Casual gamers might not know the name Mark Turmell, but if titles like Smash TV, NBA Jam and NFL Blitz ring a bell, then you've probably contributed to the man's fortune in tokens.
NBA Jam is the crown jewel of coin-op, still holding the world record for most money earned at one location in a single week ($2,468). And while you might have fond memories of the word "Boomshackalacka," and the sight of secret character Bill Clinton dunking on Blue Edwards, there's still plenty you don't know about Jam, like the haunting sounds it makes when the audio is turned off and the limited edition version that featured both Gary Payton and Michael Jordan … on the same team.
NBA Jam is the crown jewel of coin-op, still holding the world record for most money earned at one location in a single week ($2,468). And while you might have fond memories of the word "Boomshackalacka," and the sight of secret character Bill Clinton dunking on Blue Edwards, there's still plenty you don't know about Jam, like the haunting sounds it makes when the audio is turned off and the limited edition version that featured both Gary Payton and Michael Jordan … on the same team.
Lots of good nuggets in there but this one was crazy:
What's the rumor we hear about NBA Jam being haunted?
We had already finished making NBA Jam when Drazen Petrovic died. The game had already shipped and he was on the Nets. So we had all of these coin-op machines around, and one night we were playing Mortal Kombat and there was a Jam machine next to it, and all of a sudden the game started calling out "Petrovic!" "Petrovic!" And this only happened after Petrovic had died. Everyone started freaking out. Something weird was going on with the software, and to this day, if you have an original NBA Jam machine every once in a while it will just yell out "Petrovic!" It's wild.
We had already finished making NBA Jam when Drazen Petrovic died. The game had already shipped and he was on the Nets. So we had all of these coin-op machines around, and one night we were playing Mortal Kombat and there was a Jam machine next to it, and all of a sudden the game started calling out "Petrovic!" "Petrovic!" And this only happened after Petrovic had died. Everyone started freaking out. Something weird was going on with the software, and to this day, if you have an original NBA Jam machine every once in a while it will just yell out "Petrovic!" It's wild.
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