Babu: A custodian of gaming history
This story was originally published in Ralph magazine.
Tucked in the inner alleyways of India’s bustling city of Pune is Babu Video Games, a small, nondescript store which has been around for over three decades. A nostalgic trip down memory lane, it’s arguably one of the oldest video game stores in India. It’s a treasure trove of retro video games which were immensely popular in the 1980s and 1990s, including Nintendo Game & Watch portable consoles like Popeye and Zelda, Atari Paperboy, Tiger Electronics Road Race, Casio Western Bar and Casio Kung Fu. Several kids those days grew up playing these games, which became a special and inextricable part of their childhood.
Fifty-two-year-old gaming enthusiast and avid collector, Babu Puranchand Gurnani, owns and helms this store. He has been running his video game business since he was a teenager in the 1980s, renting a gamut of handheld consoles. Today, Babu continues to rent and sell video games, including the latest avatars of PlayStation and Xbox. Over the years, however, Babu has amassed an enviable collection of video games, many of which are hard to find today. We speak to him about being a true custodian of gaming history. Edited excerpts:
From Nintendo Game & Watch portable consoles like Popeye and Zelda to Atari Paperboy to Casio Western Bar and Casio Kung Fu, countless video games that can be found here. Photo by Radhika Iyengar.
What’s your first memory of owning a video game?
This was about 40 years ago, when my friend from Dubai had brought a Nintendo Game & Watch - Parachute, the handheld unit. When I saw it, I remember being fascinated by it. He gave it to me as a sample unit and I bought it from him.
In the 1980s, my father ran a grocery store. The business at our grocery store was up and down. Money was scarce and I was thinking of some way to bring in extra money into our home. Video games at the time were quite new to India. So, right next to my father’s grocery business, I began renting video games to customers. I must have been about 16 or 17 years old. At the beginning, I only had one unit. However, slowly, as my video game business began to do well, I bought more games.
Could you describe what your store was like in the 1980s and 1990s?
My father’s shop was approximately 110 sq. feet in size, where he would sell groceries and I would rent out video games. When my business took off, I remember seeing long queues of customers waiting to play. Children would sit on the sidewalk that bordered our small store and enthusiastically play the handheld games there. Others would sit inside the store on stools or on sacks of food grains. Initially, my father was annoyed about many people crowding the streets near our shop but he didn’t protest much because the money was flowing in.
At that time, the age-group of the customers was 12 years to 30 year olds. Right above our grocery store, we had an empty loft. I decided to put 10 television sets there, where customers could play video games like Super Mario, Contra, Road Fighter, Duck Hunt, Aladdin and Circus Charlie in the 1990s. I didn’t have an arcade parlour where one puts a coin in the machine. I charged my customers Rs. 1 per hour, which allowed many to play for hours at a stretch.
The young boys were very competitive while playing. For instance, sometimes one of them would be playing well and would earn a great score; right then his friend would come from behind and switch the game off, so that he’d lose his high score. Everyone had fun though. They laughed and enjoyed themselves. That truly was a golden period and I have many fond memories of that time.
“When my business took off, I remember seeing long queues of customers waiting to play. Children would sit on the sidewalk that bordered our small store and enthusiastically play the handheld games there. Others would sit inside the store on stools or on sacks of food grains. ”
How did the idea of renting video games strike you? There was no social media presence in the 1980s either, so how did an ambitious teenager such as yourself generate interest or promote his business?
To be honest, the idea just struck me. We were living in poverty. There were other grocery stores in the neighbourhood and we had steep competition. At that time, video games were new in India and it was an unexplored territory. When I was done playing with my Game & Watch - Parachute unit, I wondered what to do with it. I thought of renting it out. I said to myself, ‘Let’s try and see whether this works.’
