Excitement in your pocket
In 1997, the domestic company “Dendi” independently released to the Russian market a new portable console, or rather “player” Bonza. The device was presented at a price of 99 thousand rubles. (the cost is indicated before the value of the Russian currency).
Actually Bonza was not a console or a player, but actually a pocket slot machine designed to get as much money as possible from gamblers.
The principle of operation of the device was simple, but effective enough to save the Russians money, and at the same time it did not seem like a completely dubious project. Initially, a person bought the console himself, but for real gamblers, Bonza itself was not enough.
Special “bonzo cards” of different denominations were purchased for the device for real money. The idea was similar to how in the 1990s cards were purchased to pay for the Internet and mobile communications – that is, the card itself had a certain amount, and its equivalent in rubles had to be paid at the time of purchase.
Bonza was promoted as a “much smaller slot machine” and “a new age slot game now available”.
Bonza cards had to be inserted into the slot of the reader like a Gameboy cartridge and played for that amount to increase your bankroll.
The process of the game mimicked a slot machine from a casino. It was necessary to bet and press the button responsible for the handle of the virtual machine.
As a result, depending on the combination of symbols, the player can potentially win a large amount. At least, so the authors of the gambling entertainment claimed.
The developers also found a way to make the game interesting for those who don’t have money but have passion. The ads suggested that users “train for free with Bonza” without using cards purchased for money. In case of winning, a person received a virtual currency, which allowed him to believe in his own luck and start playing for real money.
Buyers were promised 30 hours of Bonza operation with four new batteries, built-in power-saving settings, a built-in speaker for sound effects, and a Russian-language user manual to understand the operation of an unusual device.
Cartridge with millions of rubles inside
“Gambling player” was actively promoted among Russians: advertisements appeared in gaming magazines and even on television. In a special commercial, the actor plays a driver who buys a convertible and drives his friend in the car. It turned out that he bought the car with the money he earned from Bonza.
“Here it is – Bonza player, a real slot machine. You get a “bonza card” and it has money on it. You put it on and banzai is a game for money! – says the hero of the ad, showing the prefix at work.
We did not forget to tell the audience about the places where earnings are received in any Dendy store. At the end of the ad, an inspired friend asks not to go home, but to the store to buy Bonza.
But the ad doesn’t mention another major subtlety of the console’s operation – though, those who earned any amount had to write it back on the card.
However, the number of participants was limited. But after these manipulations, the winnings can theoretically be exchanged for rubles at any Dendy store. The face value of cards for playing for real money ranged from 20 thousand to 2 million rubles.
Was it realistic to win?
The authors assured that the earnings can be obtained at special “payment points”. In one of the surviving scanned issues of gaming magazines of that time, there are even several addresses in Moscow.
These include the transition from the Teatralnaya metro station to GUM, Krasnaya Presnya street, house 34 and Petrovka street, house 12.
The Russians were promised the main prize – 150 million rubles. The amount was established even before the denomination of the local currency, but it was still extremely impressive.
However, no information has surfaced about the actual winners of the project, which generated an impressive amount of money.
According to open sources, Bonza never mentioned the winners and the amount of earnings. Many social media users in posts discussing Bonza stated that they never really earned big sums.
However, in the 1990s, the Russians suspected Bonza of foul play.
There were rumors that a special lever was placed on the player that would not allow to win more than a certain amount when a card is inserted.
Experts on the website Potroshiteli, specializing in parsing and studying various tools of the past, opened Bonza and its cards. According to them, there is no clear confirmation of this theory in the design of the device.
Bonza of Fate
The 1998 economic crisis prevented further promotion of the console in the country, and Bonza closed shortly after the default was announced.
Currently, on online classifieds sites you can now find offers for the sale of Bonza set-top boxes that are only of interest to you in terms of studying the assembly of the device and how it works.
For example, on the box with the player, the French company Gemplus is indicated as the manufacturer. The European company has specialized in card readers in the past.
In this regard, the comics collector and editor-in-chief of ComicsBoom Alexander Kulikov thought that the creators of Bonza ordered card readers only from the French company, and the set-top box itself was assembled in one of the Asian countries.
The success of “portable gambling” was short-lived, but it was enough for other versions of Bonza to appear in Russia. Special cartridges have been released for the Dendy fixed set-top box (the NES analogue of Nintendo) that connects to the home TV. The cartridge was cheaper than the player – 59 thousand rubles.
In the early 2000s Bonza’s “spiritual heir” will be slot machines in stores and shopping malls. Vertical racks will offer to play a similar game, where a successful combination allegedly leads to a big win.
To mint the Coke once, it was necessary to drop a five-ruble coin. Often alongside such gambling stalls were special exchange machines that issued coveted “five-ruble notes” instead of banknotes.
Bonza and these devices had much more in common. Except for the familiar format of gambling, no one in Russia reported big wins on the shelves of five rubles.
They too suffered the fate of Bonza, but not because of the crisis, but because of the legal bans on slot machines in the country.