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The machine, known as a Poly Play, is one of only 1500 made in 1985 as the East German authorities attempted to demonstrate that it could match the West for developing decadent electronic entertainment. However, following the fall of the Berlin Wall and the victory of freedom-loving arcade games like Street Fighter and

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Evil Dead, almost all these arcade Trabants were destroyed.

Its not hard to see why. Even when it was launched in 1985, the technology behind the Poly Play was already 10 years out of date. The machine had text-based graphics running on an 8-bit Russian processor. The East German TV monitor and Russian card-based computer were built into wooden cabinets crafted by furniture makers.

As this was the only machine around, Western-style arcades were unknown so the Poly Play was to be found in such proletarian fun palaces such as municipal buildings, leisure centres and swimming pools. There the communist youth could thrill to a choice of seven heart stopping games, including a man chasing butterflies or 'Catch the drips in a bucket'.

Westerners can find out what they missed by visiting the the Museum of Computing in Swindon.