2Tie

i'm not gonna sugar-coat it — your intuition is absolutely correct, the sega master system release of Shanghai (1988) definitely released after Sega was actively working to utilize AI into their ecosystem.

rational brain: Unaltered Yagi Double Sega Logo is probably a one-off fluke, it can't hurt you
the Unaltered Yagi Double Sega Logo:

Rosen's time at Sega outlasted even Nakayama's tenure, stepping down from chairman in '96 shortly after Kalinske resigned over the handling of the Saturn and 32X, and retiring from directorship in '98, just ahead of the dreamcast's japanese launch.

In 1983 Rosen announced that at the end of the year he would step down from active involvement, with Jeffrey Rochliss taking over as president of the US office while he remained chairman... This was short lived since later in 84 he helped negotiate the buyout of japanese Sega by Isao Okawa's CSK.

After obtaining Esco Trading and installing Hayao Nakayama as President, Rosen moved to a california office in 1974 to focus on bookkeeping tasks as CEO, and liason between sega and its direct parent in the G+W conglomerate, Paramount.

Even in Japan, Sega and Taito had partnered in the rollout of a new type of "skill based" slot machine, dubbed the Olympia line, hinting at the original goal of milking tourists during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Revisions of the line continued for a decade.

In fact, Sega had been continually pumping tens of millions of dollars out of american government and GIs alike in Vietnam via corrupt salesmen like William Crum. The old fruit machine business was now booming in the UK, plus pinballs and jukeboxes in Spain and Italy.

During this PR push, Rosen went over a breakdown Sega's operations a couple times, disclosing that in the late 60s there was still a full "Military Sales" department, though he expressed intent to close that part down by the end of the decade. It did not close down.

By the time Periscope saw international release in 68, Rosen was drumming up a bunch of PR support for the price increase. The games saw modest success, and most importantly cemented the quarter as a reasonable cost for the games moving forward.

While it's theoretically possible Sega aped the Periscope design from Mayfield, since Bromley was living in London by this point and attending their trade shows, the full original Sega design is the much larger three-player style that Nakamura created, suggesting that was the original and basis.

By 1966, Marty Bromley looked to push the change by offering a line of premium machines, hopefully seen as worth a quarter. The initial three were copies of preexisting japanese games (Helicopter from Taito, Periscope from Namco, and their own Motopolo) with the addition of a sound effect system.

in fall 1950, american operators rallied behind an increased cost of a dime per play for shuffleboard, and this change quickly spread to other amusements. In the early 60s, a movement started to push it up to a quarter, but failed to reach enough operators to sign off on it.

Sega wasn't even the first copycat, as Mayfield Electronics showcased their "Torpedo Shoot" Nov. 30th 1965, with a slimmed down, singleplayer design. What did Sega's version bring to the table, and why was it such a major point in their history?

Legend has it that 1966's Periscope originated from a rough sketch of the mechanics from Rosen, handed to the engineer team led by Ochi Shikanosuke. While Sega still touts Periscope in its histories, the machine was originally created the year prior by the nakamura manufacturing company (namco).

This pivot to Rosen becoming Sega's public figure was a great move, as Rosen and his love of the culture was already pretty well known in Japan, and his wife Masako had been involved in business operations as well. This also allowed the laundering of ideas from "up top".

196?, Sega donates a jukebox to a teen activity club.

1968, Sega donates pool tables to military hospitals in Japan.

When Rosen and Sega merged, Rosen became the face of operations, giving interviews to press, handling industry shows, and donating overstock to local facilities.

pumps up your jam, making it big and round

I found a note i made a couple years ago, sega moved to gotanda in april '55, according to Game Machine's history article in its final issue.

An exterior of the Reader's Digest building, early 60s.

A closer photo of the Reader's Digest building in the early 60s

A photo of the Rosen Enterprises staff in front of their office. Date unknown.

An article from Cash Box in early '62 mentioning Rosen's business.

He secured an office in the Reader's Digest Building, a recently-built architecture showpiece positioned across from the main entrance to the imperial palace! It was demolished in '64 for a much larger office building (Palace Side Building) to suit the growing needs of the paper.

In '52 he returned home after finishing service, and completed his business degree. His original trading company plans struggled to take off, so in early '54 he returned to Japan to pivot his business to an import company. His business exploits in these years are pretty well documented.

When the Korean War broke out, he saw this as the perfect way to fulfill his felt duty to his country, and as an airman he was stational all over the far east. In '51 was his first incarnation of Rosen Enterprises founded in Japan, intended as a curio export company.

A page from the june 15th 2002 issue of Game Machine containing part of a gaming retrospective. This page has some info on Service Games, as well as the start of Rosen's section.

the following page, concluding Rosen's part of the retrospective.

Though he grew up in Brooklyn during the great depression, his father owned a chocolate factory, which afforded David the opportunity to attend Columbia University where he took business courses before pivoting towards Civil Service.

In rememberance of David Rosen (1930 - 2025), today's thread will cover a couple rarities about his life and career.

A fun little bonus, the SEGA choir sound byte was in use in the early 80s - commercial ads for the SG-1000 in 1983 feature it, and it's possible that sega's first game commercial, for the arcade game Samurai in 1980, also may have had it - no recording of it is known!

In late 1982, Sega decides to rework the logo a bit, unifying the gaps with the inner line width, and shrinking the A to match width with the other letters. This is more or less the final logo still in use today!

The font used is Yagi Double, with an alternate A and custom G. It was created in '68 by Mr. Yagi of Fotostar, and the neon styling made it a quick hit in amusement and sci-fi spaces. Sega Ent Ltd would move over to the logo throughout 1976. Occasionally, a version without the custom G springs up.

Sega Ent Inc had utilized a new factory space in California to develop Bullet Mark, and between its unveiling at MOA and full release, Sega Ent Inc had also adopted a new logo - one that should look much more familiar.

In 1974, Gulf+Western did a little reorganizing, creating Sega Enterprises Inc as the new american parent company handling Sega Enterprises Ltd. Rosen remained president, with G+W manager Harry Kane assigned as VP. In late '75 Sega gained the slogan "Imagination. Quality. Technology.", and then...

And then in 1965, Sega Inc merged with Rosen Enterprises, combining their names. The new wordmark seems to imitate the main SEGA/ROCK-OLA calligraphy style in lowercase for the "incorporated ltd." bit.

(a brief aside, i wonder if the cursive "Sega" on the machine is from the same font/origin as the cursive "incorporated" part of sega inc's name - they certainly look similar!)