Meanwhile, in the pages of a small, twice-monthly alternative newspaper, a young Philadelphian named Gerald Kolpan was declaring the demise of the video game craze once and for all. He'd seen the end coming since Pong, thanks to his "infra-red vision for that which flies by night," he wrote in the Feb. 17 issue. Due to "advertising overkill and massive boredom," Pac-Man had been defeated. The piece was accompanied by a cartoon of a coffin marked "Space Invaders" taking its place in the fad morgue alongside the hula hoop, coonskin caps and the Nehru jacket.

It was an interesting year for City Paper in other ways, too. Food critic Holly Moore made his debut. We also rolled out passive-aggressive movie ratings: Recommended (Gremlins), Overrated (Ghostbusters), Don't Go (Purple Rain). Stories included GE workers protesting the company's involvement with a nuclear-armed satellite, one reporter's quest to find some Haagen Dazs in the area, the city's agonizing deliberations over whether to build higher than Billy Penn's hat, as well as the "video dance cafe" trend.

Kids' show puppet master Uncle Floyd made the cover while bagpiper Rufus Harley and performance artist Woofy Bubbles both got favorable write-ups inside. We lauded the arrival of The Sponge and called Councilman Ed Schwartz "The Nader of Neighborhoods," which we meant in a nice way. We also ran a cartoon of Milton Street having his hand bitten off by an elephant.

We supported upstart Babette Josephs—Philadelphia's greatest lefty since Steve Carlton—in her campaign to defeat incumbent state Rep. "Invisible Sam" Rappaport in the 182nd District. In an opinion piece, Eleanor Wilner described the challenger as a "practical re-former, warm-hearted and tough-minded" while lamenting her opponent's "outstanding absenteeism." Josephs wrote back a few weeks later to say thanks and to tell us she won.

Next week: 1985! Frank Blank! Ronnie Polaneczky! MOVE gets a shout-out!