Do yourself a favor and really zoom in on these and contemplate them a bit. They are everywhere in Taipei, filling a hallway between other market stalls to your left and to your right. And every other place you can think of. They are evidently wildly popular. Weird to me because they are quite similar to the bubble game machines in the grocery store foyers in the 1960s, my first introduction to Made in China: plastic pink finger rings with a black and gray trance spiral to spin in front of your sister’s eyes, or a teeny tiny deck of playing cards, or dice or a whistle. I feel like even the grocery stores from that era are obsolete. How did these survive? The memory still bleeds. Along with the cash register receipt way back then you were handed a strip of stamps representing the amount spent. With these you could work toward licking and filling a book (green S&H stamps or Plaid ones) to claim merchandise like a toaster or a wall clock. I was into that kind of organization. An easy challenge. My great-grandmother owned a candy store and I collected enough cards to merit boxes of free peanut butter cups and mallo cups.
But I thought before coming to Taipei that they were, along with the old grocery stores, no more. But actually they are wildly popular.
I saw them in Singapore as well. They are here in Old Lanta, Thailand too. On the corner near the 7Eleven.
But who would have guessed a shipment of new ones would be delivered today on the main drag? It’s a place of tourist traffic, mostly Europeans. I’ll be curious how intensely the target audience bites.
No one has shown up to receive these sparkling new items, but it’s Friday. Could be the proud new owners are Muslim and not working today. The work ethic among many of the shop owners here is notably laid back. People disappear from their shops completely or hang back in the kitchen area of their restaurants, making only cameo appearances. A stall serving the best Pad Thai you ever had may not be open the next day. Or the following week. Or until after you’ve gone.
There is quite a bit of sharing responsibilities among the vendors here, primarily the Urak Lawoí, a clan of the Chao Leh, the people of the sea. What appear to be untended goods aren’t necessarily untended.
And then there are these hickamajigee machines. I took that photo in an airport, either Taipei or Singapore. This is just where you easily buy random stuff.
I guess I may as well throw in the teeny tiny pinball machines popular here as well. I’ve always loved pinball machines. My brother and I went in together to buy one when I was twelve. He sold it when I couldn’t come up with my part, ten bucks. Broke my heart.
Adults sit on small chairs here too. It makes a lot of sense. Quite easy to get in and out of.
I think these are just gambling machines. The neighborhood is busy with the lunar new year festival and there are plenty of holiday treat offerings along the street. But hey, if you’ve just been given some lucky numbers for the new year, you should do something with them right away, don’t you think?
