Excitement in your pocket
In 1997, the domestic company Dendi independently introduced to the Russian market a new portable device called Bonza. It was priced at 99 thousand rubles, a figure shown in the local currency value of the time.
Bonza was marketed not as a traditional console or handheld player but as a pocket gambling device meant to attract money from players. The mechanism behind it was simple yet persuasive enough to seem legitimate to many Russians at the moment. Initially, a consumer would purchase the unit, yet serious gamblers often found Bonza insufficient on its own.
To play, special Bonza cards of varying denominations had to be bought with real money. The concept mirrored the card systems used in the 1990s to pay for Internet access and mobile services, where a card carried a fixed value and that value translated into rubles at the point of sale. Bonza was promoted as a smaller, next‑generation slot experience, a “new era of slot gaming.”
Bonza cards were inserted into the device’s reader much like Gameboy cartridges, letting players gamble the card’s value and try to grow their bankroll. The game emulated a casino style slot machine: players would place bets, press a handle button, and watch the reels spin. Depending on the symbol combination, a win could be sizable, according to the promoters of the entertainment.
Developers also sought to broaden the appeal to enthusiasts without money by offering free practice plays. Advertisements claimed players could train for free with Bonza without using paid cards, and winning would grant virtual currency. This virtual currency could then feed the belief in luck and encourage real-money play later on.
Buyers were promised roughly 30 hours of Bonza operation with four new batteries, energy‑saving features, a built‑in speaker for sound effects, and a Russian language manual to help users understand this unusual device.
Cartridge with millions of rubles inside
Bonza quickly became a focal point of Russian gaming advertising. Promotions ran in gaming magazines and even on television. One commercial featured a driver who buys a convertible and treats his friend to a ride, only to reveal that the car was funded with Bonza earnings. The pitch was simple: here is a real slot machine in a portable form. A Bonza card contains money, you put it in, and the game is a chance to win more—cash from a portable device.
The ad campaign also reminded audiences that winnings could be collected at Dendi stores. At the end, a friend urges not to go home, but to head to a store to buy Bonza. Yet an important detail was often overlooked in the hype: those who earned any amount were expected to transfer it back onto the card to cash out later.
Despite these claims, participation was limited. Still, winnings could theoretically be exchanged for rubles at any Dendi outlet. Card face values for real-money play ranged from 20 thousand to 2 million rubles.
Was it realistic to win?
Proponents claimed that earnings could be retrieved at payment points. One surviving gaming magazine issue even listed several Moscow addresses, including routes from Teatralnaya station toward GUM, and locations on Krasnaya Presnya street and Petrovka street. The promised grand prize was 150 million rubles, a figure astonishing regardless of currency values at the time, and it was set well before the ruble’s fluctuations were normalized.
There is little evidence of actual winners or of a declared total earnings amount. Open sources suggest Bonza never publicly announced winners or total profits, and many social media posts from the era reflect skepticism about any large payouts.
During the 1990s, Bonza faced suspicions among Russians about possible foul play. Rumors circulated about a lever or mechanism inside the device that could cap winnings when a card was inserted. A team of hobbyists and researchers known for examining historical gadgets opened Bonza and its cards. Their findings did not provide clear confirmation of such a mechanism in the device’s design, though concerns persisted [Source: Potroshiteli].
Bonza of Fate
The 1998 economic crisis curtailed further promotion of the device, and Bonza faded from the market soon after the default emerged. Today, Bonza set‑top boxes occasionally appear on online marketplaces, primarily for collectors or researchers interested in studying the device’s construction and operation.
The packaging sometimes lists the French company Gemplus as the manufacturer. Gemplus was known for card readers in the past, which led observers to speculate that the Bonza card readers were sourced from the French firm, while the set‑top box itself may have been assembled elsewhere. The brief burst of portable gambling did spark other variants in Russia, including special cartridges for the Dendy console that connected to a home TV and were priced lower at around 59 thousand rubles.
In the early 2000s, a kind of spiritual successor appeared in stores and malls: vertical gambling stalls offering a game that promised a big win from a successful symbol combination. Like Bonza, these devices relied on a simple coin input and, at times, exchange machines that dispensed five‑ruble notes. Bonza shared a common fate with these machines, not due to the crisis alone but because strict slot machine bans were enacted in the country.