The Return of Service Gaming: The Show!!

Introducing Service Gaming: The Show, the brand new interactive trivia series that puts you in the driver's seat. Here's how it works: I interviewed an average person and asked them a series of basic video game questions. It's up to you to decide if they got the answer right or wrong. Think you can handle that?



If Arrested Development has taught us one thing, it's that running away from your family is always the smartest course of action. If the cult classic has taught us two things, it's that some TV shows have a hard time staying canceled. This is the story of Service Gaming, the little game show that was able to rise from the ashes thanks to the invention of YouTube.

The first episode of Service Gaming debuted on August 25, 2003. It starred my 91 year old grandmother, a daredevil skater named Seth and Dave, the manager of a used game store. I asked each person three questions, and it was up to the player at home to figure out if they got it right or wrong. Despite a simple premise, the game proved to be a draw in the early days of Defunct Games.

We published six episodes of Service Gaming between 2003 and 2007, each using the same three-person format and basic HTML. Each episode proved more popular than the last; our first game show was poised for mainstream success. With victory within our reach, we did the natural thing: Canceled the show.

To be fair, Service Gaming wasn't canceled by choice. We had interviewed contestants for episode 7, but it was never meant to be. The culprit? A server switch in 2010 that required a massive overhaul to the backend code. This took both Service Gaming and Continue: The Game offline permanently.

These days the first six episodes live in Defunct Games archive as a reminder of what we lost. They lead to little more than a broken page, but I will always remember them as the deceptively challenging game all of my friends wanted to be a part of. Service Gaming: 2003 - 2007. Rest in peace.

But wait a second ... just when you stopped believing in miracles, SERVICE GAMING IS BACK!! Thanks to the power of YouTube, we have been able to bring back the long-dead series for a whole new audience. And best of all, this time around we'll include audio and video.

What are you waiting for? Check out the first new episode of Service Gaming in more than six years! And while you're at it, don't forget to support what we're doing and subscribe to the Defunct Games YouTube channel.