Some time ago, I tried to get my hands on a video game that came out on Wii last year with little success. It was the Dragon’s Lair Triology. I have it today as it finally arrived yesterday. By today’s standards it seems a bit slow moving, especially since the game video will run until you arrive at a scene in which you have a choice to make. It’s simplicity seems quaint but let me tell you a little about how it all began (early 1980’s) and how it might not have made it without the help of a three year old girl.
I remember driving to one of our stores in which we had placed a new Dragon’s Lair. There was a line that stretched for several block of eager young men willing to spend $.50 for a try at this revolutionary new full size arcade game ( it is important to know that most top games were a quarter and many older games were 3 for $.25). Oh yes, there was a local news film crew. Looking back, it is hard to remember WHY there were any reservations in buying these games, but then ‘victory has many fathers.’
In my early days, as the marketing guy for a convenience store chain, I would be asked my opinion on a wide range of issues. Was the price of our milk too high? Can we sell more gasoline with a promotion? However, the toughest question to ask anyone concerns emerging technology, especially when it costs a lot of money upfront. There was also this little problem that although Dragon’s Lair was setting the industry on fire, there was — as I remember it — this little problem with the manufacturer’s cash flow, which raised a lot of legitimate questions by retailers. At this time, if I didn’t have a ready answer, I would call in my team of experts… in this case my 3 almost 4 year old daughter, Kristin.
Kristin, would come with me to work every Saturday and I would turn her lose in our video game warehouse where this new game was lurking. We set it on ‘unlimited lives’ and left it to Kristin. I would always support any game she would play for 15 minutes straight, but this one had special appeal and she played it all morning UNTIL she won! I related Kristin’s experience and all were ‘sold’ and the rest is history. Every store wanted one… and there were 1300 stores.
Who knows what might have happened if Kristin didn’t touch the controller that day?