This article originally ran in Back Alley Games Issue 15, May 2025

When one thinks of the ‘90s gaming scene, Nintendo, Sony, and Sega’s titanic presences come to mind. Though their impact can’t be understated, one underdog flew under the radar: The Super Indie City Konsole, or SICK.

Distributed throughout Chicagoland in early 1994, this small but mighty console boasted impressive performance for its time. However, limited reach and inflated pricing led to limited stock with retailers.

Despite these shortcomings, the SICK had impressive launch titles that have since garnered a cult following, including its pack-in title, Down With The Sickness.

Down With The Sickness was designed and programmed by a single man, the enigmatic software engineer Gerbert Croski. To this day, it’s the only game credited to him.

Everyone who worked with Croski hasn’t heard much from him since the game went gold. According to artist Rashley Beefncheddar, Croski moved to Chicago at the end of 1991 after receiving a long-term contract with a small software development startup, Plimby Software, dissolved for falsifying financial and tax documents.

Croski and a handful of his colleagues took short-term contracts as they scrambled to find more permanent employment. By pure chance, the crew hit it off with Ben Chuckhup, one of the lead engineers on the Super Indie City Konsole, at a local pub.

Robbie Radish, musician on Down With The Sickness, recounted that Chuckhup was quite stressed during this first meeting. Chuckhup had let him in on the fact that he had just had to back out of a contract with the development team creating the SICK’s original launch title.

Several drinks deep, Croski and his small team landed a deal to deliver Down With The Sickness. Legend has it that Croski wrote the backend on over 200 napkins that same evening. It compiled on the first time with no errors.

The development team for Down With The Sickness was given a little over a month to finish the game. If they didn’t finish by the deadline, the SICK wouldn’t have its pack-in title.

The team put their noses to the grindstone and submitted a build at the deadline by the skin of their teeth. Shortly thereafter, the ragtag development team disbanded. They split not for any tumultuous reasons, but simply because life led the three of them in separate directions.

Beefncheddar and Radish remained in Chicago, where they both now work in the games industry full time.

Radish is most well-known for his work on Tower of Fudd, a live service gacha game that began service in 2021 with a reputation for its unique designs — risqué, adorable, and badass alike.

In an odd twist of fate, Beefncheddar now works creating art for many of the virtual slot machines on offer on Plimby Casino, now revamped after having been purchased by Ballscratcher Entertainment in 2019.

As for Croski, neither Beefncheddar nor Radish have spoken to him much after their brief stint together as game developers. They heard he moved back to Toronto sometime in the 2000s but hadn’t had any luck getting in touch since.

For a time, it seemed we had hit a dead end in our search for Croski.

Just as we began to look into other ways to preserve Down With The Sickness, word of the ongoing restoration effort spearheaded by Indie City Games in 2025 reached Croski, who agreed to help with restoration as well as sit down for an interview.

I drove out to Toronto for the weekend to meet with Croski, what follows is the transcript of our… interesting interview.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Scrumbo: Before we formally begin, I just want to thank you once more for taking the time out of your day to meet with us for an interview. There’s been a lot of buzz around the SICK and its exclusives lately, so I’m sure the Chicago game dev scene will be excited to hear your insight!

Croski: OK.

Scrumbo: To begin, I’d like to ask about something that’s been on my team’s mind during our time working together. Despite making one of the Super Indie City Konsole’s killer apps, your background actually isn’t in game design at all!

Croski: Yeah.

Scrumbo: We’d love some insight into how you made that temporary pivot from software developer to game designer. Was it a difficult transition, or did it come easy to you?

Croski: Why do you want to know that?

Scrumbo: Umm, I mean it’s pretty interesting, I think. A bunch of my friends and colleagues are probably going to read this, and a good chunk of them are game designers themselves so–

Croski: Bad question.

Scrumbo: I’m sorry?

Croski: Bad question. Ask something else.

Scrumbo: OK… Well, moving right along; Down With The Sickness is an incredibly unique game in terms of style, premise and theme. What were some of your influences on the project, be it games, movies, music, et cetera. What did you pull from when you made the game?

Croski: My brain.

Scrumbo: All right. Um, yeah, just going to keep going, I guess. Down with the Sickness is the bestselling title on the Super Indie City Konsole, mainly due to it being the title that was shipped with the original editions of the Konsole. One thing we’re curious to know: How did you manage to get your game as the pack-in title for the Konsole?

Croski: I don’t know.

Scrumbo: Oh? Like, maybe it’s hush-hush? Or–

Croski: I mean I don’t know. I shipped the master off and forgot about it, for the most part.

Scrumbo: Now we’re getting somewhere! They must have liked it quite a bit, huh?

Croski: Maybe. At least I hope so.

Scrumbo: According to my intel, you and some colleagues that had recently been put out of work had hit it off with one of the lead engineers on the SICK –

Croski: Intel? Why’d you say Intel like that?

Scrumbo: Never mind, forget I said anything. I guess I’m asking how that interaction came to be. Or your general thoughts on the project even. Anything at this point, really.

Croski: I don’t know, it was just a paycheck to me. Same as any other gig I landed around that time. They asked me to make something, I made it and that was that. I don’t understand what interests you about all this.

Scrumbo: (Exasperated sigh) Last question. Legend has it that you wrote the backend for the game the night the deal was proposed on over 200 cocktail napkins, only stopping because the bartender started to get pissed off at you guys for taking so many napkins. The engineer you spoke with overnighted you a devkit so you could start work right away. Miraculously, the code compiled with no errors the very first time. Whispers of this feat have been echoed through the annals of the Chicagoland Indie game scene for years. Now, I got to know, is this story true?

Croski: Yes.

Scrumbo: Wow! That’s… that’s actually super cool. You wouldn’t happen to have any of those napkins still, would you?

Croski: Yes.

Scrumbo: No way! For real?

Croski: Yes.

Scrumbo: …Could I see them?

Croski: No.

Scrumbo: Yeah, I figured. Well, I had some more questions to ask, but honestly, I have a pretty good idea what kind of answers I’m going to get out of you. I think we can call it there unless you have anything else to add.

Croski: …

Scrumbo: Mmhm. Cool. In that case, I want to thank you again for your time and for inviting me in. You have a lovely home, by the way.

On a personal note… Y’know how they say, “Don’t meet your heroes”? I always thought that was such a pessimistic thing to say. ’Cause I mean, who wouldn’t want to meet their hero. What reason is there not to? But… man, I think I get why people say that now.

Maybe there’s something to be said here regarding the fact that, in life, there are some people who aren’t going to rock with you no matter what. It’s unfortunate, but it’s something that you feel better about the sooner you come to terms with it. At the end of the day, we’re just two guys who make video games, nothing more, nothing less.

As I close out, I’d like to extend a special thank you to everyone who helped me track down Mr. Gerbert Croski, including Robbie Radish and Rashley Beefncheddar. You guys rock. I’d also like to extend an extra special thank you to my collaborators Alosha and Dani for assisting me in the effort to restore Down With The Sickness. Couldn’t have done it without you guys!

Finally, to Gerbert. If you’re reading this: Sorry if I did anything to make you seriously upset. If you’re ever in Chicago any time soon, let me know. I owe you a drink.

Scrumbo’s entire interview with Croski can be read at: https://medium.com/@BigScrumbo/a-sit-down-with-gerbert-croski-019a472bfda1

Play Croski’s masterpiece Down with the Sickness here: 

https://bigscrumbo.itch.io/down-with-the-sickness