"Disney Double-Cross"
Chapter One
Litwak's Arcade wasn't always the family-friendly entertainment spot as shown in the movie "Wreck-It Ralph".
A little over 30 years ago, it was a "pinball alley", home to various pinball games. When video games began to become popular, the owner decided to retire and sought a buyer. As fate would have it, Litwak had just lost his job when the steel mill he'd worked in since returning home from Vietnam shut down. He knew the owner from when he played pinball there as a kid, and a deal was struck and Litwak became an arcade owner.
Little did he know that he'd bought into what would be the hottest trend of the decade...
He moved the pinball games into their own section instead of getting rid of them when video games came along. He had a vision, a vision of a family-friendly entertainment center where kids could play the latest video games while their parents (read "their fathers") could play the pinball games they grew up with instead of heading to the bar a few doors down. He would carry that theme forward to today, where kids could play games like "Sugar Rush", "Hero's Duty", and "NASCAR Arcade" while their parents played the classic games like "Fix-It Felix Jr.", "Turbo-Time", "Pac-Man", along with others from the era.
Of course, there was a little magic involved along with a little envy. Turbo loved spending his off-time in the NASCAR game, where he could rub shoulders with the Cup drivers of the era. Being a kart racer, he wasn't too comfortable at Talledega but could more than hold his own at the road course at Watkins Glen. "Stomp and steer, and never look behind you", he would say when asked for advice by the younger racers, many of whose avatars were only children who played "Turbo-Time" and perhaps were inspired by him. He could swap stories with Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty, and even race them.
The arcade games were, in effect, their own family, not as the movie depicted them.
One day, three strangers entered the arcade shortly after it opened. They introduced themselves to Mr. Litwak and he was taken aback when they said that they were from Disney and that they wanted to use his arcade and its games for a movie, but a movie unlike any other. First, they explained that they would need the arcade only after it had closed for the evening, It's common for movies to be filmed that way, they said, and Litwak didn't even have to be there. They would give him a big check, they would use the machines, and they'd even use him AND his name in a feature film!
How could he say no...especially when the contract stipulated that there were residuals as well?
Hands were shaken, the contract signed, and on a Sunday evening an unmarked semi full of equipment parked in front of the arcade.
(end of chapter)