robin2099

Seems like in the 90's these things were everywhere. There was the Nintendo hotline, the WCW hotline, The Freddy Krueger hotline, the Hulk Hogan hotline(which was apparently the highest grossing hotline ever), The X-Men hotline, The Bo Jackson hotline, The two Corey's hotline and of course the sex hotlines.

I always wanted to call but my parents wouldn't let me. And today they are non-existent thanks to the proliferation of people only using cell phones. So anyone ever call one? As a bonus, here's a bunch of commercials for old 1-900 hotlines.

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MBoyd

Never saw that He Man one. I wonder if anyone actually was able to get a figure? I bet you had to stay on the phone 30 minutes to find out how to get a "free" figure.

MasterofDVD

I remember the whole bit about asking your parents permission before calling but I don't recall any of the commercials content beyond that for the ones geared toward younger callers. I do however remember always seeing the more mature chat line ads all the damn time when I was younger. Never thought for a second about calling one thankfully.

Why So Blu?

Holy shit never knew about the Kiss hotline.

Bandoman

I don't think KISS has ever passed up a marketing opportunity. They sell KISS caskets, fer cryin' out loud (or at least they did - don't know if they still do).

RoyalTea

http://www.fanfire.com/cgi-bin/WebOb...rceCode=KISWEB

Why So Blu?

Yeah, I didn't have cable tv growing up and I noticed at the end of the clip it went to Zakk Wylde and Ozzy on what looked like MTV. I'd only see the regular 900# commercials on regular TV.

The Valeyard

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Crocker Jarmen

Back in 1999, I got caught up in 1-900 numbers real bad, and ran up a $1000 phone bill. Needless to say, I had my phone shut off.

I was too embarrassed to go down to the phone office and talk to them, so every time I got paid, I would mail them a cheque for $100. After several months, I figured I had paid down enough of the balance that they would probably turn my phone back on.

When I went to the phone company, the girl at the front desk at first couldn't understand why my phone had been shut off. "According to your record, you have an eight hundred dollar credit," she said. Then she clicked deeper into my record and her face grew real ashen, "Oh... I see," she said.

Since the phone company only acts as an intermediary for the 1-900 numbers, they removed the charges for the calls from my account when they shut off my phone, so all the money I had been sending them wound up being credited to my account. Which was good. Unfortunately, I had to stand there for ten minutes, while the girl printed out a receipt of EVERY 1-900 number I called and for how long. Records incase the 1-900 people came after me to collect their money (they never did). It was real humiliating. She looked at me like I was this total creep.

RocShemp

Interesting that all those 1-900 numbers are 909 numbers as well.

DeputyDave

Crocker, seeing how you can't embarrass yourself much more , do you mind me asking what numbers you called?

Solid Snake

Jesus. $1000 cuz of the 900 numbers you called. What the fuck were you doing? Wanking it to some sex line bitch called Tammy or whatever name she was using?

RocShemp

"Sex bitch"? Show some respect. How do you think your parents paid for your college tuition?

PenguinJoe

When I was younger there was a Nintendo tip hotline I called because I got stuck playing like Earthbound or Final Fantasy 2 or something racked up like 20 bucks and got chewed out when the phone bill came. 99 cents the first minute, like 1.99 every minute therafter, yikes. If only I had google.

Crocker Jarmen

Yes, these were phone sex lines.

To give the situation a little more conext, I had just moved to Saskatchewan where I didn't know anyone, I was working nights, it was horrid, freezing winter, so I was trapped in my tiny apartment (in the days before the internet, I didn't even have a TV at the time).

In the back of the paper there were listings for escorts and phone sex lines. I didn't have the money for escorts, so I tried the phone ads, figuring I could pay it off when I struck it rich. There were a lot of different numbers and I rotated them, calling a different one each time.

I remember, the girls wouldn't say anything sexual until you first did. You had to use foul language and graphic sex terms before they would.

There was one odd number I called, got the girl on the phone, said a few sexy things so we could get down to business, and she immediately hung up. Weird, I thought. A few days later, I tried the same number again, said a few sexy things to the girl on the line and she said, "I don't want to talk about sex."

"You don't want to talk about sex? Then why am I calling?" I said.

She went, "I don't know. Can't we talk about something more interesting."

I asked her wasn't it her job to talk sexy to people. She was confused, telling me this wasn't her job. She said she had called into a party-line. She had an ad in her paper in the States some place, saying 'Women, dial FREE into this awesome party line! Talk to cool, interesting people!"

I told her, "Well this is advertised as a phone sex line." She was shocked.

So, I guess they get women to call one number, promising fun conversation, and then hook them up to boring, weirdos like me who're paying 2 bucks a minute expecting sex talk. I thought this was rather ingenious.

BTW, a few months after getting my phone back, I ate through that massive phone credit with more 1-900 numbers. Humiliatingly, the phone company put a block on my phone, preventing me from dialing more than 7 digits.

Alan Smithee

These numbers used the prefix 976 before going to a 900 area code:

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Called a bunch of them around then, but kept it short enough so that my parents never noticed them on the phone bill.

The Bus

Back in the day you could call 1-800-WET-TITS and it would direct you to a 900 number. But the sultry 20-second recorded message was free and available from any payphone.

Good information to have if you were 13.

EdTheRipper

I racked up a considerable phone bill calling the Nintendo hotline. My grandparents got so pissed at me that they ended up blocking 900 numbers so I couldn't call anymore.

Alan Smithee

Just called 1-800-WET-TITS, it still works For the prices they're asking though, they better come over at least with dinner.

Ranger

Wow, interesting stuff. I've only heard of the phone sex and psychic lines. Are those still around?

I think Microsoft has an expensive hotiline.

The Bus

For a while, they had a free hotline out of Redmond. I don't think it was an 800 number, it was just a regular phone number that you could call and talk to someone about games.

I was having trouble with one of the adjective secret levels in Super Mario World and needed reassurance that the part where I kept dying was close to the end.

PenguinJoe

I can't believe people would jerk off to talking to someone on a sex line back in the day, kids have it easy nowadays with their Chaturbate, MyFreeCams, Pornhub, Barelist sites. They don't even have to hide their Playboys in old Nike shoeboxes.

TomOpus

A good friend of mine ran a sex line out of her home. She said some guys just wanted someone to talk to. They could have a regular conversation with someone who would not judge how they looked or dressed or sounded like.

Rob V

So I'm guessing the internet is literally the greatest fucking thing that has ever happened to you, right?

Why So Blu?