresh your sofa whenever you want. Need flexibility. Our modular design lets you rearrange your sofa anytime to fit your space, whether it's a growing family room or a cozy apartment. Plus, they're earth friendly and trusted by over 200,000 happy customers starting at just $699. It's time to upgrade to a stress free mess proof sofa. Visit washablesofas.com today and save that's washablesofas.com offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply.

[Wayfair Announcer]

Hey everybody, Valspar knows that just because that paint color felt right then doesn't mean it's right now. Maybe your daughter was loving the unicorns you painstakingly painted on her wall, but now she wants a more grown up green. Or maybe you went a little too hard on the millennial pink trend. Or maybe you were loving your spotless white walls before you had kids, but now your dining room needs a little color and a washable finish for everyday stains.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Yeah, everybody knows that paint color can.

[Capital One Bank Guy]

Enhance the vibe of a space.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

You can completely alter a room just.

[Capital One Bank Guy]

With a different coat of paint.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, you know, I like it when.

[Wayfair Announcer]

You just do one wall in a room and I did one wall of my office black and it really added a lot.

[Capital One Bank Guy]

Ooh la la.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Well, whether you want to personalize your.

[Capital One Bank Guy]

Space or find your next phase, Valspar Ultra has you covered starting at just $29.98 per gallon. Valspar Ultra Interior Paint Plus Primer starting at just $29.98per gallon. Pick up everything you need for your next project at Lowe's. Price varies by sheen.

[Wayfair Announcer]

You know, people talk a lot about spring cleaning, but here's what we should really be talking about. Bombas spring socks. You heard it right. It's a busy time of the year and the right socks can make or break your spring.

[Capital One Bank Guy]

Yeah, Bombas has the best no show socks. They're the only no show socks I've ever worn that don't just immediately slide down under my heel.

[Wayfair Announcer]

That's right. And Bombas even makes the ultimate air in socks. From actually spring cleaning to walking the dog to everything in between, Bombas took their socks arch hugging stay up cuff ultra cushion design very seriously. So you can take a load off.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Nice.

[Capital One Bank Guy]

And Bombas now offers international shipping in addition to the US they now ship to over 200 countries. Bombas started making socks when they learned that they're the number one most requested clothing item in homeless shelters. So thank you for shopping with Bombas. You helped donate over 150 million essential items. Now that's a lot of socks and a lot of kindness. Head over to bombas.com sysk and use our code sysk for 20% off your first purchase. That's B-O-M-B-A-S.com sysk with code sysk at checkout.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Okay, Chuck, it's cliffhanger. Answer time.

[Josh Clark]

Hasbro dumped the game.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Oh my gosh.

[Josh Clark]

Because a, it wasn't that great. But the big reason was because CD ROM technology started up and they were like, we've got VHS technology and we sunk a million five into this turkey. Like, let's just dump it. And that should have been the end of it.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Not just Night Trap, but the whole Control Vision thing, the whole platform. That Night Trap was just going to be a game on totally gone.

[Josh Clark]

CD ROM killed it.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Hasbro said, forget it. The thing is, the people who worked on designing this game said, no, no, no, no. Hasbro's being short sighted here.

[Josh Clark]

It's too good.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

This game in particular, maybe Control Vision is dead. Granted, the VHS thing, we're gonna just forget about that. But this game is too groundbreaking to just let die. So they actually went to Hasbro and said, how much will you sell us? The footage, the code, the whole shebang for Night Trap for. And the designers actually bought the game from Hasbro and took it and founded their own company, Digital Pictures.

[Josh Clark]

Do you know how much they sold it for? By.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

No, I couldn't find it.

