My first job… was that of a waiter

Those were the days when Indian markets were just opened, Babri was demolished, and video games were something new for the Indians. I had this thing for these machines from the very beginning but thanks to our Crown TV, which always went out of order when anything starting with V was attached to it – my parents never bought it. Two such experiences were good enough for us to not use a VCR or Video Game with it for next 16 years (and still counting). They compensated for this by buying me a Casio handheld game called Funny Waiter (not to be confused with brick games which flooded the market after some 4 years) when we went to Madras which looked like this.

Though I believe, it was probably smuggled maal – reason nothing specific - just a gut feeling knowing the nature of Indian market. Anyway, let us not divert form the real point. That game was one of the best things I have owned and it seems that I’ll never forget about it. Though this is a different thing that I can recall 90% of the games/ toys I have had but still this one was special in the sense it was a new thing in the market, first electronic game for me and as I said earlier, I have some thing for such stuffs.

It was a game where you play as a waiter and serve three of the guests in a particular time. A more detailed account of the game is here. This game was with me for around 7 years and I didn’t change the battery even once. This robustness of the game really frustrated me in the end as one of my other handheld had given me a lot of problems and finally, I disected it (this proves since childhood I was an Electronics Engineer) and somehow reassembled it correctly. If I remember correctly, this game stopped working only after my sister threw it in water and I lost a dear toy of mine. Though, I am not sure which of the two events occurred earlier – throwing in water and kept working & I opened it but was unable to reassemble it properly which proves I ain’t that good a engineer and lot of people might agree with it. I somehow believe later scenario happened as I vaguely remember that we were quite astonished to see it working even after being thrown in water.
There are just two things I think whenever thought about this game comes to me –
The game cost was Rs. 200. I just wonder in ’91 my parents buying me such a costly toy though that is a different story that I generally didn’t use to ask for anything. But still, I really feel so much privileged when I think of such a game.
What if I would be having that game now – how much could it have fetched me. Going by the eBay prices for similar games it could have probably fetched me something from $50 to $200 (Rs. 2000 – Rs 8000). One of the best investments my parents could have made.
Anyways if some one wants to buy it, I will try to search for the game at my home if the price is right.