© MPS-USA TODAY Sports
NBA Jam creator admits the game is rigged against the Chicago Bulls
The rivalry between the Chicago Bulls and the Detroit Pistons in the late 1980s and early 90s was as unforgettable as it was intense. There were so many angles to the storied rivalry—from Michael Jordan's feud with Pistons star Isiah Thomas to the famed "Jordan Rules." One of the more interesting ones was the belief that NBA Jam creator Mark Turmell had coded into the game a bias against Chicago Bulls players. It turns out that rumor was true.
Personal bias
NBA Jam debuted in 1993 and quickly became a hit with basketball fans. With memorable catchphrases like "He's on fire!" and "Boomshakalaka" paired with otherworldly slam dunks, the game was immensely popular.
In 2008, Mark Turmell spoke publicly about the game's coding specifics, admitting that he made sure to stack the odds against the Bulls given that he was a huge Pistons fan. He made it so that in a close game between the Bulls and the Pistons, any last-second shot the Bulls attempted would miss badly.
"It's true, but only when the Bulls played the Pistons," Turmell said. "If there was a close game and anyone on the Bulls took a last-second shot, we wrote special code in the game so that they would average out to be bricks. There was the big competition back in the day between the Pistons and the Bulls, and since I was always a big Pistons fan, that was my opportunity to level the playing field," he continued.
Rivalry of the decade
While the rivalry between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers was the stuff of legend, the Bulls-Pistons feud was just as entertaining. Jordan and the Bulls tried their best to get past the Detroit-led defense, but their efforts were met with resistance. The Pistons won back-to-back NBA championships in 1989 and 1990, while MJ and the Bulls finally broke through to win three consecutive titles from 1991 to 1993.
