ARCADE

From some of the greatest gamers to ever kara-shory through wave after wave of competition to Ol’ Dirty Bastard in his Brooklyn Zoo music video, Chinatown Fair has been home to more than its fair share of legends. However, few have gained the celebrity like status of being described by CF’s historic sign as “WORLD FAMO S DANCING & TIC-TAC-TOE”. If someone new to the city were to take a look at the sign during CF’s last few years they might be puzzled by its lack of subject: “What could this establishment possibly house that is world famo s at both dancing and tic-tac-toe?” And while inside there might be some very talented DDR and In the Groove players unleashing all sorts of Puma-Taper’d fury, and some Tetris wizards who make tic-tac-toe look like the child’s play most consider it to be, neither parties would be quite as world famo s at these two practices as Chinatown Fair’s chickens.

The tic-tac-toe chicken and cabinet first arrived at Chinatown Fair in 1974, trained by students of famed animal behaviorist B.F Skinner, and for two measly quarters would embarrass you in front of your buddy/date/parent/child/guest by kicking your ass up-and-down the arcade. A sign promised a “large bag of fortune cookies” to any David capable of beating the odds and slaying the beaked Goliath at a game of tic-tac-toe. But, the chicken never lost. At best you might be able to force out a draw, but that wouldn’t get you the elusive prize of what I imagine were the stalest fortune cookies in all of Chinatown. Throughout the years many different chickens occupied the CF tic-tac-tollbooth of thrashing, including one whose run of 12 years undoubtedly resulted in a collection of tic-tac-toe scalps easily reaching the thousands. Another, named Willy had his death reported in the New York Times, quite a feat for a chicken. One was even lucky enough to make a cameo in the 1984 romatic-drama and contender for the movie-with-Robert-DeNiro-that-fewest-people-have-ever-heard-of award, Falling in Love (watch the Taxi Driver himself fall victim to the chicken below).

The dancing chicken was the less famo s of the two, presumably due to its less interactive nature (this was an arcade after all), and occupied a spot in the back of CF. For a price it would dance for your amusement for a few seconds before it went back to being bitterly jealous of its more frequented coworker (it can be seen in action here). Eventually the dancing chicken was phased out; unable to contend with the popularity of the show stopping tic-tac-toe chicken, and in 1998 the last of the tic-tac-toe chickens was rescued by a concerned animal lover. It spent its remaining days on a farm with other rescued animals, and a framed photo collage of it frolicking on the farm hung atop CF’s change booth. The chicken was never succeeded, and the machine was removed and replaced with arcade games. Still, to this day many people fondly remember CF’s feathered inhabitants, and a quick couple of Google searches will show you just how world famo s they were.

-Reed