[Josh Clark]

I couldn't find it either.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

I would guess Peanuts. Basically. They probably were like, I don't ever want to hear the words Night or Trap together again to get it out of here. But these designers, developers, directors, writers, everybody got together, formed Digital Pictures and bought it and started developing NightTrack, ironically, for CD ROM, which is the very type of media that killed it in the first place.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, by Jim's telling on the documentary, I don't know if they were already going CD ROM or if it was initiated by Sega. But he got a call, he said out of the blue from Sega, who had their gaming system at the time, Sega Genesis and then Sega CD was an add on system featuring this new CD ROM technology. And he said, they got a call, they said, hey, you want to develop this for CD rom? And he probably got a good laugh out about that and the irony and then said, sure, because Night Trap must live.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Yes, this guy is dedicated to Night Trap living. If there's one thing that he wants to keep alive in the world, it is Night Trap.

[Josh Clark]

That's right.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

So they started developing it for CD rom and it was a step up for sure. From what I can Tell. Like, the graphics worked a lot better. The problem is this was 1992.

[Josh Clark]

1992 was when it was finally released as a CD ROM game. Yeah.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

They had shot all this footage in.

[Josh Clark]

The late 80s, but it looked like the late 70s.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

There was a big difference between, say, 1988 and 1992, style wise. It was apparent visually, apparently, and immediately apparent to anybody, say, a video game playing age.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, agreed.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

That was a big strike against Night Trap to begin with. But probably the biggest strike of all was that it wasn't a highly playable game.

[Josh Clark]

It was not a good game, and.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

It probably would have just kind of faded away. Like, it sold, I guess, enough that it qualified as, like, a. Not a disaster. They at least did more than break even. But it probably would have just fallen into the dustbin of history had it not been for Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Senator Herb Cole of Wisconsin, a couple of Democrats who created this crusade about violent video games in, I think, 1993.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. And so this very much mirrored, if you listen to our Satanic Panic episodes and the PMRC and music. Labeling mpaa, mpaa. Like, this was all a time when everyone was saying, hey, listen, we need to start at least labeling this stuff so parents know what their kids are doing and just watch a little bit. You know, there's all kinds. It was in the Netflix documentary. But there's all sorts of stuff on YouTube about these hearings where they're talking about the disgusting trash and the filth and the hyperviolence, and it's like, it's really not that violent.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

So here's the thing. They went after Mortal Kombat.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. Which was super violent.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

It really was.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

And they went after Night Trap, which was, again, cartoonish. Not a drop of blood spills from a person's body.

[Josh Clark]

Right. But it had ladies in lingerie.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

One.

[Josh Clark]

Yes.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Okay. I'm not defending any kind of violence against women.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, of course.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Not defending. Objectifying women. But Night Trap was unfairly railroaded.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, yeah.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Because for some reason, I think probably because it was film. It was people. Like, the people were controlling people.

[Josh Clark]

That was the difference. Because there were a hundred exploitation movies and horror movies by this point. Sure. 200, 300 that were a thousand times worse than this. But the fact that you were controlling, yet they never said. And they make a big point about this in the documentary. You weren't doing the violence. Like, the whole point of the game was to stop the augers.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Yes.

[Josh Clark]

Like, you weren't the person doing the augering.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

You're preventing the Violence.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, I guess that's why they called them augers. Because it was kind of like an auger. The tool was.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Yeah, that's what I guess.

[Josh Clark]

Crowbar. Towbar. What was it called? Crow car. Trocar.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Trocar, yeah, Crowbar.

[Josh Clark]

But yeah, and they never, I mean Jim Riley was like, they clearly never even played the game.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Yeah, no, they were talking about the.

[Josh Clark]

COVID of the thing was lurid. They didn't like the COVID of the box.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Yeah, yeah, they definitely hadn't played the game. It was just impossible from what they were saying happens in the game. And the big one was like you were saying that it let players carry out sexual violence against women. No, you do the opposite of that.

[Josh Clark]

Right.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

There's violence that is carried out by the augurs. If you don't do it right. If you're not good at the game, if you lose. Yes, exactly.

[Josh Clark]

But even then, even in the most disturbing scene, which was the one with the lady and the nightie looking in the mirror, the augurs come in behind her and it's for sure creepy looking at first, but you know, then they get out the crow car, I can't even remember.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Trokar.

