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NES Modem and Minnesota State Lottery Cart


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I have mostly been silent at Nintendo Age (many many years) and here at video game sage. I came across some pictures today about a prototype NES Modem and Minnesota State Lottery Cart.

Link: (NYTIMES Article 1991)

Destructiod article: (https://www.destructoid.com/untapped-potential-a-true-family-computer-137392.phtml)

UP-Lottery-620x.jpg

I think of myself of knowing about most things concerning NES since I have been playing and collecting since the 90s.

Does anyone have any more information on this unit or have a copy of it in their collection? I do not remember this unit ever coming up on Nintendo Age forum.

Any ideas how many exist and if possible to find them? The article states 10k were trialed in homes but I doubt that many were made since I have never seen or heard of them before today.

Anyone have any information or documentation on this device for the NES?

-ChepChep

 

 

Edited by ChepChep
typo
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It's essentially a prototype if it even still exists.

No one's ever come forward with the cart or modem. I'm also skeptical of the "10,000 home trial," as no one has ever come forward to say, "Yeah, I was one of them." I don't think it ever reached that stage, so I think the article might be wrong about that part. I'm not even sure the cart isn't a mockup.

I remember one person did have the promotional VHS tape, and was offering it for sale. It was the source of just about every image of the whole setup. That was several years ago, though, and I don't remember who it was that had it. They lived in Virginia or Maryland, so the tape made its way there.

Edited by Tulpa
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5 minutes ago, RH said:

Let me get this straight.  This was to be an official, lottery cartridge with a modem.  And they (supposedly) home tested it.  What was this?  Were people really planning on buying lotto tickets from an NES?!

Basically, yeah. Although there was no physical ticket, you'd do everything in the NES. I don't think it reached the home testing stage. There's just no evidence that it got that far.

Also, the label on the cartridge is the seal of the Minnesota State Lottery. It's still in use today.

1538660548_14+7Ed020815.JPG?auto=compres

Edited by Tulpa
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Dang, Minnesotans must have really loved the lotto for it to warrant researching creating an entire modem product AND the software.  Any clue if this was supposed to be licensed?

I don't play the lottery and, honestly, I have no clue what percent of the population cares to play, but what percent of people would have actually wanted something like this?  Obviously, it wasn't enough for this to actually pan out, but apparently someone thought the demand was high enough to justify prototyping this thing, at least once!

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Just now, RH said:

Any clue if this was supposed to be licensed?

I would think it'd have to be to get Nintendo's cooperation to make it work.

Supposedly, and I've only read it, the cartridge, or at least the ROM, had some very simple games on it in addition to the main lottery program. I'm wondering how much would actually work if it did turn up and someone stuck it in an NES.

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Yeah NintendoAge/VGS dudes would be the ones who would have one. The fact that no one has ever come forward suggests that it's either been destroyed or it's sitting in some back room somewhere, forgotten. Even DreamTR never came forward to say he has/had one, or even that he saw one, and he actively and relentlessly seeks out stuff like this.

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19 minutes ago, B.A. said:

To my knowledge one has never popped up.  That VHS video is the only physical evidence.  Years ago I tracked down the address of the company on the label and they were long gone already. 

Did you (or *cough* a friend) try to break into the facility, to see you could find anything lying around?

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10 hours ago, B.A. said:

Ha, it crossed my mind! There was a dry cleaner there if I remember right.

And you FELL for that?! Dry cleaners is like the most obvious front company you can get when hiding an illegal lottery ring! They probably got a network of a hundred NES systems cranking out lotto tickets 24/7 in the basement down there!

Next time you go back, ask for Jimmy Rickets and tell em Miyamoto sent ya. After that you ask for a number 17 deluxe package steam clean and fold, and hand them a hamper of dirty laundry. Come back two days later and if you won anything, you'll find the winnings in the back pockets of one of the folded pairs of jeans. 😉

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That pawn stars episode irked me.  I know the show is generally staged, but that was so a plug to try and get more fools on board with hellishly priced goods pandered by the ping pong of profit between WATA and HA.

Back on topic i remember this being talked about over the years but I could have sworn I thought someone had one, guess not if this group can't come up with it.

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If 10,000 households were really trialed, then I think eventually one will pop up.

The BT SNES "Interactive TV" cart showed up a few years ago on retrocollect, and according to https://www.telecompaper.com/news/bt-joins-forces-with-nintendo--59186

it was trialled in 2,500 homes. https://web.archive.org/web/20170621192046/https://www.retrocollect.com/News/bts-long-lost-super-nintendo-interactive-tv-service-trial-cartridge-discovered.html

A lot of different programs over the years have used Nintendo systems to do things, NES, SNES, and especially the GB. But the real question is whether it was ever /actually/ made. Who knows.

 

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18 hours ago, Joshua Rogers said:

 But the real question is whether it was ever /actually/ made. Who knows.

We know there was a ROM created, as there's multiple screenshots (more than what's up there.) They show a fishing game, the modem connecting, a passcode screen, and a few other functions.

The cart itself may be a mockup, and the program running off of something else. I don't think the whole video was ever dumped, and without footage of the cart being inserted into an NES and running, there's no way to know for sure.

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  • 6 months later...

So.. I'm the guy with the VHS for this, and the four circulating screenshots were mine, obviously taken with a potato.. maybe mid 2000s.

I'm in the process of moving to a new house.. at which time I'll pull out my old VCR from storage, clean it, test it, then see if the lottery tape still plays. It's been in storage and unplayed likely since the pics were taken and I wrote the initial article, or soon thereafter.

I'd be glad to try to answer questions, but at this point, I feel like you all know about what I do on it.

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Also... I highly doubt a proto of this exists. I hunted HARD to find a physical piece of hardware or a cartridge, only to be told that it likely never made it that far, and that anything like that has since been destroyed. Could be wrong of course, but there were enough total dead ends to put me off the hunt for it at a time when I had 500 plus NES games and tons of peripherals... it was a minor stroke of luck to have gotten the video tape honestly. 

Also.. sorry for topping an old thread. I occasionally search for this to see what corners of the internet it's made it to, and figured I'd chime in.

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3 hours ago, BlackbirdZero13 said:

 

I'd be glad to try to answer questions, but at this point, I feel like you all know about what I do on it.

Cool, glad you could make it. 🙂

Did the video actually show the cartridge being shoved into an NES and booted up? That's my biggest question, and would indicate that it was actually functional and not a mockup.

Also, was that a fishing game in the one screenshot? Like, were there mini games, or was that just a rumor?

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@BlackbirdZero13 I also want to mention that if this video was never ripped and posted to the internet, I think there's more than a few of us that would pass the hat to raise funds to get that VHS tape sent to a company like Legacy Box.

Of course, I'm sure someone around here probably already has a really nice VCR and a setup to rip it, so if you are willing to trust us, someone could rip it for you.  I just mention paying for a service because you know they are legit, will return your tape and you won't have to worry about trusting some random Joe on the internet.

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