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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?
The Nintendo Hotline was fantastic for me, because I lived close enough to Nintendo's US offices that the number wasn't long distance... and it wasn't a 900 number, so it never cost more than a regular phone call. I got all the hints I needed for free.