[Josh Clark]

Trocar. And she's like, ah, ah. And it's like the worst B movie. And then they just sort of drag her over the threshold of one of those doors.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

I would say gently escorted through the door.

[Josh Clark]

Like you don't see any of the violence even. No, it's all just suggested, right? Yes.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

But again, Night Trap got lumped in with Mortal Kombat. And because of this, because it was very clear that the writing was on the wall, the media has a really great track record of saying, oh God, if we don't come up with a rating system ourself, Congress is going to impose it on us. And so they came up with the esrb, the Entertainment Software Rating Board.

[Josh Clark]

That's right.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

It was an industry created self imposed rating system that was brought about in large part because of Night Trap.

[Josh Clark]

Right. So SEGA pulls the game. Eventually it became really popular because of these senatorial hearings.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Right.

[Josh Clark]

Which is what always happens.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Yes, that's exactly right. It was starting to fade away. It would have been lost to history. And then the senators came in and were like, it's go buy that game.

[Josh Clark]

Kids wanted to play it. But SEGA did eventually pull it. Digital Pictures re released it as their own distributor and rated it M for mature. And that should have also been the end of it, right?

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Yeah, it should have just kind of went away. Especially after SEGA pulled it because it got pulled from KB Toys & Toys R Us because of kids. But like you're saying it was still around, and then when Sega pulled, it was like you couldn't find it anyway.

[Josh Clark]

Right.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

That should have been the end. And then in 2000, in 2014, Tom Riley, Jim Reilly.

[Josh Clark]

Jim.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Jim Riley started a Kickstarter and said, we're gonna resurrect Night Trap. All we need is $330,000. People are gonna go crazy for this.

[Josh Clark]

It's had a cult following. Yeah, yeah.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

It's gonna be the greatest Kickstarter in the history of Kickstarters. And it was not the greatest Kickstarter ever. It was a really, really bad Kickstarter that had a lot of criticism, skepticism, and ultimately only garnered, I think about 40,000 do when they were after 330.

[Josh Clark]

And that was in 2014.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Yeah. So that obviously was the end of Night Trap. Right.

[Josh Clark]

That was not the end of Night Trap, the bad game that refused to die. In 2016, there was a video on YouTube that showed someone playing Night Trap on their telephone on their smartphone. And I don't know if it was Jim Reilly or one of the original devs saw it and was like, what is going on? You can't play Night Trap on a smartphone. Cause it was never developed that technology. Unless that smartphone is playing a CD that I don't know about in the background. And they got in touch with a person. His name was Tyler Hogle and he was a mobile game programmer who was a fan of the original in a cult fan way.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

That's a deep cut at that time.

[Josh Clark]

Super deep cut. And then basically said, I'm gonna get a playable version hacked together for smartphones and did it like semi successfully.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Yeah. So he basically created this just on his own. And then once the video surfaced and the original developers, Jim Riley and some of the others got in touch with him, they said, here, man, we lost the code years ago. No one has any idea where it is. But we do have original 35 millimeter footage, which is timestamped, which is really critical because you have to wait as we'll talk about how to play it in a second. The timing is everything between the video and the player's controls. So with the timestamps, Tyler Hogle was able to basically create a new modern 25th anniversary edition that just is actually kind of. As far as Night Trap goes, it's the best Night Trap that there could possibly be.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, that was the 2017 25th edish. Rated T for teens this time. Still preposterous which is funny. And apparently you said he lost the code, but he was like, that's really easy. I've got all this footage that's timestamped. He's like, I can code this thing in my sleep.

[Capital One Bank Guy]

Basically.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

He basically did. So there's a 25th edition of Night Trap, which apparently Nintendo has a version of, which is kind of funny because at the time of those Senate hearings in 1993, 94. Nintendo famously said they would never allow Night Trap on their platform. And they did.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. And Nintendo is still sort of known as the more family friendly unit. I think they even had a bloodless Mortal Kombat, if I'm not mistaken. Or maybe it was a setting.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Oh, I think, yes, it rings a bell.

