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How gamers were nickel and dimed in 80s and 90s (besides arcades)
(programming.dev)
Granted, the "nickel and diming" of hotline numbers (1900, 0900, etc) was nowhere as bad as today's cash shops, but a lot of us simply forgot they were always hungry for all our money
Here's a bunch other hotline ads for you to peruse - https://www.retromags.com/gallery/category/1729-telephone-hotlines/
PS: I never understood these american numbers that used letters, how were you supposed to know what was the actual number?
I remember having to beg my folks to be able to call the Nintendo hotline a couple times during childhood when I was completely and utterly stuck in a game on NES. At least the people answering were pretty prompt--I don't think it took more than 5 mins to get the info I needed.