Arcade Game

This article is about the short. For the arcade machine, see TROGDOR! Arcade Machine. For the game on the arcade machine, see TROGDOR!. For the Skills of an Artist episode, see Classic Stand-up Arcade Game.

Toon Category: Shorts

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"We're, uh, doing The Cheat's taxes."

Strong Bad, Strong Mad and The Cheat play a TROGDOR! arcade game in the basement.

Cast (in order of appearance): Homestar Runner, Strong Bad, Strong Mad, The Cheat, Trogdor

Places: Computer Room, Basement of the Brothers Strong

Date: Monday, March 17, 2003

Running Time: 1:41

Page title: Quite Exciting This Computer Magic!

DVD: Everything Else, Volume 1

Transcript

{We start with a familiar scene, the Compy. Except Strong Bad isn't there, and there's a sticky note on the screen saying "in da basement -sb".}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: {offscreen} Strong Bad! {walks up to the computer} Hey Strong Bad, can I borrow your fondue pot again? Oh. You're not here. I'll get to the bottom of this!

{He sits down at the Compy and starts typing. While he says everything correctly, he misspells "Strong Bad".}

Dear Stong Bah,
Where are you?
Your friend,
Homestar

HOMESTAR RUNNER: {notices the note} Oh! "In da basement. From SB." Ohhh, that must stand for Stong Bah.

{He stands up and heads for the basement. Upon arriving, he finds Strong Bad, Strong Mad, and The Cheat playing TROGDOR! the arcade game.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Hey guys! Whatcha playin'?

STRONG BAD: Uh, playin'? No, we're, uh, we're doing The Cheat's taxes.

STRONG MAD: W-2!!!

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Bo-ring. I don't wanna play that.

{Homestar walks off. The game blips with the "SWORDED!" noise from the game.}

STRONG BAD: Argh! Stupid peasant.

{He kicks the arcade machine, which says, in a heavily compressed and unintelligible computer voice, "Trogdor!".}

STRONG BAD: Whoa! Pretty cool! {kicks it twice more, with the same results} All right, who's next?

THE CHEAT: {The Cheat noises}

STRONG BAD: Okay, fine.

{Strong Bad gets off the stool to let The Cheat on, but he just looks at Strong Bad, and makes more noises.}

STRONG BAD: Oh, right. Here ya go, little buddy.

{He lifts him onto the stool and the theme music begins playing. As soon as it's over...}

STRONG BAD and STRONG MAD: TROGDOR!

{The game says "Trogdor!" and The Cheat begins playing.}

STRONG BAD: Whoa, nice move! You're a master!

{The Paper comes down with a link to play the Trogdor arcade game. After a little while, Homestar comes back with a stack of papers.}

HOMESTAR RUNNER: Hey, can you guys do my taxes next? ... You guys? ... Man, that's one big adding machine.

Easter Eggs

"Here they come to break your legs"

• After Homestar says, "Man, that is one big adding machine," click on the TROGDOR! game to make it say "Trogdor."
• Click on the top of Homestar's pile of papers to see his expenses:

Homestar Runner's
2002 Expenditures
________________________

$150 - pork b/w beans

$2,000 - witch's brew

$4,000 - refinance my hat

$2.07 - Marzipan gift

$1,000 - Fluffypuffs

$500 - monthly protection
to SB

$500 - monthly protection
to SM

$500 - monthly protection
to The C.

$75 - straps and practice

• While Homestar's expenses are displayed, click and hold on the last item in the list, "straps and practice", to see a picture of something that looks like a hand-drawn baseball card. It bears a resemblance to the Kewpie Dan drawing from The House That Gave Sucky Treats.

Fun Facts

Explanations

• Strong Mad says "W-2!", which is an IRS tax form.
• An adding machine is a calculator with a printer.
• Homestar paying Strong Mad, Strong Bad, and The Cheat "monthly protection" suggests that the three are bagmen for a protection racket.

Trivia

• The label on the disk in the floppy disk container reads "manhunter new york".
• The top paper in Homestar's stack of papers says "Important Document #402".
• Homestar's total expenditures for one month (as listed) add up to $8727.07.

Remarks

• On the Monday following the show, there was no new Strong Bad Email. Instead, there was a post-it note that said "In da Basement". The note included a link to this short.
• In 2002, Homestar paid a total of $18,000 for "protection", as he paid Strong Bad, Strong Mad, and The Cheat $500 dollars each per month. His other expenditures make up less than 29% of the total $25227.07.
• The Cheat plays the game left-handed.
• Some of the sounds used in this toon are slightly off from their game counterparts. The peasant burnination sound is higher pitched and the squished peasant sound is played faster.
• Strong Bad has two identical stools (one for his computer and one for the TROGDOR! game.)
• There is a metal plate at the near bottom of the machine, which is used as a door in most arcade machines to protect the coins collected. However, there are no coin slots, and The Cheat did not put in any coins to start a new game. This would indicate that the machine has been set to free play mode, in which coins are not required to start the game.
• "Straps and Practice" is also the name of a song by Matt Chapman's band, "The New You".

Glitches

• At the start, the Compy's contrast knob is there. When Homestar comes in, it is missing, but its clickable area is still active. It doesn't do anything either time.
• When Strong Bad kicks the arcade machine, the kicking sound effect comes as his leg is pulling back, not as it is hitting the game.
• The clickable area on the "Back" text at the end of the toon extends much farther to the left.

Inside References

• Pork b/w beans refers to the Strong Bad Email helium, in which Marzipan and Homestar discuss the subject briefly.
• "Hey Strong Bad, can I borrow your fondue pot again?" refers to 50 emails.
• This is another mention of the Witches' Brew.
• This is another instance of the misspelling Stong Bad.
• Homestar says "Bo-ring" the same way he says it on the Legal page.

Real-World References

• The page title "Quite exciting this computer magic" is a quote from the movie This is Spinal Tap. One of the band members (Viv Savage) says it while playing a game similar to Missile Command on a TRS-80 Color Computer in the tour bus.

Fast Forward

• Cans of "pork b/w beans" would later be seen in the Strong Bad Email business trip.

DVD Version

• The expenses and "straps & practice" Easter eggs are now viewable separately from each other by pushing the remote's angle button.
• Instead of clicking on the arcade machine to make it say "Trogdor!", after Homestar comments on it being a big adding machine, the "Trogdor!" sound plays automatically once.

External Links

• watch "Arcade Game"
• watch "Arcade Game" on the old Flash site
• view the Flash file for "Arcade Game"