A strange little side quest
The fun part of looking behind Blonde Sofia: Eye Doctor is seeing how many older ideas are still alive in modern play. By the 1890s, department stores and mail-order catalogs were selling mass-produced ready-to-wear clothes in standardized styles and price ranges. The broader history adds one more wrinkle. In 1958, Tennis for Two used an analog computer and an oscilloscope to turn simple physics into a playable tennis-like demonstration. That history is one reason familiar mechanics can still feel new when they are recombined well.
