(Roughly) Daily

Morskoi Boi

As kids, who among us never dreamed of growing up to be a sailor? After we go to space, naturally. This arcade game was created for those who never forgot their childhood dreams. And so, you are now looking through the periscope of a submarine and the enemy ships are sailing audaciously across the horizon, back and forth. Press “Start” and the green point representing a moving torpedo rushes towards the enemy vessel. The rest depends on the accuracy of the player-sniper.

From the collection of Moscow’s Museum of Soviet Arcade Games— over 40 units, and growing– a sample that one can play online.

[ToTH to Jesse Dylan]

As we limber up our firing fingers, we might recall that it was on this date that the first elephant arrived in America, from India, aboard the ship America. The pachyderm, called “Old Bet,” was paraded around the Northeast for a few years, exhibited to curious punters, until she was acquired by Hackaliah Bailey– the organizer of the first American circus and the “Bailey” in “Barnum and Bailey.”

An advertisement for Old Bet in Boston, 1797

source: Natural History

Nathaniel Hawthorne's father (also "Nathaniel"), an officer aboard the ship America, wrote this entry in the ship’s logbook. His handwriting grew large when he referred to the first elephant ever to come to America.

source: Natural History