He has two of the 3.0 pods set up in his garage, while the rest are in storage along with that massive robot fist. Michael reckons that there are only around 24 left in the world - but only about 12 of them still work, including his eight. The 3.0 pods in particular are incredibly rare now. He already owned eight working generation 3.0 pods, and bought another ten Tesla II pods after Dave & Busters sold off their inventory. He also has a three-feet-long model of the Vester Thrust Vehicle from Red Planet that he picked up for $200. He travelled to three Red Planet competitions a year in New York and Cincinnati, events that attracted competitors from as far away as Japan, and was an avid collector of BattleTech jackets and ephemera – even buying a six-feet-long model of an Atlas BattleMech fist, which he keeps in a lock-up outside Dallas. Some still operate today: for example, the MechCorps group owns a phalanx of pods that they take to gaming conventions, and so does The Fallout Shelter Arcade in Minnesota.īy this point, Michael was a pod addict. All of the pods were put up for sale, with most being snapped up by enthusiasts and arcade chains. The simulation feel was comprehensive - players had to manage every aspect of their BattleMechs, right down to monitoring heat output.Ī Virtual World promotional image of a Tesla pod.īut eventually, in 2005, Dave & Busters decided to get rid of its Tesla II pods - Michael thinks it was because the chain wanted to get away from “attendant-based attractions”. The Tesla pods, and the Tesla II pods that superseded them, had a whopping seven monitors, along with dozens and dozens of functional buttons and a swanky new curved design.
And in 1996, Virtual World launched the Tesla pod, which was a considerable improvement on the generation 3.0 pods it replaced.
#Battletech toys install#
But the story doesn’t end there - Virtual World teamed up with Dave & Busters to install pods at its restaurant and entertainment complexes across the US. The Dallas Virtual World closed in 1996, which Michael puts down to over expansion and the company stretching itself thin - the pods were expensive to play and maintain, and each cluster required an attendant to help players get set up. Michael reckons that over the years he’s played in BattleTech pods 20,000 to 30,000 times, and the vast majority of those games have been Martian Football. Meanwhile, ‘Blockers’ attempt to protect the Runner by heading off the Crushers. One player is the ‘Runner’ - or the ball, if you will - and teams of ‘Crushers’ chase after their car with the aim of knocking it out of play.
The game has several modes, and Martian Football is a bit like an early Rocket League, but with American football instead of soccer.
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