Thomas's help in a time of crisis truly solved Ethan's most urgent
problem. In an era when the logistics industry was still underdeveloped,
long-distance cargo transportation was a nightmare for every production
company.
Why had Atari only managed to sell 8,000 units of Pong after three
years on the market? Because they couldn't find the right people to
deliver them!
Once a company has a team of trustworthy drivers, nationwide delivery
becomes possible. Sure, driving from San Francisco to New York without
stopping for food or sleep takes two full days, but when a product sells
for $2,000 while costing less than $500 to make, any smart boss would
happily raise the delivery budget a bit to secure those massive profits.
Yes! Ethan had completely abandoned the idea of selling just the circuit
boards.
Not only because Pac-Man's production process was more sophisticated
--- with CPUs involved, replacing and debugging circuit boards on-site
would be a nightmare --- but also because selling full arcade machines
was far more profitable.
At the current price, each arcade machine brought in *$1,500 in gross
profit, compared to just $500 for a circuit board. With 10,000 units sold, that meant $15 million in profit from
arcade machines versus $5 million from boards.
Yes, this calculation was rough --- maybe even extreme --- but the
difference was staggering.
In the past, game companies had to make compromises due to limited
resources. But now, with the latest technology, the strongest
creativity, and the most reliable delivery network, Ethan wanted
everything.
Once procurement, production, and distribution were fully connected, the
entire Kismet Games factory roared to life. In just fifteen days, Ethan
had already delivered thousands of machines to major universities ---
all voluntarily purchased --- and orders from commercial vendors started
pouring in as well.
After all, North America is huge, and there are always business owners
willing to take a gamble when they see a hot trend.
And these were the very first "crab eaters" --- the pioneers who jumped
in first... and started making money immediately!
"Hello! Is this Kismet Games? Do you still have Pac-Man arcade
machines? We want fifty units here in Sacramento!"
"Yes, yes! We're ordering together with several other merchants!"
"Oh, damn! Who doesn't know your game is a hit? Merchants in San
Francisco say a single machine makes at least $150 a day! This game is
completely different from the old ones --- it doesn't just attract boys
anymore. Tons of girls are playing! And whenever someone plays, a huge
crowd gathers! A huge one!"
"Huh? You're asking about other games?"
"Who even has other arcade machines in their store anymore? Isn't it
just a waste of electricity if nobody plays them?"
"Even your boss --- what's his name again... Ethan... Ethan Jones! Yeah,
even his Snake Game machines are collecting dust. People just want
your new game --- what's it called? Snake... Bean... Man or whatever!"
"Ahhh, stop talking! Just ship the machines to us! Ship them!"
"What? Delivery might take a few days?"
"No way! Just send them to a single drop-off point and we'll pick them
up ourselves!"
When Ethan heard this conversation, he couldn't help but smile --- a
smile .
Sure enough, as long as the product is good enough, it can change
people's habits!
Fixed-point delivery? Merchant pickup? These are things most sellers
wouldn't even dare to dream of!
Looking at the busy office buzzing with phones and chatter, Ethan waved
over Julis Noble, who had just finished answering yet another call.
"What is it, boss?"
Perhaps because she had been too busy lately, and her voice was a little
hoarse. it made Ethan feel a twinge of guilt.
"Oh, Julis, I'm sorry. Because of my poor judgment, your workload
suddenly skyrocketed. To make it up to you, I've decided to give you a
$500 bonus this month.
And I'm also going to hire a new group of employees --- about four to
eight administrative staff --- to ease your workload.
"I wonder... would you be willing to be the supervisor for this new
batch of people?"
Julis blinked. For a moment, she wondered if she had misheard.
But in the next second, joy flashed across her tired eyes.
"Oh, boss, you finally did something good!" she said, almost laughing.
"For the past half-month, I've been answering phones like crazy ---
dozens every day!
And it's not just answering --- I have to record addresses, track
demand, talk to the factory about production, coordinate with the fleet
for deliveries---" She threw up her hands. "It's been insane.
"Oh God, I can finally breathe!"
Her words made Ethan smile and nod. Now that the company was on the
right track, they could no longer afford to leave key positions vacant.
Production matters were to be handed over to Damio Dean, a Stanford
engineering graduate. All order records, distribution schedules, and
customer reception would fall under administration --- and Julis would
be in charge.
As for finances and cost control? That was all in Aaron Massey's hands.
Within three days, Kismet Games' staff size grew dramatically: four
women and two men in administration, plus two accountants --- one man
and one woman.
Looking around at his small but now fully equipped company, Ethan felt a
deep sense of accomplishment.
Although he had lived two lifetimes, this was his first real attempt at
building a business from scratch.
And for a first attempt...He was doing pretty damn well.
Just when Ethan thought he could finally take a breather, the office
phone rang again. When he picked up, he heard a familiar voice.
"Hello, Chuck? What's up?" Ethan was in such a good mood that he teased
him: "Calling to congratulate me on Pac-Man's success? Oh---sorry, I
don't have time to celebrate right now---I'm very busy---hahaha!"
But as his laughter faded, Chuck Peddle's heavy voice came through the
receiver.
"Oh Ethan, I'd love to celebrate with you, but... I really can't right
now. Something's happened at the factory. It's on fire."
"What?!" Ethan shot upright in his chair.
"There's a problem with our chip production line? It's on fire?"
"Oh, shit! Is it serious?"
