On May 20, 1983 STARCADE! received a letter from Michael Bails, then a 5th grader and 10½ years old.  He wanted to be a contestant and as it happened, we were auditioning at the time.  On June 25 he came to auditions with his Mom, Christine.  We were looking for a team so we took them both, putting them up against another Mother/Son team.

It was a good competition with their opponents taking the game by less than 400 points.  Disappointing for Christine & Michael but they were great contestants ... and we remember their enthusiasm and charming team effort.

On her Tryout sheet, Christine told us that she wanted to be on STARCADE! because it would be "fun and crazy to do and my son conned me into coming with him."  Michael said he "wanted to be on TV ... like a chance to win some prizes."

Michael was quite a swimmer at the time ... "on a competitive swim team 4 years and earned 2 trophys and 5 medals in breast stroke." Christine worked for a major oil company and her hobby was, "making sure Michael gets to all his sports and activities." ... including being a contestant on STARCADE!

Michael's favorite games were "Star Trek, Crystal Castles and Pole Position."  Christine's favorite games were "Reactor, Pole Position and Crystal Castles ... but (she said) I'm not good at any of them." Michael checked in to tell us that today (2003) ... he is living on the East coast (he was living on the West coast when we taped his show) ... and "still playing lots of games and working for the back office of a bank ..."

Great to hear from you, Michael!