One of Jim Bell's former hobbies.

[Tim May]

At 5:29 PM -0500 3/15/01, Trei, Peter wrote:
>I was researching something entirely non-cpunkish
>(yes, it was work-related :-) and came across this
>page:
>
>http://www.multigame.com/spacewar.html
>
>Jim apparenly had/has a really cool Spacewar
>console at home, which an appreciative gamer
>rescued shortly before the JBTs moved in.


Seattle, WA (AP) -- Persecutors in the Northwest are reportedly 
investigating reports that  James Dalton Bell, notorious 
cyber-criminal, was also involved in a ring trading "Spacewar" 
secrets and, persecutors claim, even hardware.

The revelation became public on Thursday when a report surfaced that 
Spacewar technology is now being offered for sale:

"On a whim I decided to try to strike up a conversation with the 
fellow offering the parts locally in hopes of just picking them up 
instead of having them mailed to me. He (Jim Bell) came by where I 
work with the parts and we chatted a bit.

"I arranged a visit to see this "sit down" Space War. Much to my 
suprise it actually was a sit-at Vectorbeam SpaceWar! The monitor was 
dead, but the rest of the machine was in excellent condition. It was 
purchased by Tektronix (apparently when it was new) and kept as 
amusement for the engineers for numerous years.
Jim told me he was a graduate of MIT and remembered playing "Computer 
Space" on the PDP's there when he was a student, so when he happened 
across the SpaceWar at a Tektronix surplus sale he picked it up. It 
had then sat in his basement until I showed up."

(The remainder of this report has been classified by the persecutors.)

"We understand the Spacewar program is a classified Los Alamos 
project," said Assistant State Persecutor Fobb Paris, "so this report 
that Bell has been trading highly-classified Spacewar technology 
demands investigation."

Paris added, "We have already issued a subpoena to the reporter who 
broke the story."