Suddenly, Ethan was anxious. Because, in his memory, it was almost a
tradition for chip factories to catch fire.
TSMC, Hynix, Samsung, Micron --- didn't matter who you were, if you made
chips, your factory was bound to burn at least once!
Ethan didn't know the exact technical reasons --- he wasn't a
professional in the field --- but he knew enough to understand that this
was very bad.
One thing Ethan was sure of: MOS Technology had absolutely no plans
to raise the price of their 6502 chip!
And now, just when they weren't planning on raising prices... the
factory catches fire?
Damn! Could it be that Intel didn't start this fire?! Ethan was
still spinning wild conspiracy theories when laughter suddenly burst
from the other end of the line.
"Hahahaha---Ethan! I really scared you, didn't I?
Relax --- nothing's wrong with the production line! Nothing at all! The
'fire' I was talking about was because orders are burning hot!
Do you know what happened after Pac-Man launched? Orders for the MOS
6502 went up by 500%! Seventeen game companies have already placed chip
orders with us!
I honestly never expected it! The chip I designed is actually being used
like this!
And to keep up with demand, we've already added two more production
lines! If things keep going like this, we'll sell fifty thousand units
in the first half of this year alone!"
"..."
Chuck Peddle's excited words left Ethan completely speechless. He had
been so sure his chip factory had burned down --- and it turned out to
be an order explosion instead?
Well... that's not bad at all! To be honest, Ethan had never expected
Pac-Man to boost sales of the MOS 6502. After all, programming-heavy
games weren't usually the specialty of most circuit-board-based game
companies.
But if they wanted to jump in, what could he do? Stop them? If he were
just a regular game company, he might have been a little nervous about
the competition.
But the problem was...The cheapest chip production line on the market
belonged to him!
So if his competitors were buying chips... shouldn't *Intel,
Motorola, be the ones panicking? Ethan was so pleased he wanted to
laugh out loud --- but he forced himself to hold back. Laughing too much
at other companies' future misery felt a little too cruel.
While Ethan was still grinning to himself, Chuck Peddle's voice came
through again:
"Oh, Ethan, there's one more thing. In addition to this wave of orders,
our team has made a decision: we're going to start developing a 16-bit
chip.
Which means... there probably won't be any dividends for the next two
years."
R&D investment? That was music to Ethan's ears. Having lived two
lifetimes, he knew exactly how much productivity jumped whenever
technology advanced.
Sure, he knew that Chuck Peddle's design wouldn't defeat Intel's
flagship CPUs in the long run.
But even if it was considered "low-end," that was perfect for Ethan's
business --- because it gave him an unmatched cost advantage.
So after listening quietly, Ethan smiled and said:
"Oh, Chuck, I already told you --- this is your company. From the day I
chose to support you, I decided never to interfere with your R&D
decisions.
Because just like you, I'm looking forward to seeing technology change
the world!"
There was a pause on the other end of the line. Then Chuck Peddle
chuckled softly.
"Thank you, Ethan. I won't let you down. Give me a year --- at most ---
and I'll put a 16-bit CPU on your desk. I want to see what you'll build
with it."
When the call ended, Ethan sat back in his chair, grinning from ear to
ear.
Then, still humming happily to himself, he picked up his pen and began
writing again in the office.
The happiest thing in the world is when your competitors line up to hand
you money!
And just as Ethan's grinning, the phone on his desk rang again.
The moment he picked it up, Steve Jobs's roar nearly blew out his
eardrum:
"Ethan! Do you know? We've received five hundred orders --- five
hundred orders for the APPLE 1!
We've already sold six hundred and sixty-six units! That's over *three
hundred thousand dollars! I've never seen so much money in my life!"
Jobs barely took a breath before continuing, voice shaking with
excitement:
"And do you know why our orders suddenly skyrocketed? It's all because
of Pac-Man! As soon as game companies found out that Pac-Man was
developed on the APPLE 1, they started buying our machines to try making
games themselves!
And it's not just game companies --- computer hobbyists are buying them
too! Everyone wants to try programming after hearing about Pac-Man!"
Ethan froze, stunned. He had never expected that his "silly little game"
would end up boosting three industries at once.
Pac-Man advertising the APPLE 1? What kind of alternate reality was
this?
That was insane. But... He loved it! Video games, CPUs, and personal
computers --- all three were sunrise industries, poised to explode.
Author's Note: ① In reality, Chuck Peddle did develop a 16-bit CPU, but that was
after he left MOS.
PS1: In response to a reader's comment --- yes, it was common for
hippies to build arcade cabinets back then. Nolan Bushnell and Steve
Jobs have both mentioned this.
As for why they were so skilled at it, there's no official explanation,
but there are two likely reasons:
1. According to the book 1973: Rock and Roll at the Crossroads, by
1971 the hippie movement was already declining. While high schools
still had plenty of long-haired kids, there were fewer large groups
roaming the streets. By 1973, a third of the stores in
Haight-Ashbury --- the heart of hippie culture --- had closed due to
falling foot traffic. Many former hippies needed jobs, so they
entered the workforce en masse.
2. Steve Jobs himself once said that many hippie families weren't poor.
After they returned to "normal" life, they were actually quite
reliable workers. But because they had been out of mainstream
society for so long, they mostly found jobs through classified ads
in newspapers like the San Jose Mercury News.
Of course, there were still a few who spent all their wages on
psychedelic drugs, but for the most part, they worked surprisingly well.