1993-94 EA Sports card #198: Crowd Records
The front of this hockey card says “Crowd Records.”
But what record is this crowd setting?
And why was this card even made, anyway?
Anyone old enough to remember the Sega Genesis vs. Super Nintendo debate will certainly remember the awesome hockey video game NHL ’94. EA Sports, who made the game during the 1993-94 season, released a set of 225 “hint cards” that year that featured the league’s best players, like Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Patrick Roy, and of course, Jeremy Roenick.
The set also had cards with tips and tactics on how to win at NHL ’94. And then there were cards touting every new feature and upgrade that NHL ’94 had, such as “Hot/Cold Streaks,” “Local Organ Music,” and this forgettable card of “Crowd Records” – which may be the most unnecessary hockey card ever made.
NHL ’94 kept track of how loud the crowd got during games. The more exciting action your players performed – Shots! Hits! Goals! Saves! – the louder the in-game crowd got, which made your team play better. This is explained on the back of this card with some text, along with a picture of a screen displaying…more text. Sigh.
The back of the card is about as exciting as the front of the card.
Speaking of which, EA Sports could have really driven the point home by using a photograph of hockey fans on their feet, arms waving in the air or fists banging on the glass, and wildly celebrating.
Instead, they chose to use this photo, which shows us (from left) a man in a red shirt yawning, a man in the front row scratching his face, a man in a hat about to sneeze, and a man in a yellow shirt who is either pouting or cold.
So, what record is this crowd setting?
My guess is for most bored fans at a hockey game.
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That’s hilarious. They look like a group of non-hockey fans that got treated to a hockey game.
Hi Mike, thanks for reading.
Thanks for pointing this out Sal. We definitely should have caught this in QA. We’ll fix it in the next release . The card is in there because the crowd meter definitely was a key part of home ice advantage and is a real factor in game play. We wanted to make sure gamers knew that.
Michael – great to hear from you! Can you believe it’s been 30 years since “NHL ’94” came out?
And I hope Esa Tikkanen gets his card in the next “NHL ’94” set…which I think will come out in 2094, right? 🙂
Speaking of Crowd Meter, I used to make the crowd so loud at Chicago Stadium that the meter would have cracks in it. This was in the SNES version.
That’s great Sal, I loved designing in “the game within the game” which became “if it’s in the game, it’s in the game”. Another cool feature like this, which didn’t get a card, was if you checked a guy into your own bench it took him just a bit longer to extricate himself and get back on the ice!
I wonder how hard it was to get a picture at the glass that give NO HINT of what game or who these people are suppose to be…uh, cheering for. The hat looks like it might have the Boston Wheel, but it’s still pretty fuzzy.
I agree. I challenge somebody to get a similar shot without any licensed NHL merchandise at the glass of an NHL game. Remember when these were made this was going to be a none-NHL game, NHLPA ‘94. We had a special dispensation from the NHL, negotiated by the NHLPA, to have pictures of the players in uniform, but not the fans.
This is why I love Puck Junk. You find the most obscure cards and the great stories behind them.
Brian
Thank you!