Do you remember the ‘Miracle on Ice’ hockey game between the USA and The Soviet Union in the –medal round at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics in 1980? This February marks the 43rd anniversary of the historic game that stunned the world, known as one of the biggest upsets in sports history. The American hockey team, comprised of amateur and college players, won the game by a 4-3 score over the heavily favored Soviets. The Buffalo Sabres’ Mike Ramsey was a member of that team that captured the Olympic gold medal in the next round versus Finland. Ramsey was only 19 years old and the youngest member of the team. The game also inspired Al Michael’s famous call, “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!”
What you may not remember is that this hockey match inspired the creation of one of the top-earning arcade and bar games of the 1980s — the Super Chexx® bubble hockey game. This table hockey arcade game was created by Innovative Concepts in Entertainment, Inc. (ICE) in 1982 in Clarence, NY. The original Super Chexx® bubble hockey game pitted the USA and Soviet Union hockey teams. Later versions of the game allowed buyers to select the teams for the game.
Super Chexx® was ICE’s first creation and the company sold 5,000 games during its first year of operation. Since 1982 the company has created a wide variety of coin-operated arcade games and has become an industry-leading producer of those sports games. ICE carries one of the largest, most prolific product ranges in the coin-operated industry and sells its products in over 70 different countries.
The next time you see a bubble hockey game in an arcade or restaurant/bar, just remember how the ‘Miracle on Ice’ game started this industry 43 years ago.
Let’s Play (Bubble) Hockey: The iconic bar game inspired by the Miracle on Ice (growlermag.com)
ICE Games (Innovative Concepts in Entertainment) Arcade Games (betson.com)
Bubble Hockey History – How Dome Hockey Was Invented – Bubble & Air Hockey (bubbleairhockey.com)
