We Knew It! NBA Jam Rigged Against Chicago Bulls, Says Game Designer

By Jon Graef in Miscellaneous on Sep 28, 2013 5:30PM

Photo by Nicole Yeary

If you were a child of the 90s, then classic basketball arcade game NBA Jam was, well, your jam. Further, if you grew up in a certain Midwestern city with a certain Midwestern basketball dynasty, then you undoubtedly played as the Chicago Bulls. (Michael Jordan licensing issues notwithstanding.)

And if you played as the Bulls, you may have suspected that the game was rigged against the team in certain situations. (Classic sore loser refrain of "the game cheated!" notwithstanding as well).

Well, turns out the game did cheat after all. In a fascinating interview with NBA Jam lead designer Mark Turmell, ESPN: The Magazine's Jon Robinson asks Turmell a point-blank question about Scottie Pippen. Robinson gets an honest response from Turmell, a Detroit Pistons fan:

Did Scottie Pippen's ratings in the game really drop when he played certain teams?

It's true, but only when the Bulls played the Pistons. If there was a close game and anyone on the Bulls took a last second shot, we wrote special code in the game so that they would average out to be bricks. There was the big competition back in the day between the Pistons and the Bulls, and since I was always a big Pistons fan, that was my opportunity to level the playing field.

Of course, this news ricocheted around the Internet, to the sound of million "we knew it!" cries. But do read the entire interview, as Turmell breaks down how the first NBA-licensed coin-operated game came to be; how Shaquelle O'Neal had the game shipped to him on road trips; and how the game is haunted.

There's also this fascinating anecdote:

Jam was making so much money when it first came out. There was so much four-player action at this one arcade in Chicago that the first week they had to shut the arcade down, because there was a huge fight over whose turn it was to play. There was so much money coming in, they had to change the coin-box every day. It was crazy

Now that this news is out, perhaps burgeoning diplomat Dennis Rodman, who played for both the Pistons and the Bulls, can now broker some kind of peace agreement between Turmell and disgruntled Bulls fans. After all, it makes about as much sense as Rodman hanging out in North Korea does.

For a list of Chicago places that have NBA Jam, check out Huffington Post Chicago, who also break down the history of Midway Games, the Chicago-based company who originally released the game.