East Germany

The Poly-Play is an arcade cabinet created in East Germany in 1985 by VEB Polytechnik Karl-Marx-Stadt, and it is the only arcade machine produced during the GDR's existence. It features a monitor from a German television and a cabinet made by a furniture maker. The machine is powered by the U880 microprocessor and offers eight games: Hirschjagd (Deer Hunt), Hase und Wolf (Hare and Wolf), Absfahrtslauf (Downhill), Schmetterlinge (Butterflies), Schießbude (Shooting Gallery), Autorennen (Motor Race), Merkspiel (Memory Game), and Wasserrohrbruch (Water Pipe Burst). Wasserrohrbruch was recognized as PC Gamer's Game of the Year for 1985. The Poly-Play was priced at 50 pfennigs, and children found a way to trick the machine into extending their playtime by inserting a single pfennig.