If you thought Street Fighter: 3rd Strike or Puzzle Fighter II were iconic for arcade gamers, you'd be wrong. The true gem for the hardcore arcade veteran to line up their quarters on the edge for next game? Tic-tac-toe.
With a chicken.
Nostalgia dies hard for folks, especially at the revamped and reopened Chinatown Fair in New York according to the New York Times. The local refuge for hardcore fighting tournament players heard back in March that the location, shuttered just last year due to rent issues according to Gothamist, would reopen. The downside came when the arcade would be more "family friendly" than "fighter" friendly as it was previously.
The other thing missing? The tic-tac-toe chicken. Insert a quarter and you'd match wits with the frequen fodder for Link in every Zelda game. Sounds simple, right? But folks have trouble taking on the fowl and it's become a popular casino draw over the last three years in the Northeast. These days you're not actually playing the chicken, per se, as the Times reveals:
"The chickens are not taught actual strategy; when money is deposited, the chicken is directed by pulses of light to give the appearance of selecting a square for its move."
While there's no promise Chinatown Fair will ever get their beloved chicken back, you can marvel at the end of Werner Herzog's Stroszek at the musical prowess of the mighty tic-tac-toe champion (with a rabbit cameo):
pic via dorkly
