Inside the arcade, I turned my attention back to the Mortal Kombat machine, and tried to observe the players inconspicuously. But, one of them recognized me from the day before. The pesky kid was about 12 or 13 years-old and it would’ve seemed odd for him to be out so late on a Sunday night had it not been for the Bulls’ victory. He quickly peppered me with questions—he found one of Mortal Kombat’s hidden Fatality moves and wanted to know if it was a random occurrence or if he did something to make it happen.



He had no money and when not on his knees scavenging for tokens, he would stand at the ready and wait for another player to win a match and then step in and attack the game’s controls to try and recreate what he had seen earlier.



I was surprised that a Fatality had been discovered so quickly. None of the other players believed him and I wouldn’t confirm that what he had seen even existed, which prompted him to out me as one of the game’s makers. I don’t know what people thought a videogame designer looked like back then, but apparently I did not look like one. The other players took one look at me and laughed it off.