Since my father had a grocery store, there was a regular flow of customers. Sometimes, their children accompanied them. I would promote my handheld game by showing the console to the kids and say, ‘Here, come and see. This is something that might interest you.’ The children were fascinated and their parents would agree to pay be Rs. 1 per hour. That’s how I began renting it out.
In terms of a marketing strategy, everything was word-of-mouth. At that time, I had a monopoly since no one else was doing this in my neighbourhood. In fact throughout Pune, there weren’t many game stores like mine. Many would come from afar to play at my store, so I had an upper hand.
Photo by Radhika Iyengar.
How did you purchase more gaming units?
Rental was my main business. I reinvested my profits in my business to buy more video games. The first Nintendo Game & Watch unit I bought was for my personal use. I paid for it from my pocket and my father also helped me financially.
Over the last three decades, you’ve become quite a collector. From classics like Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros and Donkey Kong to Tetris, what are some of your most prized possessions?
I would say all the Nintendo handheld games – Game & Watch, Nintendo Panorama screen (coloured) and Nintendo DS. Most of them are in working condition and I’m deeply attached to them. I don’t think I can ever part with them.
“With the arrival of Amazon, our business has taken a hit because Amazon delivers across India and due to deep discounts, the customers pay less for the same product. ”
You also offer repair services for these vintage gems in your workshop. One of your technicians who has been working with you for the last 15 years, said that you had taught him how to repair and refurbish the units when he was young.
Yes, I used to be a technician myself. I was inherently curious. Whenever something went wrong with one of my machines, I would open it up and try to fix it. Most of the time, I would be successful. All the experience that I have gained over the years, I have shared with my staff to train them.
Ah, so when you were young, you’d open the gaming units, toy around with them and attempt to restore them?
Yes. I worked with Game & Watch, Casio, Atari and many others. In fact, before video games came into my life, I used to open radios and irons.
You see, my father would open his store around six or seven in the morning. All of us worked continuously throughout the day. We worked in shifts – sometimes my father manned the store, sometimes my mother and other times it was me. We would close around one o’clock in the morning. All of us were overworked. Once my father would shut shop and my parents would go to sleep, I would climb up to the loft and repair the games till 3am or 4am because later that morning, I would have to give the consoles for rent again to make money.
What kind of video games do you have at your shop today?
I have many, many games. I haven’t been able to make a list or organise them. However, in terms of type, I have PlayStation 1 to 5, XBox Classic, XBox One, XBox 360, Xbox One S to Nintendo Game & Watch, Nintendo DSi, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo Wii U, Nintendo 3DS – the list is endless.
In India, how has the video game industry evolved over the last 40 years? Has the advent of Amazon and eBay adversely impacted your business?
A lot has changed. In fact, around 2008-2009, Sony wanted to make games which were more aligned to the Indian culture and tastes to gain a larger hold in the country. They created games like the 3D action game Sri Hanuman: the Boy Warrior (a mythological game featuring a Hindu deity), fighting games like Don 1 (featuring Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan) and Desi Adda (that had traditional Indian sports like kite fighting and kabaddi), but these games were developed locally. They were nothing much in comparison to their international counterparts. Games like Black, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas were far more sophisticated in terms of graphics and overall quality, and my customers were more attracted in them.
Babu at his store in Pune. Photo by Radhika Iyengar.
With the arrival of Amazon, our business has taken a hit because Amazon delivers across India and due to deep discounts, the customers pay less for the same product. Thirty years ago, I used to charge my customers Rs. 1 per hour. Today, we still rent some games but the kids take the games home. I charge Rs. 100 per hour (less than a pound) or Rs. 1000 (£ 9 approx.) for an entire day.
Your store hasn’t changed one bit since the 1980s and neither have you moved. Why is that?
This is my father’s shop and holds the memory of my family. My address hasn’t changed, so people know exactly where to find me. I have old, loyal customers who bring their children to show them my shop. They proudly tell their kids that this is where they used to play video games 25-30 years ago. Such experiences are the most rewarding for me.