[Josh Clark]

Did you see the new Mortal Kombat movie? Did you have any.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

I have seen zero Mortal Kombat movies.

[Josh Clark]

The new one just came out on hbo. Max.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Is it good?

[Josh Clark]

It's pretty good. I mean, did you play the game?

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Clark]

Do you have nostalgia for the game? Sure, yeah. You should watch it.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Okay.

[Josh Clark]

It's good enough. It looks good and there's great fights and then some nice Easter eggs. And it's like the Mortal Kombat movie that should have been. Cause they made one previously that wasn't that great.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Yeah, from the 90s.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. But this one looks. It's pretty cool.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Okay, okay, I'll take it.

[Josh Clark]

You rip out spines and hearts and.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Okay, I'll go check it out.

[Josh Clark]

And the way they do the blood, it looks just like the game.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Is it rated T for teen?

[Josh Clark]

No, it's rated R. Okay. Because it's a movie. But we mentioned that it wasn't that great of a game because of the gameplay. One of the biggest problems was that you've got all these stories going on in these different windows, but you can only kind of control one at a time. So when you're controlling one scene, other stuff is going on. And we mentioned that makes it impossible to follow the actual story.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

That's a big problem.

[Josh Clark]

So it suffers there. But there's also this thing where you have a red light, a green light and a yellow light. And when these lights turn on, if it's the right color light, is when you engage the trap button. And that's when the auger will flip out the window. But it has to be timed right. And apparently while you're in these other rooms, if you want to follow the story for a couple of minutes, they will change the codes, the color codes.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Right.

[Josh Clark]

So if you're in another room they'll be like, the code is now green. And you don't know that because you're not watching it. So you go back and you think the code is red, and so you're losing the game.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Yeah. Because you have to have the right security code activated to activate the traps. Because this is the Martin's family's security cameras. The Martin family, the vampires are the ones who created the traps. You're just hacked into it, thanks to your pals at scat, who you're basically freelancing for. But when they change codes, it's. It doesn't show on screen. The character tells another character to go down to the basement and change the code.

[Josh Clark]

That's a different screen that you may not be watching.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Yeah. In a different room that you can't hear or see or anything like that. Because you're in the living room and this conversation's happening in the kitchen. That is not a thing. Where it's like, oh, that's a cool little feature. Part of the gameplay that is a maddening. Yes. It's a bug. Right. So that's a big part. That's a big problem with it as well. And then also, you don't have to get a perfect. You don't have to play a perfect game to win. But if any of the Augers get any of the characters, you lose. If too many Augers start to accumulate, you lose, and you get yelled at by the leader of Skat. It's kind of funny. He gets really mad at you for screwing up. But to win, you're basically memorizing where to go when. And it happens, especially toward the end, really quick. So, like, you'll set off a trap in one room, and you have to go remember what room you're supposed to go to to get the trap set for the next Auger. And it's not really fun. It gets really intense toward the end, but not necessarily fun.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. I mean, hats off to the Grabster because he actually played this thing and tried to play it, which was more than I was willing to do. But I did watch the walkthroughs.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Did you see the Night Trap video or the Lip Sync video?

[Josh Clark]

I did not.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

There's actually a theme song. Night Trap.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, right.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Look out behind you. Or something like that. That one of the characters does an air guitar, tennis racket, lip sync, tune dancing, while the other characters have to watch and pretend like they're not mortified with embarrassment at seeing this. It's really something.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, man. I kept waiting in the documentary for a Big reveal that, like, George Clooney was one of the Augers or something. But Dana Plato is about, as, you know, a list as it got at the time, which was probably C list at the time.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Yeah. You got anything else?

[Josh Clark]

I got nothing else. Night Trap. Go seek it out.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Night Trap. Look out behind you.

