The joystick felt strangely familiar in his hands. Kobayashi Tetsu held it for a moment, then suddenly lowered his head.
"How do you use this?"
Kobayakawa lifted her face, looking up at Kobayashi standing behind her, her eyes full of betrayed indignation.
"You don't know how to play?!"
Kobayashi nodded. "It's my first time touching it, of course I don't know."
"You!! You… give it back! Liar!"
Kobayakawa tried her hardest to snatch the joystick from Kobayashi's hands, but in her current position—sitting on a tiny stool—Kobayashi only needed to apply a bit of pressure on her shoulder to keep her firmly grounded.
"Haha… just kidding."
Kobayashi suddenly put on a serious expression. He placed the controller down and handed it back with such earnestness that for a moment, Kobayakawa suspected he was plotting something.
In her eyes, Kobayashi was absolutely a bad-hearted guy.
"Here. Teach me how to play. I can pay."
Kobayashi reached into his pocket and pulled out four coins.
Four hundred yen.
He had larger bills in his wallet, of course—but he deliberately took out coins.
That's just how old-school Japanese-Americans played!
The four coins gleamed in his palm, arranged with one coin on top and three overlapping beneath.
Kobayashi closed his hand, then opened it again, extending the four coins forward.
"So? Teach me."
He lowered his head slightly, looking down at her wronged little face—hurt from being fooled, yet relieved once she had the joystick back in her hands.
"Rinko doesn't need money…"
Kobayakawa muttered, but still shifted aside to make room.
Kobayakawa said, "Like this—you can move left and right. And if you press this button, it rotates. Pretty amazing, right?"
Kobayashi nodded. Yes, yes, very amazing! Even the game's creator didn't know what was going on!
Kobayakawa continued, "You need technique, okay? If you line them up into a row, it clears completely. If you clear more rows at once, you get more points."
Kobayashi nodded again. Right, see? This game clearly contains deep philosophy—clear more lines, get more points.
He fiddled casually with the joystick, clearly distracted, stacking blocks randomly. A Z-shaped block fell, creating an awkward hole that couldn't be cleared unless the rows above and below disappeared first.
"Aiya!"
Kobayashi slapped his forehead dramatically. "I messed it all up!"
He handed the joystick back and pressed down on his cap's brim.
"No helping it. I can't see the screen."
Something about the way he said it—like he truly didn't care—made Kobayakawa feel even more incredulous.
"If you can't see, why don't you take off your hat?"
Kobayashi shook his head firmly.
"I can't. I'm too handsome. If a talent scout sees me, they'll drop to their knees begging me to debut. If I don't want to, it'll be troublesome."
Kobayakawa felt a wave of absurdity wash over her.
Who would say something like that with a straight face?!
"Take it off and play properly!"
"No, I'm not taking it off."
"Take it off."
"No."
She tried to pull off his cap, but Kobayashi twisted left and right to avoid her. Suddenly, he stood up.
"I'm leaving. Don't follow me."
Kobayakawa turned back toward the screen, mumbling,
Fine, don't follow then! Who cares.
...
...
Shimayose Yosuke finally found an SG console that had been gathering dust, brought it out along with a cartridge—and spotted the scene outside.
"Aiya!"
Shimayose looked truly heartbroken.
The world is deteriorating! Morality is collapsing!
A familiar customer had arrived. While setting up the console, Shimayose sighed, "Look at this. Today's young people are too poor. Do their parents not give them pocket money? Two people sharing one machine here? And they only gave me 100 yen!"
The customer hesitated.
Uncle… I don't think it's what you think!
This has nothing to do with money!
But judging from Shimayose's expression, explaining would be pointless. Better to play instead.
Being a regular, he was familiar with the setup. The two connected another TV and tried out the game. After just a short while, the customer slapped the counter.
Buying it! It's only 3,480 yen! As a grown man, he could buy whatever he wanted!
Shimayose nearly cried on the spot.
Great!
Five cartridges sold today.
Not easy at all!
After all, he only got fifty cartridges total.
"Do you want me to pack it now?"
"No rush. Let me play more. It feels really good, but I still need more practice."
"Play. Play as much as you want!"
Kobayashi perked up his ears at the conversation, feeling deeply moved.
Mm. Another 348 yen earned.
Making money is really not easy…
Though on the surface, Sega took 90%, that wasn't really the case.
The 10% went directly to Kobayashi, while the remaining 90% was shared across Sega's entire distribution chain—from Sega itself to the factories, distributors at every level, and small vendors like Shimayose. Everyone took their cut from that 3,100 yen.
If the manufacturing cost was 500 yen, the wholesale price was 1,000. Distributors raised it to 1,500, secondary distributors to 2,000, and retail priced it at 3,480. Lowering the retail price by even 1 yen meant someone along the chain would lose money.
That's why the revenue split was so hard to change. It wouldn't be until the era of digital games—where most intermediaries vanished—that the developer's cut rose above 50%.
Kobayashi, who had just earned 348 yen, casually asked Shimayose,
"Uncle, is the game selling well?"
"It's only the first day. Hard to say. But it's selling okay," Shimayose shrugged. "My shop is tiny, nothing fancy. If it sells at all, it means it's a good game. SG consoles didn't sell much anyway."
Kobayashi nodded. "You seem to know a lot. Don't tell me you actually have relatives at Sega?"
Shimayose snorted disdainfully.
"Do I need relatives? I do this for a living. I know how many people come to buy. How many shops exist in Tokyo? In all Japan? I bet SG hasn't sold more than fifty thousand units nationwide. If I can sell five or ten cartridges a day, Tokyo probably sells around a hundred today. Nationwide maybe around 170–180."
Kobayashi leaned back in surprise.
Never underestimate frontline shopkeepers.
Because they directly observe customers, they instinctively knew what sold well.
Kobayashi quickly did the math in his head.
With no digital distribution and only retail sales, there was an initial spike followed by long-tail sales.
Based on this pace, the first month could reach five thousand cartridges.
Five thousand was no joke—SG hadn't even sold fifty thousand consoles nationwide, and they were scattered everywhere.
Even the Famicom's ten million units didn't sell within one year—they were sold over several years. In the beginning, everyone sold just tens of thousands.
If five thousand cartridges sold in the first month, Sega's payout to him would be over a million yen.
Kobayashi clicked his tongue.
Come to think of it…
How much did Kentaro make per month? Probably similar to this.
"Making money isn't fun. Making games is fun."
Kobayashi put both hands behind his head. "Five thousand is too slow. If there were some big event to make everyone buy at once, that'd be great. Like an unlimited gaming tournament—everyone plays Kobayashi Blocks, and the winner gets prizes. First place wins an SG, second place a cartridge, third place a big warm hug… Then give it a name—Sega Gaming Tournament, SGN. Sell out all the SG consoles and cartridges at once."
He said it casually, without thinking.
But Shimayose took it seriously.
It actually sounded… pretty reasonable!
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