[Josh Clark]

That's right.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

If you want to know more about Night Trap, you don't even have to play it. You can just go on YouTube and watch basically the movie. And even then, it's still generally incoherent. But since I said it's still generally incoherent, it's time for listener mail.

[Josh Clark]

I'm gonna call this speed reading trauma. Hey, guys. I should start with the obligatory long time, first time, finally, a reason to email. And here I am. So, hello. I didn't think that a short stuff on speed reading, of all things, would trigger my first email, but here we go. Halfway through the show, I was flooded with a vivid memory of speed reading in my elementary school gifted class. Speaking of other scams, this was in the early 90s. My teacher would drag a transparency with a printed passage. Oh, I kind of remember this. Across an overhead projector at increasing speeds. And after each pass, we would take a comprehension test. I had no idea that this was a scam. I just thought it was a standard part of the curriculum that I wasn't very good at, and I felt terrible about it. Then again, in my Louisiana public school curriculum, we also had to get a hunting license and shoot clay pigeons as part of Louisiana history in middle school.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

I grew up shooting clay pigeons.

[Josh Clark]

Really? For school?

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

No.

[Josh Clark]

Okay, I would like to try that.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

It's cool.

[Josh Clark]

Skeet shooting.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Yeah, that's another way to put it.

[Josh Clark]

Looks like fun. Just stand behind. That's the rule, right?

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Basically.

[Josh Clark]

Anyway, thanks so much for the entertainment and education edutainment. Especially this past year. I've often had you in my ear while I work from home to feel a little less solitary. That is from Kate Ellis Jensen in Boulder, Colorado.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Thanks a lot, Kate. That was a good email. Very sorry to set off the trauma, but I'm glad that it's passed. I'm presuming it passed.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, I kind of remember that happening, but I certainly was not in a gifted class.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

It doesn't sound like a very fun procedure. It kind of sounds like Ralph Fiennes revealing himself to Philip Seymour Hoffman in Red Dragon.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, spoiler.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Do you see?

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

You know what I'm talking about. We talked about that recently.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. The wheelchair and fire scene was very.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Visceral but also really funny if you stop and think about it. Sure. That movie just danced on the line and sometimes it went over.

[Josh Clark]

Agreed.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Well, if you want to know more about Red Dragon. Oh wait, I already said that stuff. If you want to get in touch with us like Kate did, then you can email us like Kate did@@stuff podcastheartradio.com.

[Josh Clark]

Stuff youf Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts My Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. We love learning about this extraordinary universe and we love sharing what we've learned. And on our podcast, Daniel and Kelly's Extraordinary Universe, that's what we're gonna do. I'm Daniel. I'm a particle physicist and I think our universe is absolutely extraordinary. I'm Kelly Wienersmith. I study parasites and there's just endless things about this universe that I find fascinating. Basically, we're both nerds. Each Tuesday and Thursday, we take an hour long dive into some science topic. Learn all about our amazing and beautiful universe on Daniel and Kelly's Extraordinary Universe. Every Tuesday and Thursday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In 2020, a group of young women found themselves in an AI fueled nightmare.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

Someone was posting photos.

[Josh Clark]

It was just me naked. Well, not me, but me with someone else's body parts. This is Levittown, a new podcast from iHeart podcasts Bloomberg and Kaleidoscope about the rise of deepfake pornography and the battle to stop it. Listen to Levittown on Bloomberg's Big Take podcast. Find it on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

I'm Clayton English.

[Josh Clark]

I'm Greg Lodd and this is season two of the War on Drugs podcast. Last year, a lot of the problems of the drug war. This year, a lot of the biggest names in music and sports.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

This kind of star studded a little bit, man.

[Josh Clark]

We met them at their homes, we met them at their recording studios. Stories matter and it brings a face to it.

[Charles W. Chuck Bryan]

It makes it real.

[Josh Clark]

It really does. It makes it real. Listen to new episodes of the War on Drugs Podcast Season 2 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. You're listening to an iHeart podcast.